My Grandfather's India

My grandfather was the namesake of his grandfather, George Hewes, who was the 6th generation of the Hewes family in America. The records of our family history show that the Hewes family originally came from Wales but, as of 1500, had settled in Somerset in southwest England.

William Thomas Hewes was first in the American line of my grandfather’s family.William Thomas Hewes was born on March 1, 1623 in St. Paul’s, Shadwell, Middlesex, in the east end of London. He and his wife, Deborah (Pedrick), left from London, England probably with John Fenwick in 1675.

King Charles II owed William Penn £16,000, money which Penn’s late father, Admiral Sir Penn, had lent him. Seeking a haven in the New World for persecuted Friends, a religious group similar to the Quakers, Penn asked the King to grant him land in the territory between Lord Baltimore’s province of Maryland and the Duke of York’s province of New York. In 1681, William Penn received a charter from King Charles II declaring him absolute owner of the land that is now Pennsylvania. As such, he had the authority to dispose of the land with little restriction.

William and Deborah Hewes received a land patent dated 24 March 1674: “John Fenwick to William Hewes of Parish St. Paul’s, Shadwell, County of Middlesex, England a cooper and wife Deborah, 500 acres in New Jersey”.

It is likely that William and Deborah embarked with John Fenwick and his family on the ship Griffin, accompanied by several other members of the Friends religious group to take possession of the land assigned him. They landed at a “pleasant rich spot” on the river Delaware later named Salem.

The Griffin, under Captain Robert Griffith, is the first well-documented ship to arrive on the New Jersey shore with colonists from England. It carried John Fenwick and the settlers who had purchased land from him to settle in New Jersey.

The ship loaded at London from June 16, 1675 to July 20. On October 3 (Gregorian or Modern Calendar) it anchored near the mouth of Assamhocking river in Delaware Bay and then ascended the river, landing on October 5, at the present site of the city of Salem on the south side of the river.

The record of the Hewes family relates that William Thomas Hewes settled at Chichester, PA in 1678-79. This name was given to Marcus Hook April 20, 1682, and the name was subsequently applied to the townships styled Upper and Lower Chichester, both now in Delaware Co. He and his wife Deborah were active members of the Chichester Quaker Meeting (also known as the Society of Friends) there when it was established. (Their descendants are listed in Gilbert Cope’s ancestral Charts, pp. 79 & 229. These descendants settled near Chichester, PA and in the vacinity of Pedricktown NJ across the Delaware River.)

William and Deborah moved to Ouldman’s Creek, Salem Co., N.J., where William died in 1698. His only child appears to have been William Hewes, Jr., who succeeded his father on Ouldman’s creek, and in 1689, was married to Sarah Bezer, a daughter of Edward Bezer. The junior Hewes, like his father, was a member of the Society of Friends.

The family lineage is as follows:

William Thomas Hewes, 1 Mar 1623-1698 & Deborah (Pedrick)

William Hewes ll 1661-5-16-1733 & Sarah Bezer (DOM 1689)

William Hewes lll 1691 – 1746 & Mary Withers (DOM 12-11-1713)

Samuel Hewes l 1718 – 3-17-1784 & Eliabeth Rain (marriage 1751)

Samuel Hewes ll 12-28-1772 – 1-5-1821 & Rebecca Black (11-6-1776), (DOM 10-19-1801)

George Hewes 1-27-1812 & Sara Ann Avis (DOM 2-14-1833)

Matthias Avis Hewes (DOB 12-1-1836) & Minerva Dunlap Cavender (DOM 10-16-1862)

George Cavender Hewes, (DOB 8-1-1863) Sr. & Annie Butcher (DOM 12-3-1896)

In 1836 George Hewes (my grandfather’s grandfather) and his wife, Sara Ann Avise traveled from their home in Swedesboro, NJ to Quincy, Illinois. Traveling with them were Sarah’s parents, Jesse Avise and his wife, Ann Louderbeck.

Until that time the descendants of William Hewes 1, lived in the area of the Delaware River including Chichester, originally called Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania and Ouldman’s Creek, Pedricktown and Swedesboro, New Jersey from first settling there in 1675 until 1836.

Dutch colonists renamed the settlement as “Marrites Hoeck” after they conquered the area in 1655. The name is derived from the word Hook, meaning promontory, or point of land projecting into the water and Marcus, a corruption of the name of the Indian chief, called Maarte by the Dutch, who lived at the Hook.

Some English settlers had migrated to Marcus Hook from Burlington and other West Jersey hamlets, but most arrived in 1682 and 1683. Within six years, the English predominated enough to have the area’s name changed to “Chichester” after the Sussex town from which the most influential citizens had emigrated.

Before leaving their home in Swedesboro they buried their infant son, William. There is no record of how they made the trip but some suggestions exist in the journey of other settlers and in the history written by Matthias Avise, their eldest son.

