What was going on? I kept thinking, some of these records are mixed up. Then I'd whisper to myself, was he keeping 2 families, or traveling back and forth with them from Massachusetts to Texas in the 1860-1880s? Not likely.
So the census and birth records talk about two George W. Grangers, both born in Massachusetts in the early 1800s...not the same town though. And one moved to Galveston Texas and one apparently stayed in MA.
The man in Texas was the brother of my great great grandmother Mary Granger Phillips. The whole family relocated about 1854-55, because her father had been in Newburyport MA in 54, then grandma Mary got married to grandpa William Phillips in Galveston TX in 1855...a whirlwind romance apparently. Remember Galveston was a bustling seaport at that time, like New Orleans and Charleston.
But back to George (I do tend to wander in my mind these days)
Born to George Tyler and Lucy Pulcifer Granger on May 15, 1830, as 2 records of Massachusetts births proclaim, George W. was their second child of 5. Father George T. was a lumber merchant. When he moved to Galveston he continued that occupation in the 1860 and 1870 census, but somehow changed into a surveyor before his death. His death date and place are unknown, but supposedly after the 1870 census. Mother Lucy has a clipping giving her death as May of 1876, but is listed as 74 years old living with daughter Elizabeth Granger in the 1880 census.
 |
| Galveston in 1870s |
Incidentally, there is no mention of why George didn't serve for the Confederacy, but I would imagine his having been from Massachusetts might have had something to do with it. They may have lived in a city of cosmopolitan tastes, like most ports would have, but the politics of the times meant Texas joined the Confederacy. (A side note is that many Texans voted against succession.)
George W. married when he was 34, to 20 year old Elizabeth T. Mosley, who was from Louisiana. The marriage was on Dec 2, 1864, in Jefferson County, TX (where Beaumont is) but they appeared on the 1870 Galveston census and in the Galveston City Directory as living with his parents. George W. was first a clerk, then a bookkeeper as his census occupational listings.
George and Elizabeth had a son named George Washington Granger, Jr...born on 23 Feb. 1877.
The 1880 census is the last official record of GWG's life, where at 49 he lists himself as a clerk in a grocery and as head of household with wife and son in Galveston.
We don't know when or where he died. When his wife listed herself as a widow in the 1910 Galveston Directory, we know he was gone. Was it in the terrible storm (hurricane) of 1900? Someone on ancestry says he died in 1901, but I haven't found any reason for them to say so.
Here's part of my posts from several years ago about Galveston history, in case you want more background information.
And then there's George W. Granger of Tolland Massachusetts. Is he related to me? I kind of think and hope so.
I'll give you a thumbnail of his life, tomorrow.
Sharing again with Sepia Saturday, this time because of Sepia photos where yesterday I posted a watery scene because of the theme!
I’ve had a similar problem with Dennises. Every second male in three generations was a Dennis Killeen. Unraveling the threads is fun but frustrating if you don’t have enough time. I had no idea Galveston bustled. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteNames and especially initials can be pesky things. The mystery man in my story this weekend really only came together because his signature matched an official government document. Overland travel before the 1870s was always difficult so most everyone would go by ship. Which makes a connection between Galveston and Boston not that unlikely.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem a little strange there would be two fellows with not only the first and last names the same born around the same time in the same area - but also with the same middle initials. But families do funny things with names, sometimes. Back in my own family history - prior and up to Edward I of England, my family history shows the de Clair family going from generation to generation as Richard de Clair to Gilbert de Clair to Richard, to Gilbert, to Richard and so on down the line till Edward I's daughter, Joan of Acre, married a Gilbert de Clair. There our knowledge of how many more Gilberts and Richards there were ends. I can see the confusion now, however. Uncle and Grandfather Gilberts, and Uncle and Grandfather Richards - not to mention great Uncle and great grandfather Gilberts and Richards. Whew!
ReplyDelete