Phineas Warren Hitchcock (November 30, 1831 – July 10, 1881) was an American Delegate and a Senator from Nebraska. Hitchcock County, Nebraska, is named after him.[1]
Early life
He was born in New Lebanon, Columbia County, New York, the son of Gad Hitchcock and Nancy Prime.[2] When he turned 16, he began two years preparatory course study at the Great Barrington Academy in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Once in Nebraska, Hitchcock opened a law office, combining with the practice of his profession an agency for several insurance companies and a general real estate business.
Political career
Hitchcock was appointed a United States Marshal from 1861 to 1864; a Republican, elected as the Nebraska Territory Delegate to the Thirty-ninth Congress and served from March 4, 1865, to March 1, 1867, when the Territory was admitted as a State into the Union. He was appointed surveyor general of Nebraska and Iowa from 1867 to 1869. In 1870, Hitchcock was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1877. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection.
Hitchcock served as the chairman of the Committee on Territories in the Forty-fourth Congress. He was involved in newspaper publishing and various businesses.
In 1873 Hitchcock introduced the Timber Culture Act a follow-up act to the Homestead Act. The Timber Culture Act was passed by Congress on March 3 of that year. This act allowed homesteaders to acquire 160 acres of land by planting 40 acres of trees. At the end of eight years from the date of entry, the settler could make final proof if the necessary conditions had been fulfilled. Five additional years were allowed to make proof, or a total of thirteen years from the date of entry. The claimant had to prove that the trees had been planted and cultivated and that not less than 675 living trees per acre had survived. An affidavit or "timber culture proof" had to be completed by the claimant and two witnesses before the final certificate and patents were issued.
They were the parents of three children, all born at Omaha, Nebraska: Gilbert M. Hitchcock, born September 18, 1859, and the founder of the Omaha World-Herald and a U.S. Representative and Senator; Grace Hitchcock, born September 20, 1862, and John Gray Hitchcock, born April 29, 1865.