Joseph George Megler
American politician (1838–1915)
Joseph George Megler (March 10, 1838 – September 10, 1915), generally known as J.G. Megler, was a German-American salmon cannery owner and politician in Washington. He was a member of the Washington House of Representatives for the first legislature in 1889 and five terms thereafter. He was also a member of the Washington State Senate for two terms.
During his political career he held the positions of Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate. He has been described as the father of the salmon hatcheries in Washington.
Early life
J.G. Megler was born in Berkach, Thuringen, Germany, in 1838, the first child of a schoolteacher. Left an orphan by the age of 9, he emigrated to the U.S. along with his younger brother and two sisters to join an uncle in New York. Some years later they relocated to Syracuse, where he studied the trade of tinsmithing.
Megler entered military service for the Civil War at Cairo, Illinois, on December 19, 1861 for the Union. He began as a paymasters clerk on the gunboat Lexington, and was soon promoted to Master's Mate and then Ensign.
“Joseph George Megler” enters the record as american politician (1838–1915). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Joseph, George and Megler can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16856494. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1838, 1915, 1889 and 1861.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joseph George Megler” 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.