Person:George Hall (81)

George Hall was baptised on 28th May 1843 at Ickleford in Hertfordshire, son of Ellen Hall, formerly Pestell, and her husband George Hall. His mother must have died either giving birth to him or immediately afterwards - she had been buried a couple of weeks before he was baptised.

In 1846 George's father remarried, and Abigail Wilshere from the nearby town of Hitchin became George's stepmother. The 1851 census finds the family living on Bancroft, the main street leading north out of the centre of Hitchin.

It would appear that the family emigrated to America in 1854. In the American Civil War of the 1860s George served in the Union Army.

By 1870 the family was living at Riverside in Burt County, Nebraska, and George was working as a farmer, living next to his father and stepmother. He had married a Mary from New Jersey and they would go on to have five children together, although only two of the children were still alive in 1900. In America George appears to have used a middle initial of "P" without specifying what it stood for. Perhaps he thought of himself as having his mother's maiden name, Pestell, as a middle name.

Some time between 1870 and 1900 George left Nebraska and moved to San Diego in California. He worked in horticulture there, and the 1900 census finds the family living at 525 Fourteenth Street in the city. George's stepmother Abigail (who was by then a widow) lived with them.

George died on 12th May 1915, aged 72, and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego.

1.   Births index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   b. male HALL, June Quarter 1843, Hitchin Registration District, Volume 6, page 522, mother's maiden name Pestell

2. ↑ Baptisms register, in Church of England. Ickleford Parish Registers, 1749-1937. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BAPTISMS solemnized in the Parish of Ickleford in the County of Hertford in the Year 1843
   No. 530
   When Baptized: May 28th
   Child's Christian Name: George son of
   Parents Name - Christian: George & Helen
   Parents Name - Surname: Hall
   Abode: Ickleford
   Quality, Trade, or Profession: A.E. Fowler, Curate

3. ↑ England. 1851 Census Returns for England and Wales. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 1710; Folio 43; Page 12, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Bancroft Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   George Hall, head, married, male, 28 [1822/3], Butcher, b. Ickleford, Hertfordshire
   Abigail Hall, wife, married, female, 29 [1821/2], Dressmaker, b. Hitchin, Hertfordshire
   George Hall, son, unmarried, male, 7 [1843/4], Scholar, b. Ickleford, Hertfordshire
   George Russell, visitor, unmarried, male, 19 [1831/2], Fellmonger, b. Potton, Bedfordshire

4. ↑ United States. 1870 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publications M593 and T132).

   Address: Riverside, Burt, Nebraska
   Household 17:
   Hall, George P., 27 [1842/3], male, Farmer, b. England
   Hall, Mary E., 23 [1846/7], female, Keeping house, b. New Jersey
   Hall, Frank J., 3 [1866/7], male, at home, b. Nebraska
   Hall, Joseph B., male, 1/12 [1870], at home, b. Nebraska
   Household 18:
   Hall, George, 50 [1819/20], male, Farmer, b. England
   Hall, Abigall, 50 [1819/20], female, Keeping house, b. England
   Ceal, Fr[...?], 38 [1831/2], male, Farmer, b. Mass[?]

5. ↑ United States. 1900 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication T623)
   ED199 San Diego city Ward 8.

   Address: 525 Fourteenth Street, San Diego city, San Diego County, California
   Hall, George P., head, male, b. Apr 1841, married 34 years, born England, parents born England, immigration year 1854, naturalized, Horticultural Comp.
   Hall, Mary E., wife, female, b. Dec 1847, married 34 years, mother of 5 children, 2 of whom still living, b. New Jersey, parents born New Jersey
   Hall, Gail H., daughter, female, b. Jun 1874, single, b. Nebraska, father b. England, mother b. New Jersey
   Hall, Charlton L., son, male, b. Mar 1880, single, b. Nebraska, father b. England, mother b. New Jersey, Abstractor
   Hall, Abigail, stepmother, b. Jul 1821, widow, mother of 0 children, b. England, parents b. England

6. ↑ Findagrave, accessed 28 Dec 2018.

   George P. Hall
   b. 22 Apr 1841
   d. 12 May 1915
   bur. Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego, San Diego County, California
   Plot: Grand Army of the Republic, Section 2, Lot 19, Grave 1-A