GEORGE DORSEY ranks among the successful agriculturists and prominent citizens of East Pike Run township, and is a member of an old and highly respected family. His grandfather, Joseph Dorsey, was born near Ellicott's Mills, Md., and in 1782 moved to Washington county, Penn., where he purchased 1,500 acres of land, two miles from West Brownsville, Penn. He erected a log cabin upon this tract, and resided there until 1787, then built a large stone house, which is yet standing on the old farm, in a good state of preservation. He was the father of the following children: Mrs. Dr. Wilson, of Steubenville, Ohio; Nancy, Mrs. John De Bois, of Ohio; Clarissa, Mrs. West, and Betsey, Mrs. Daniel Workman, both of whom died in Ohio; Matilda, Mrs. William Blair, who died in Kentucky; Edward G., who married Matilda Brashears; John D., who died in Cincinnati, and James. James Dorsey, father of subject , was born in 1790, on the home farm in Washington county, Penn. In early manhood he married Elizabeth Elder, a native of Maryland, who was born February 4, 1800. She came to Pennsylvania when a child with her widowed mother -- Mrs. Mary Elder, who died at the age of eighty-three in Washington county, Penn. Mr. and Mrs. Dorsey passed their lives on the old homestead (of which he owned 500 acres), where two sons were born to their marriage, viz.:: James (who died in 1883, in Allegheny county) and George. Mr. Dorsey was actively identified with the Whig party. He died in 1852, and his wife passed away January 27, 1883, having been connected with the M. E. Church for over sixty years. George Dorsey was born November 11, 1833, in East Bethlehem township, Washington Co., Penn., and has given his attention wholly to the vocation of agriculture. On June 1, 1854, he selected a life companion in the person of Martha Phillips, a native of Washington county, Penn., who was born August 8, 1836. Her father, Solomon Phillips, was born December 23, 1793, in this county, and on May 23, 1835, married Maria Garrett, who was born September 19, 1812, and they were the parents of five children, viz.:: Martha (Mrs. Dorsey), Jonathan, Rebecca (Mrs. Joseph P. Crawford, Madison county, Iowa), William (deceased) and Ruth (deceased). Mr. Phillips followed teaching for many years, and then took up farming. He voted with the Whig party. He died in 1848, followed by his wife in 1883. He was a Quaker in religious faith, his wife a member of the M. E. Church. George and Martha (Phillips) Dorsey reared the following children: Elizabeth (Mrs. W. S. Grimes), Cassius A. (who married Henrietta, daughter of John and Marjory Watkins, of East Bethlehem township), Charles I. (who married Anna Watkins), William, Anna, John, Ellsworth, and two who died in infancy. Three of these children are now living: Elizabeth, Cassius A. and Charles I. Mr. Dorsey is a prominent worker in the Republican party, and he has served in various local offices; and in religious faith he is a member of the Taylor M. E. Church, having been trustee, steward and Sabbath-school superintendent for several years. He owns 315 acres of good land on the National pike, where he has erected a handsome two-story brick residence, and a large frame barn.

Text taken from page 741 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed March 1997 by Karen Souhrada of Pittsford, NY as part of the Beers Project. Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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