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 George
Chorpenning, Jr. (1820-1894)
His story is best told in The Man From Somerset, A Historical Novel
by Frank Winslow. While Mr. Winslow's subtitle indicates a novel, his facts
overpower his fiction. This book should be required reading for the current
generation of "Sons".
My late-wife was a FLICK. George's mother was a FLICK. My father-in-law told us
the story long before I read the "novel".
George and a couple of his trusted relatives, Irvin PILE and Conrad FLICK, left
Somerset in 1849 for the California Gold Rush. Discouraged George looked for
other opportunities and saw the need for reliable mail service. In 1851 George
and a partner, Absalom Woodward, from Indiana County, PA, were granted the first
contract for mail service between Salt Lake and Sacramento. Thus began the Pony
Express before it was called the Pony Express.
After George, Irwin and Conrad completed the first delivery from Sacramento to
Salt Lake, George accepted an honorary commission in the militia as a major
offered by the first governor of the Utah Territory, Brigham Young. Apparently,
this is the source of his Major title years before his Civil War service.
While George provided the reliable mail service he desired, later contracts
became a well documented fiasco with the U.S. government. His death notice was
published in the Somerset Herald, 11 APR 1894.
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