Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 933 - 937

GEORGE W. WAYBRIGHT, an industrious and hard-working agriculturist of Waco Township, is a resident on section 27, where he has a neat and beautiful farm of forty acres of land, which is valued at $50 an acre. This is well improved, and upon it he has erected a comfortable and commodious dwelling and tasty barns, a view of which may be found in this ALBUM. He has set out a small orchard and a great variety of small fruits, all of which are quite thrifty, and add much to the value of the property.  

            The subject of this sketch is a native of Highland County, Va., and was born Sept. 5, 1830. He is the eighth child in a family of twelve children born to his parents, William and Mary (Snyder) Waybright, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, and of Prussian ancestry. His father was by occupation a miller, which business he followed the most of his life in the Old Dominion. The children's names were as follows: John, Barbara, William, Sarah, Abraham, Peter, Andrew, George W., Annie, Benjamin, Martha J. and James. The father died in Highland County in 1866; the mother is still living at an advanced age. Of the children born to them, the majority are still residents of Virginia, as will be seen by the following short sketches: John married Polly wiener, and is a resident of Highland County, Va., where he is engaged as a miller; Barbara, Mrs. Andrew Harrow, the wife of a farmer, is a resident of Virginia also; William married a Miss Sullenbaerg, and was the father of one child, which is deceased, as is also his first wife, he having been married the second time, in this State, to Miss Sarah Eastep, but is now dead; he was the owner of the Twinfall Mills in Greenwood County, Kan. Sarah, Mrs. Solomon Harrow, is a resident of Pendleton County, Va., on a farm; Abraham was by occupation a farmer in Pettis County, Mo., and had married Sarah Mozee, but was killed at the battle of Wilson's Creek, while in the Confederate service; Peter married Susan Lance, and resided in Highland County, Va., but was killed by a runaway team; Andrew married Susan Flesher, and is a miller in the Old Dominion; the subject of our sketch resides in Kansas; Annie married Solomon Harper, who was wounded while in the Confederate service and died from the effects of it, after which she married Henry Moyers, and is a resident of Pendleton County, Va., on a farm; Benjamin died at home in the same place, at the age of forty-five years; Martha J. is a school teacher in Virginia, and James is married and living in Missouri.

            The subject of our sketch remained at home enjoying the facilities for acquiring an education afforded by the common schools of his native State, until he was eighteen years of age. He then entered the counting-room of a dry-goods establishment at Crab Bottom, where he remained about five years, commencing at a salary of $150 per year, which was afterward increased. Having acquired some knowledge of business in that time he, in company with his brother Peter, entered into the mercantile business in Pendleton County, Va., where they kept a stock known as general merchandise. This they continued for two years, when the subject, of this sketch was married, and engaged in mercantile business at Settleville. In 1856 he removed to McLean County, Ill., and engaged in farming. While living there the dark clouds growing out of the slavery question, which had so long gathered over our beloved country, lowered deeper and blacker. Scheming traitors in the South, led on by personal ambition, sought the life of our nation until the loyal people of the North were aroused from their peaceful dreams of the future and gathered at the call of our noble President, Abraham Lincoln, to vindicate the honor of our flag. Among those who enlisted in August, 1862, was George W. Waybright, who, although a Southerner by birth, was a loyal and patriotic citizen. He was mustered into the United States service as a member of Company G, 94th Illinois Infantry, with which he served three years. He participated with the regiment in many of the marches, battles and campaigns of the Southwest, among which were the battles of Prairie Grove, the raid to Van Buren, the siege of Vicksburg, the capture of Yazoo City, and the sieges of Ft. Morgan and Spanish Fort. Being "in his duty prompt at every call," he did most gallant service in the place where "deeds of eternal fame were done," and was finally mustered out, and discharged at Galveston, Tex., July 17, 1865. After the war he returned to Illinois, where he remained until 1870, when, with a view to the improvement of his fortune, he came to Kansas. He is among the pioneers of Sedgwick County, and has seen what he found a wilderness blossom as the rose.

             The ceremony which united the destinies of George W. Waybright and Miss Eliza Virginia Burgoyne took place on the 6th of December, 1853. The lady is a native of Virginia, born Jan. 18, 1836, and is a daughter of Washington and Catherine (Evick) Burgoyne, both of whom were natives of Virginia. Her father was one of the heroes of the Revolutionary War, and was the parent of four children, as follows: Sarah Catherine, who married Harvey Clinger, and died in Braxton County, W.Va., leaving two children; Marshall, a resident of Stone River, in the same State; Sophia, who was married, and is living in West Virginia, and Mrs. Waybright. The subject of this sketch and his estimable wife have been blessed with a family of ten children, as follows: Sarah A., born Oct. 19, 1854, and died in DeWitt County, Ill., Jan. 24, 1857; William, born Jan. 24, 1855, and died in Illinois, Dec. 10, 1856; Lafayette, born March 24, 1858, a farmer in Clark County, Kan.; Alice, Mrs. William Shutts, born April 22, 1860; she lived in this county, and died March 19, 1888, leaving an infant son named Harry C., who was born March 12, 1888. Albert, born Feb. 11, 1862, at home; Marshall, born May 24, 1866, at home; Parker G., born Sept. 24, 1867, at home; Martha J., born Oct. 29, 1869, at home; Marcus, born July 5, 1874, and died in Kansas, Oct. 8, 1878, and Bertram, born March 6, 1877, and died on September 29 of the same year.

             In politics Mr. Waybright is a strong Republican, seeking in that party a concurrence with his views on political subjects. He is quite influential in the township, and has held the position of Justice of the Peace for three years, and that of School Director of the district for several terms. He and his wife and daughter are members of the Church of Christ, and are conscientious and sincere people. In all the walks of life they take as their guide the precepts of the Scriptures, and are foremost in any movement for the religious advancement of the community. Of our subject it may well be said that he is in "soul sincere, in action faithful, and in honor clear."

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