GEORGE
Thomas George was one of the early settlers in the Meadows of Greenbrier County, near the Summers line; was of Scotch-Irish descent and an orphan, having been raised by his uncle, Thomas Moore. He came originally from the county of Rappahannock, in Virginia, in the Valley of Virginia. He had one. brother and several sisters. The sisters all married and settled in the West. The brother of Thomas was older, and by the old laws, under the English customs, the older son inherited the estate. This brother is understood to have settled in Missouri. Thomas married Catharine McCoy, and raised twelve children, all of whom lived to maturity and to old age, three boys and nine girls. Sallie married John Gwinn, who settled in the Little Meadows. Jane married Enos Huffman, and lived on Muddy Creek. Betsy married Jacob Surbaugh, and lived in the Grassy Meadows. Mary married a Shaver, and lived in Nicholas County. Cynthia married a Frazier, and moved to Ironton, Ohio.
Elize married a McCrary. and settled in Lewis County. Catharine married Daniel Sumner, and also resides in Lewis County. Malinda married a Boggess, and lived in Fayette County. Margaret married Harry P. Miller, a son of John Miller, who moved to Gentry County, Missouri. The boys were William, who settled on Muddy Creek, and whose wife was Ruth Conner. The other sons were John and Thomas Lewis, who had one son, John Frazier George, who resided for a number of years at the old place near McIlhenny Chapel, in the Grassy Meadows; thence removed to Hinton, and later to Orange County, Virginia, in which county he now resides. The girls were Emily, who married James H. Bledsoe, the mother of Randolph and James Owen Bledsoe, now citizens of Hinton, and Champion Bledsoe, of the Meadows, and Miss Sallie. Another daughter, Virginia. married James W. Alderson, who now lives at Foss, in this county, and the other daughter, Miss Alice, married John L. Duncan, who lives at Oak Hill, in Fayette County. John George was the father of eleven children - eight girls and three boys. Martha married a Curry; Elizabeth married Peter Maddy; Sarah married Marion Gwinn; Marv married a McClung; Cynthia married Pharas Harrah, and Virginia, who married Hill Nickell, now lives in Colorado.
The sons were John A. George, who married Elizabeth Benson Miller, daughter of Captain A. A. Miller, and who owns the A. A. Miller plantation. He was married in 1868. He was a brave soldier in the Confederate Army through the Civil War, was a member of Edgar's Battalion, is a Presbyterian and a Democrat. William V. George, another son of John. died in Texas. Thomas A. George married Miss Mary Hinchman, a granddaughter of the English settler, William Hinchman, of near Lowell. He settled on and became the owner of the Robert Miller farm of several hundred acres on Lick Creek near Green Sulphur Springs at the close of the war, and lives there to this day. His children are James H. George, cashier of the Bank of Wyoming, who was sheriff of Summers County for four years, from January 1, 1897, to December 31, 1900; and John L. George, who resides with his father on Lick Creek; Miss Minnie, who married Dr. Edgar E. Noel, and Miss Nina, who married Sam McClung; and Ella. Thomas A. George entered the Confederate Army in 1863, and on the 7th day of October, 1863, was captured by the Federal soldiers under Blazer while returning and near his home on a furlough. He was carried to Fayetteville and placed in jail; from thence taken to Charleston; thence to Wheeling; thence to Camp Chase, where he remained for three months; thence to Rock Island, Illinois, where he was detained eighteen months, and released in July, 1865. He was married to Miss Mary Symms Hinchman August 31, 1865. He is one of the leading citizens of Summers County, engaged in farming and stock dealing.
Dr. P. A. George, of Ronceverte; Arthur George. of Hinton; Miss Norma, of Colorado, are children of John A. George. The Georges are among the most substantial citizens and the oldest settlers of this region, and their descendants are scattered over many States.
Another son of Thomas A. George was Rev. Wm. George, an accomplished Presbyterian minister, who went West, and in early manhood died from pneumonia. He was a graduate of Hampton Sydney College, with bright prospects for the future. Margaret Miller, daughter of Robert Miller, the senior, married Alex. McClung, who settled in Missouri.
He is one of the main supports of the Presbyterian Church, and a Democrat in politics. John George, the father of Thomas A., was killed by a horse kicking him, in the barn on the George place on Lick Creek while on a visit to that place.
These Georges are descendants on their mother's side of Robert Miller, a half brother of John Miller, Sr., who settled on Lick Creek where T. A. George now resides. He was the owner of three slaves before the war, and built a large hewed two-story log house on the site where the modern frame residence now stands. The wife of Robert Miller was born in Philadelphia, Penn. They left at their death eight children, four boys, William, who died at an old age in the Meadows at the foot of Sewell Mountain. Before removing to the Meadows he owned the Goddard and Dean farms on top of the mountain near Elton, and formerly known as the Sampson-Zickafoose place. The other sons were John and Alexander, who never married, and lived and died on the old farm where Thomas A. George now lives. They were large land owners and enterprising men, and operated an ancient mercantile establishment on the site of the present Gwinn, Flint & Co. establishment. They at times owned large tracts of wild lands on Keeney's Knob, Chestnut Mountain. War Ridge, and in Fayette County, and were wealthy men in their day. They were both buried in the Miller graveyard on the old John Miller, Sr., farm. Of the other son. whose name was Robert, we have no history, as he emigrated West and was lost sight of. He was understood to have settled in Missouri. The four girls of Robert Miller were Polly, Betsy, Jean and Margaret. Jean married John Alexander, of Monroe County; Mary married Thomas Ferry and settled in Missouri. Betsy married Grigsby Lewis, of the Meadows, and Margaret married John George. There was another daughter of John George, Sr., Louisa, who married James Houston Miller, who removed to Texas, and she died there.
