George Leavens Lilley

George Lilley was a US representative and the 63rd governor of Connecticut.

Lilley was born in Oxford, Mass., and moved to Waterbury in 1881 and engaged in mercantile pursuits and the real estate business. Lilley served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1901-03 and was elected as a Republican to the 58th, 59th, and 60th Congresses, holding office from March 4, 1903, to Jan. 5, 1909.

Lilley did not seek renomination in 1908, having become a candidate for governor and won the 1908 Republican gubernatorial nomination, and was elected Governor of Connecticut.

During his short tenure, he increased funding for the public school system and appropriations were budgeted for a statewide movement against tuberculosis. He also endorsed governing monopolies and establishing a public service commission, but both issues were defeated by the legislature.

Lilley was Governor of Connecticut from Jan. 6, 1909, until his death on April 21, 1909, in Hartford.