The William H George Family

This is from the Woodson County, KS.Historical Society quarterly "In the Beginning", Vol. 13 - No. 49 Jan. 1980. Contributed by Shirley Towner of the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society.

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 It was a cold blustery day during November or December 1868, somewhere around Christmas when a man named William H. George whose homestead was somewhere in the vicinity of where the town of Rose was later established, left his family and headed to Humboldt, to get some of their winter supply of sugar, flour, coffee and tobacco. He was traveling with one horse hitched to a wagon or spring wagon.

Whether a blizzard had hit or was just a cold day with the strong north west wind sweeping across the prairie of Owl Creek, William H. George was evidently following the road on the Parallel that ran from Humboldt to Belmont. Along this Parallel road about three miles to the west of the Allen-Woodson county line in the west half of the south west quarter section 32, Twp. 25, R. 17, George Hazelett had settled on the prairie along the Parallel a short time before this and had established a post office in his home that he called Hazelett, and later called Hazelettville.

The severe cold had effected both man and beast, but somehow the horse pulled the wagon to the Hazelett home. Upon investigatin it was found that both man and horse were frozen to death.

Another settler named C.H. Oderlin who had lived in the Rose vicinity, but later moved to the State of Washington, was at the post office of Hazelett that winter day and took the body of William H. George to his home.

In a signed affidavit, swore to this statement--"In the year of 1868 I think in December, I was at Hazelett post office in Woodson County, Kansas, and Wm. H. George was frozen to death and I took his body in a wagon from said post office to his home."

Mr. Oderlin stated that he "thinks" that it was in December, while the family found among his Civil War documents give the date of his death as both the 26th and the 16th of November, 1868. It is not certain which date is correct as there is no other record of his death.

Family tradition is that Wm. H. George was supposed to be buried on a hill, in an orchard on his home place. He did not seem to prove up on any claim, so where his home was is not certain. Wm. George was 33 years old. We will try to pinpoint his burial place later.

William H. George was born about 1835 in Boone County, Kentucky. Nothing is known about his parents. The next record the family had was when he married Roena Beatty Jones on March 14, 1858 in Greene County, Indiana.

Roena was the seventh child in a family of ten children of Thomas and Susanna Jones, who were natives of Tennessee. Seven of the children were born in Greene Co., Indiana, where Roena was born.

William H. and Roena were the parents of five children all born in Greene County, Indiana. Their children were Mary M., Dec. 28, 1858; James Emerson, March 22, 1861; Wiliam Henry George, born May 7, 1863; Thomas Edward, February 15, 1865, and died in June the same year; Jane Belle George, born Sept. 1, 1866.

William H. George enlisted in the Army during the Civil War as a Pvt. Co. A., 97th Reg. Indiana Volunteers. Aug. 10, 1862 he was taken prisoner in Alabama, escaped, and returned to Indiana where he was returned to his unit to rejoin the fighting. He was mustered out June 9, 1865 at Washington, D.C.

Sometime after the birth of their last daughter, Jane, in Indiana, William and Roena George brought their family west, coming to Woodson County, Kansas. This was in 1866.

Taking up the George children mentioned above, James and William left Woodson County and went to Neosho County, where they were in the cattle business. Both married there.

Mary M. George married Thomas H. Scott, in Woodson Co. and lived several years on a farm a mile north and a mile east of Rose. They had two children. A son George W. and Della Scott. Della married a man named Fisher.

In later years, after Thomas Scott had died, Mrs. Scott moved to San Francisco and married a man named Stillwell.

Jane Belle George married Harvey Slater, who had lived in the Rose vicinity for several years. They had no children and around 1880, they moved on west, leaving Kansas. (this is an error and Mr. Harding corrects himself in the next issue of the quarterly.)

In this article are photographs of James E. George and his family, William and Anna Mollet George and Mary M. George and daughter Della.

