George O. Brastow
politician in Massachusetts, US (1811-1878)

George Oliver Brastow (September 8, 1811 – November 20, 1878) was a Massachusetts businessman and politician who served as a member and President of the Massachusetts Senate, as a member of the Governor's Council, and as the first Mayor of Somerville, Massachusetts.
Military service
Before the American Civil War Brastow was the Captain of Company I of the Somerville Light Infantry of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. Brastow commanded the company, for the three months at the beginning of the Civil War, that Company I was federalized and reconstituted as Company B of the 5th Regiment. Brastow and his regiment fought at the First Battle of Bull Run.
In 1862 Brastow was commissioned a paymaster with the rank of Major.
“George O. Brastow” enters the record as politician in Massachusetts, US (1811-1878). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what George, Brastow and politician can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5542978. VIAF identifies the subject as 167475393. The Library of Congress control number is n2011008863. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1811, 1878 and 1862.
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This entry incorporates text from “George O. Brastow” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.