Excerpt

This Family History is composed of three parts: the George family, the Wood family, and the combination when Laverna George married Harry Wood in 1914. The George family resided in America from1750 or earlier, whereas my Wood family relatives (my father and grandparents) immigrated from England in the first decade of the 20th century.

In the first part of this History, the earliest reliable evidence I can find of my GEORGE family ancestors is in the courthouse of Bedford County, Pennsylvania. There rests the Will made by Albright George, dated 30 April 1793, in which his sons, Philip and Michael, are designated as heirs. His wife, Caty (or Katy) and his daughters are also mentioned in the Will. Albright or Albrecht is a name probably of Germanic origin.

Philip (born 1765) was Albright's youngest son. I believe that he is the sire of my line of Georges. I have based my concept of the George family lineage on this supposition. An increasing number of George family members are listed from the first USA census to subsequent reports.

Albright, then his son Philip, are the bases of my direct genealogical line. Philips son was Philip D. George (born 1806) and his son, another Philip, was born in 1843. Continuing census records and other findings confirm this. Philip (born 1843) was the father of my grandfather, Philip E. George, born in 1867.

In the second part of this History, the earliest people and dates I can find related to the WOOD family are about Jonas Wood who was born in 1786 and resided in north-central England. Records show that Jonas Wood was born or lived in the South Yorkshire area.

My research, and information supplied by others, shows that Jonas (born 1786) appears on England's 1841 census records, age 55, working as a carpenter in Mapplewell, a town near Barnsley. Jonas' place of origin is not known. There is a strong probability that he was the father of George Wood (born 1806) and grandfather of Jonas Wood (born in 1832). I have extensive evidence (birth, marriage, and other details) of this Jonas (born in 1832) and am quite sure that he is the son of George Wood (born 1806)

Therefore, based on nearly irrefutable evidence, I begin the WOOD family with Jonas Wood, born in 1786 in Yorkshire. I place his birth at Mapplewell which is his known-address in 1841 when he was 55 years old. I do not know the name of the wife or the parents of this Jonas (born 1786).

In the third part of this History, I have brought together these two families, the George family and the Wood family, at the marriage of Laverna Ruth George and Harry Wood in 1914.

Laverna was the only daughter of Philip E. George (born 1867), a descendant in a long line of Pennsylvania Georges, and Agnes Aitken (born 1868), a Scots lassie born in Airdrie (Old Monklands), who emigrated to the USA about 1872. Laverna, born in 1894 in Houtzdale, PA, was living in South Fork, PA, when she wed.

Harry Wood (born 1891) in Barnsley, England, immigrated from England in 1907, when he was sixteen, along with his mother, Lily, and four other children. Lily was the wife of William Wood (b. 1871 in Barnsley) who had come to America a year or two earlier to establish a residence in Cresson (Cambria County), PA. Cresson town is sixteen miles northeast of South Fork.

This 1914 wedding of Laverna and Harry, merging the George family and the Wood family, and subsequent events and years, take up the final part of this History and brings the narrative up to the present time.

Harry and Laverna and their children were a happy family in the 1920's. Harry prospered as a painter. He painted houses, inside and outside. He was one of the major painters of billboards - in 1920, messages and advertisements were painted on billboards. Today, printed paper is pasted on them.

Meanwhile, Laverna was the dutiful housewife and mother, shepherding her little flock to Sunday church services and to schools, and providing a welcome home for all. She strongly believed in her children getting a good education, followed by them getting a good job.

But trouble was brewing. Harry began to meet with a number of accidents as well as showing early signs of deafness. Harrys broken appendix resulting in a slowing of his athletic body and his deafness caused myriad problems. Harry died much too young at 42 in 1933. He left Laverna with five children, the oldest being only eighteen years old. The balance of funds available after his death was five hundred dollars. This catastrophe occurred during the depths of the Great Depression.

With strong personal sacrifice and nearly miraculous effort, Laverna struggled on to keep the family intact. She accomplished this, working all day for a single dollar (let me say that again, a single dollar for a full days work!), pinching every penny possible, and planning every days schedule to the maximum benefit of her children.

The children grew. Four sons served overseas in World War II, with one succumbing soon after returning home.

Eventually, with the children moving into adulthood, Laverna allowed herself to marry again. Her new husband was William Thomas who proved to be a wonderful husband. This allowed Laverna, in her later years, to enjoy life as she should have.

Ending with this third part, this Family History, as of the year 2006, is brought up to the present time. It updates the story that began with Albright George and Jonas Wood in the mid-eighteenth century. Hopefully, some great-grandchild will take an interest in those who went before and add more to this story.