"In the Beginning" Vol. 13 - No. 50 April 1980

CARL HERMAN MILLER

Carl Miller was born September 22, 1829 in Germany. His father's name was John Miller. The first trace we have of him was in 1866. Carl or Charles as he was known by his neighbors, first homesteaded the southwest quarter of Section 8, Twp. 16, Range 16. The west half of this quarter section is now and has been the twin of Rose for many years. Mr. Miller did not get his U.S. patent for this quarter section until June 20, 1868. However, he had already sold it to Alva Brush on September 27, 1866. This transaction was witnessed by Charles Baland, Justice of the Peace.

In the story preceeding this about William H. George who had frozen to death in either November or December of 1868, leaving his widow Roena and four children. On March 14 1869, Roena was married to Carl H. Miller. Their first home was in the northeast quarter of the same section that Miller had homesteaded in 1866.

Carl or Charley Miller received his U.S. Patent for this quarter section, October 1, 1872. It would seem feasible that this could be the homestead of William H. George. It is possible that there was an orchard on this place but there is no hill where George could have been buried. The closest hill to this farm would have been less than a mile to the west.

As the George children grew up they married and some married and stayed in the vicinity for awhile. In the January 1980 issue of In The Beginning we mentioned that Belle George married Harvey Slater and then left the country in 1880. This was an error as the birth records of Woodson County gives a daughter being born to Harvey Slater and Belle George Slater on December 2, 1894. Their address was Rose. The baby was delivered by Mary E. Whelchel of Center Ridge. Mary Whelchel was evidently the mid-wife of the community.

Charles H. and Roena Miller were the parents of four daughters. Florence also known as "Faun", Maggie, Glady and Rena.

Florence Miller married William S. Barnes and lived at Chanute.

Maggie Miller married Bert Rice. Gladys Miller married Clay Haydon. Rena Miller married George Nelson.

In February, 1907, Charles Miller sold his farm and moved into the town of Rose. They lived there several years. They both passed away at different dates at the home of their daughter Florence (Mrs. W.S. Barnes) in Chanute. They are both buried in the Pleasant Valley Cemetery along U.S. 75 south of Yates Center. Their daughter Glady(Mrs. Henry Clay Haydon) is also buried there.

We would like to tell more of the William George family that we did not tell in the last issue. We are still trying to locate the homestead of this family. In the story of the Kalida school, the first day of school was held in a log cabin in 1868. This school building was in the southwest corner of section 26, that is three miles south and one and a half miles east of Yates Center. In listing the pupils going to that first day of school were the Woodruff, Landis, and Scott families and "two boys from the George family."

These boys were James E. George, age 7 and William H. George, age 5. This was in the spring of 1868 and William George died in November or December of that year. These names were in the recollections of Robert Rhea about Kalida. If the George homestead was on a hill it would be somewhere along the south side of the South Branch of Owl Creek south of the Parallel line.

We have mentioned the Harvey Slater family above, and will give what the 1900 census of Eminence Twp. Woodson Co. on June 14, 1900:
Slater, H.S. born Sept. 1865 in Indiana, married 14 years
" Belle, wife, born Sept. 1866 in Indiana
" Russell, son, born Dec. 1889 in Kansas
" Titus, son, born Aug. 1892 in Kansas
" Nita, daughter, born Dec. 1894 in Kansas
" Norma, daughter born June 1897 in Kanas
" Nellie, daughter, born Sept. 1899 in Kansas

this article has photographs of the Miller farm home a mile north and 1/4 east of Rose with Roena, Carl, Rena Glady and Clay Haydon in the photo. A photo of the Miller family, Carl, Roena, Glady, Maggie, Florence and Rena. Photo of Mary M. George, Roena Beatty George Miller, Della Fisher and Della's baby daughter.

The story of the burial place of William H. George was given to me by Juanita George Trabue, daughter of James Emerson George. She said he was buried in the orchard on a hill, supposedly on William's own land.