George Gary (March 16, 1824 – October 22, 1909) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, Republican politician, and Wisconsin pioneer.

He also served 12 years as county judge and authored a long-cited and re-issued work on Wisconsin probate law.

When two years old, his eyes became severely inflamed, which lasted for much of his childhood and limited his ability to obtain an education.

Gary quickly signed up to crew a Nantucket whaling ship, and traveled the Atlantic Ocean from 1845 through 1847.

Despite having little professional experience, he was quickly employed as a clerk in a shipping and forwarding business of William Albert Knapp, then went to work as cashier and bookkeeper for the steamboat line of Fitzgerald and Moore, which then included all the steamboats operating on Lake Winnebago and the Wolf and Fox rivers.

Afterward, Gary returned to freight forwarding as a clerk for a company in Green Bay, but that business was soon ruined by a temporary suspension of navigation on the lower Fox River in the fall of 1856.

[1] In the fall of 1857, Gary won a special election to serve as Wisconsin circuit court clerk in Winnebago County.

[1] While serving as court clerk, Gary also dedicated himself to studying law, and he was admitted to the bar on April 17, 1861.

[1] He soon returned to elected office, winning a seat in the Wisconsin Senate in 1866, running on the National Union ticket.

[5] Gary participated in all of the Senate business of the 1867 legislative session,[3] but resigned in October of that year after he received another federal appointment.

A trained nurse, Alice Pennock, came to assist the family later that year and took over the care of Gary and his grandchildren.