GEORGE VALENTINE, who in his lifetime was one of the representative, well-to-do citizens of Donegal township, Washington Co., Penn., was a native of the county, born in Washington, November 22, 1822. His father, John Valentine, was born in June, 1794, also in Washington. On May 11, 1818, he married Catherine May, daughter of George May (she was born March 20, 1800, in Bedford county, Penn., and died August 21, 1831), and she bore him the following named children: Julia A. (wife of Templeton Lucas, of West Alexander), George, John, Elizabeth M., (deceased wife of Joel Truesdell, of West Alexander), Daniel and Charles. Mr. Valentine, Sr., continued to live in Washington, Penn., for some time after his marriage, but afterward kept hotel in Claysville, and subsequently bought a farm and public house one-half mile east of West Alexander, on the "National pike," where the family were noted for their hospitality and good entertainment, and where he lived until his death May 14, 1868. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church of West Alexander, and in political persuasion was on Old-line Whig. His second marriage, to Mrs. Elizabeth Mehaffey, of Somerset county, Penn., was on December 28, 1839; she died July 14, 1867.
George Valentine received his primary education in the common school, which was supplemented with a course of study at Dr. McClusky's academy, in West Alexander, and an attendance for a short time at Washington College, Penn. He was a skillful and prosperous farmer, in addition to which he dealt in wool, grain and many kinds of produce as well as stock. In politics he was a Republican, a prominent leader in the party; was a member of the Presbyterian Church of West Alexander for many years. He was a liberal man, and a progressive citizen, a warm-hearted friend of education, and for years was a trustee of West Alexander Academy. He passed most of his life on the farm owned formerly by his father, afterward by himself, dying November 5, 1881. As husband, father, friend, he was one of the most genial, loving and kind, always cheerful, with a smile for all; in tenderness almost feminine, but firm and unwavering in principle and convictions of duty. On October 7, 1852, Mr. Valentine married Louise Bayha, of Wheeling, W. Va., who bore him one son, Louis B., who still lives in the old homestead, and is in the mercantile business in West Alexander. On September 27, 1883, he married Laura B. Anderson, of West Alexander, and they are the parents of three bright boys: George A., John B. and Charles T. The death of his first wife occurred on February 19, 1854, and March 16, 1859, Mr. Valentine married Anna B., daughter of Andrew Yates, a native of Ohio county, W. Va., a lifelong farmer. Mr. Yates married May 25, 1820, Anne Byers, of near Claysville, Penn., by whom he had the following children: Mary F. (wife of Thomas Ralston), Thomas, Byers T., William, Margaret S., one daughter deceased in infancy, Andrew and Anna B. (twins), and Jane S. These parents were of Scotch-Irish descent, and could trace their ancestry back for many generations as a strictly religious people, many of them office bearers in the Church. Mr. Yates held the office of ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church for the space of half a century, and was for years justice of the peace, under the old constitution of Virginia. He was born July 16, 1795, and died on the farm, where he had lived over fifty years, December 19, 1876, in the eighty-second year of his age; his widow was born June 25, 1797, and died August 27, 1887, in the ninety-first year of her age. The children all died young and unmarried, except the two daughters already named, and Byers T., who married Margaret Purcell, of West Liberty, W. Va. (she died March, 1889, and her husband February 16, 1892).
ANNA B., widow of George Valentine, was married February 18, 1892, to Rev. J. S. Gilmor, of Congers, N. Y., also a native of West Virginia, his childhood's home, and that of many of his relatives, being in the immediate vicinity od West Alexander, Pennsylvania.
Text taken from page 847 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed March 1997 by Paula Talbert of Caldwell, OH as part of the Beers Project.
Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]