G. J.GEORGE, lawyer, Fairfield. Prominent among those who have figured in the history of Wayne County, and whose memory is cherished as almost sacred, is that of Francis George, or "Uncle Frank," as he was more familiarly known, and father to G. J. George, whose name heads this sketch. Francis George was of South Carolina stock, of the old Whig type, a man of great energy, firm in his convictions of right, and a born Abolitionist, believing in the absolute right of every man to equality before the law a man of strong mind and independence of thought, who dared to act and think for himself, and be often predicted the downfall of slavery, and lived to see it eliminated from our national government, though effected at the sacrifice of the blood of his sons.
Of big many worthy characteristics, none linger in the memory more vividly than his fidelity to the Christian religion. For more than an average lifetime, he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for forty years was constantly found at his post as leader of his class. Few men in the county's history have exerted such a potent influence for good, and, though big remains now rest in the Fairfield Cemetery, the influence of his molding hand and the example of his godly life are still seen and felt in the community in which he lived so long and well. He died June 11, 1882, at the age of seventy years.
His wife, whose name was Luraney Gillison, is still living, at the age of seventy years, and retains muoh of her youthful vigor. She is a sister of the late Hull Gillison, so well known in Wayne County.
Francis and Luraney George had a family of fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters.
The oldest son, Capt. Ezekiel George, fell on the field of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, and is buried beside his father, as is also Gillison, the fourth son, whose wounds and exposure of the war brought him to a premature grave. "Zeke," as the Captain was better known, was a young man of noble parts, universally loved at home and popular in the ranks, and is a man destined to have risen to distinction as a soldier and citizen, had not his life been taken as a put of the great price of national freedom, and in the infinite galaxy of heaven there shines no brighter gem than that which decks the brow of such brave men.Nine of the children still live to honor the memory of their their deceased father, and to bestow their hearts' affections upon their mother in her declining years.
G. J. George, commonly known as James George, was born in White County, near Liberty, on March 17, 1837. But few men are allowed to linger in the flesh so long after their decease as has James George. While we write, we have before no copies of the Fairfield papers of July, 1864, in which is published his obituary, as well as a number of resolutions of respect by his many friends. On the 27th of June, 1864, he had fallen in the charge on Kenesaw Mouutain, and, as all thought, mortally wounded; but was picked up by the enemy and carried within their lines, while the killed were left unburied on the field. Three days later, the Federal dead were buried by their comrades. One of these lay where James fell, and was thought to be he, though the three days' heat of a Southern sun rendered them unrecognizable. They, as well as the Chaplain, wrote to his parents, telling of his valor, trying to comfort them with the report of how nobly he had fallen, etc., etc., and hence the resolutions of respect. James says some of those friends now think the resolutions somewhat overdrawn, but they thought he was dead; and that now, when he reads those resolutions signed by Jeff Barnhill., Bill Robinson and others, and sees in what esteem he was held, he is admonished to guard carefully his acts. lost when he has been called upon to "shuffle off this mortal, etc.," he find himself under the necessity of re-publishing the old, rather than risk the formation of new resolution.
Suffice it to say, that, though Mr. George lay for ninety-six days in a rebel prison, he survived, returned to his loving parents and cherished friends, and still lives, an honor to society and the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he, like his father, is a faithful class leader.
In conversation, he said to that writer: "All that time I knew that the people thought me dead, and no one knows how much food it was for even my emaciated boy to live in anticipation of being released and in coming in person to my resurrection;" adding that "in the jail at Charleston, S.C., I took a sip of poodle-dog soup and a bit of the flesh, but give it as my opinion that there is absolutely no condition in which man can be placed that a sirloin seak from a fatted calf would not be preferred." After a total imprisonment of six months, he returned to his home, brining the clothes worn when wounded, and says: "To hold them up and look at them now - for I have them yet - you cannot imagine how a man could have been in those breeches when those balls passed through and not have been riddled." But Mr. George is now a hearty man, not much lame, a splendid laywer, a good farmer and trade, and has accumulated a handsome fortunre. He is a liberal man, and especially in the support of the erection of churches.
He was married, October 11, 1866, to Emily Wilcox, daughter of J.C. and Mary (Beecher) Wilcox. She was born in November, 1843, in Licking County, Ohio. They have four children -
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