George A. Silsby was born on March 28, 1847, in Rockford, Illinois, to Harvey Hammond and Melinda (Stearns) Silsby. Raised in Rockford, he started his career at fourteen as a machinist. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Seventy-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry and later re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, serving until the war’s end. Afterward, he worked in various trades before moving to Mitchell, South Dakota, in 1880. Silsby served as postmaster and later as mayor of Mitchell, and in 1899, he was appointed national bank examiner for South Dakota. A staunch Republican, he was also active in the Grand Army of the Republic and served as adjutant general of the South Dakota National Guard. Silsby married Emily Derwent on February 25, 1868, and they had two daughters, Mabel Claire and Maude Muller.
George A. Silsby is a native of the city of Rockford, Illinois, where he was born on the 28th of March, 1847, being a son of Harvey Hammond and Melinda (Stearns) Silsby, both of whom were born in New Hampshire, coming of English lineage, while both family names have been identified with the annals of New England from the early colonial era in our national history, the first of the Silsbys in the new world having come here in 1634. The father of the subject was numbered among the pioneers of Illinois, where he followed the vocation of a merchant and where both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives, honored by all who knew them.
The subject of this review was reared in his native city, in whose public schools he secured his early educational training, initiating his independent career while still a mere lad, since at the age of fourteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the machinist’s trade, becoming a skilled mechanic and being engaged in the work of his trade at the time of the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion. In 1862 he manifested his loyalty to the Union by enlisting as a private in Company F, Seventy-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he went to the front and served until the expiration of his term, when he re-enlisted, becoming a member of Company K, One Hundred and Thirty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he was made corporal of his company, and he thereafter continued in active service as such until the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge, having taken part in many of the important engagements of the great fratricidal conflict and having proved himself a faithful and valiant soldier of the republic. After the close of his military service, he returned to Illinois, where he was engaged in the work of his trade for a few years and then established himself in the shoe business at Rockford, while later he became a traveling salesman for one of the leading wholesale shoe houses in the city of Utica, New York, being thus engaged until 1880, when he came to what is now the state of South Dakota and cast in his lot with the people of Mitchell, which was then a small and straggling village. Here he was for a number of years engaged in the United States land office, while he became one of the representative citizens and business men of the place. In 1883 he was appointed postmaster of the city, in which capacity he served two and a half years, having been removed by President Cleveland to make place for a Democrat. He is at the time of this writing holding the office of mayor of the city, giving a most capable and satisfactory administration of the municipal government and doing all in his power to forward the best interests of the city by a straightforward and progressive business and executive policy. In 1899 he was appointed national bank examiner for the state, in which capacity he has since continued to render most efficient service. In politics, he has ever been an uncompromising advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party and has been one of its wheel-horses in the state. He is one of the leading members of the Grand Army of the Republic in South Dakota, being identified with Ransom Post, No. 6, at Mitchell, while in 1889-90 he had the distinction of being commander of the Grand Army for the department of Dakota territory, having been incumbent of the office at the time the territory was divided and the two states admitted to the Union. He early became identified with the National Guard of the state, and from 1891 to 1895 served as adjutant general of the same. He is also affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On the 25th of February, 1868, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Silsby to Miss Emily Derwent, who was born in Rockford, Illinois, on the 1st of October, 1847, being a daughter of Edmond Derwent, a prominent citizen of that place, where she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Silsby have two children, Mabel Claire, who is now the wife of Herbert E. Hitchcock, and Maude Muller, who is the wife of Harry G. Nichols.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.