George Alsop was probably born in Chesterfield Parish, Derbyshire, England, in 1638. He worked for a few years as an apprentice merchant in London, but due to his strong opposition to Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) and his party, went to Maryland as an indentured servant. He spent four years in Baltimore county working for Thomas Stockett, who emigrated the same year.

Some believe that Lord Baltimore, in an endeavor to attract laborers to his lands in America, encouraged Alsop to write A Character of the Province of Maryland, (1666) a book that gives a laudatory account of the province. It was written in a plain style designed to reach potential emigrants, especially redemptioners. The "redemption system", used by Alsop himself, is discussed in the book: people, willing to emigrate but unable to pay the cost of the trip, entered into a contract with a merchant, ship owner or other emigrant who would give them passage and supplies. In exchange, they would work for them for four years and, in the end, would receive provisions and fifty acres of land, making them free to work and build a new life in America. He also gives an accout of Maryland's main commodities, such as tobacco, fur, and meat, and describes, with some contempt, the customs and manners of the Susquehanock Indians.

Alsop states that as a servant he was very well treated: "Had I known my yaok would have been so easie (as I conceive it will) I would have been here long before now, rather than to have dwelt under the pressure of a Rebllious and Trayterous government so long as I did."

Alsop left Maryland at the end of his indenture period, and nothing else is known of his life.

Source: A Character of the Province of Mary-Land. New York: W. Gowans, 1869.; A Letter to his Parents George Alsop. 1663 (May 12, 2002) Maryland History and Genealogy Alsop's Maryland: A Character of the Province of Maryland (May 12, 2002)