Person:George Standing (1)

George W. Standing was born in Illinois and moved to Nebraska in the early 1880's. He was at various times a miller, a farmer, and a carpenter. His father was William Standing and his "adopted" mother was "Margaret Standing". The identity of George's biological mother remains a complete mystery. George lived with his father's family in 1870 in Perry County, Illinois. He has not been found in the 1880 census, but he arrived in York County, Nebraska a couple of years later. Why he left Illinois is also unknown.

The STANDING family (George's father, aunts, uncles, and grandparents) joined the fledgling Mormon Church in England and emigrated to America shortly after in 1841. They sailed out of Liverpool and into New Orleans (passenger records listed them as the Stanley family). From there they traveled by steamship up the Mississippi River. At times, they lived in the St. Louis area, though they may have been in Nauvoo, Illinois at some point in time. Thomas Standing, brother of William, was married in Pike County, Illinois (near Nauvoo).

William and his wife Margaret (Leach) Standing were living in western Iowa in the 1850 census so they must have been headed for Utah, but apparently changed their minds and returned to St. Louis. (Two of their young daughters died in 1851 and are buried in St. Louis.) They later lived in southwestern Illinois, where George would be born. William Standing died in 1884 and is buried in Du Quoin, Perry County, Illinois. (Cemetery Book spells his name incorrectly as "Staning"). After her husband's death, Margaret (Leach) Standing lived with their son, Dr. William Standing, in St. Louis, Missouri. She is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

George's aunt (William's sister), Mary Standing, married James Standing (her second or third cousin) and migrated to Salt Lake City before 1850. Before their marriage, this James Standing converted to Mormonism, leaving his childhood home in Canada to join Mormon settlements first in Missouri and later in Nauvoo, Illinois. He was a mason who worked on many of the beautiful Mormon temples in Nauvoo and in Utah.

There is more information about the Standing family, especially Mary and James Standing of Utah, in The Standing family history : from England, Canada and Utah by Shirley Butler Woodruff.