George M. Willing

George Maurice "Doc" Willing, Jr. (c. 1829 March 12 or 13, 1874 ) was an American physician, prospector, and political lobbyist. He is known for his time as an unelected delegate to the United States Congress for Jefferson Territory and as the person who introduced James Reavis to the fraudulent Peralta land grant.

Biography

Willing was born to an affluent Philadelphia family. Educated as a physician, he married the daughter of successful merchant, Mary Ann. The young medical practitioner got into trouble by performing abortions, and to escape potential legal problems moved to California in the early 1850s.

By the late 1850s, Willing had resettled in St. Louis, Missouri. He left there in April 1859 to become part of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Upon his arrival to the area, he worked in the "Goose Pasture Diggings" for several months. Described by the Rocky Mountain News as a "good geologist and a most polished gentleman", Willing became a candidate for delegate for Jefferson Territory in October 1859. Despite losing the election, he still traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for the interests of the Pikes Peak area. The earliest published account of his claim was in a December 11, 1875 New York Daily Tribune article by Willing's friend, William O. Stoddard. "exposure and privation", or simply "strange and unwitnessed circumstances".