Settlers moving west at that time (1836) used the “National Road” later the PA Turnpike to reach Pittsburgh, PA.

The National Road, in many places known as Route 40, was built between 1811 and 1834 to reach the western settlements. It was the first federally funded road in U.S. history. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson believed that a trans-Appalachian road was necessary for unifying the young country.

Pittsburgh, on the Ohio River, offered a river route to Illinois. Settlers traveling west could board a steamer or paddle boat and continue to the junction of the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois. At Cairo those going north could continue on the Mississippi to Quincy, Illinois. Quincy was named for President John Quincy Adams and became the seat of government for the county named for him as well, Adams County.

In an account by my great grandfather, his parents ” landed in Quincy” in 1836 and proceeded to Payson, Il, fourteen miles south. It was there that George Hewes and his wife Ann Avise settled and it was there that my great grandfather was born.

George Hewes and his wife Sara Ann Avise arrived in Quincy, IL by paddle steamer in the summer of 1836. There, on December 1, 1836 their second son, Matthias Avise Hewes was born. Matthias Avise was named for one of his mother’s favorite brothers, a watchmaker at No. 22 North 2nd St., Philadelphia PA. The following record was prepared by my great grandfather, Matthias Avise Hewes for his son, George Cavender Hewes.

The following are the children born to George Hewes and his wife Sarah Ann Avise during their life in Illinois:

Matthias Avise Hewes, December 1, 1836 married Elizabeth J. Wright – a daughter, Anna both mother and daughter died November 9, 1859, 1 month and 9 days old. Her mother died January 12, 1860 at 20 years of age.

Rebecca Ann Hewes Kay – April 2, 1839 married Charles W. Kay

Samuel Elliot Hewes – October 30, 1841 married Idella Kay 1 child, Mable who married Dr. Clarence A. Wells- 2 sons, Roger and Paul

Sarah Elizabeth Hewes Gooding – June 14, 1844 married William McKendree Gooding – 4 children

Hannah M. Hewes – January 19, 1847 – April 19, 1848 Died in infancy*

George Hewes – March 10, 1849 * 1 year, 3 months of age

Jesse Hewes – July 23, 1852 – died February 9, 1854*

Charles Travis Hewes – June 18, 1857 married Mary Etta Sinnock – 5 children

*Not living at the time of their father’s death on January 6, 1877

“The family home at that time was on the south side of Main St. about half way between 2nd and 3rd.Quincy was then a village and “had three brick houses in process of completion but no such building was complete in the city.” This comment by Sarah may reflect the comparison she made between the well-developed east coast where they came from and the less developed community of Quincy.”

“George worked at his trade of blacksmith and was in partnership with Harrison Dills, whose wife, Fanny, was a sister of William Gooding. Grandfather Avise kept a hotel in Quincy for several years near the southwest corner of the square. He was a democrat in politics and an Episcopalian in religion. He was a true patriot and lived near enough to the Revolution to dislike the English nation with vim. In New Jersey at Swedesboro and perhaps at Quincy, he was a vestryman in the Episcopal Church. Of Course, my mother became a member of that church and had me baptized when a babe by Bishop Chase, then Bishop of Illinois, on one land of his visits to the church in Quincy.”

“In 1837 my father (George Hewes) bought land 12-14 miles north of Carthage, Hancock County, decided to move on it and try farming. Grandfather Avise also purchased land and settled some three miles north near the town of Durham. During those years Grandfather Avise moved to Carthage and was working at his trade of shoemaker. In 1843 George Hewes moved his family to Payson, IL, where he was successfully engaged in blacksmithing for a period of twenty-four years.”

In 1867 he purchased a farm two miles south of Payson, where he pursued farming until his death.

George and Sarah were the parents of nine children of whom five (six reported in the obituary) were living at the time of his death. Five of these were married. His obituary includes this description:

Politically, he was a whig, but since the organization of the republican party, he has been a strong advocate ans supporter of its principles. During the late rebellion he was a staunch supporter of the Union cause. Mr. Hewes and wife are both active members of the M.E. Church, as also are most of their children. His daughter, Sarah E. is the wife of Rev. W.M. Gooding, who, as is Mr. Hewes’s eldest son, Matthias Avise a minister of the Methodist denomination. He is now residing on his farm, surrounded by an interesting and happy family. As a citizen, Mr. Hewes is highly respected by his friends and neighbors. A fine lithographic view of Mr. Hewes’s farm residence is shown above.

George Hewes tried his hand at farming in the early years in Illinois. Of this time M.A. Hewes writes, “There was no good market for farm products and he had a hard time financially. “I have heard him say that he hauled good wheat 30 miles to Warsaw and Nauvoo, the Mormon city, for $.35 per bushel, and dressedhogs for $1.50 per 100 lbs. One year the prairie fire ran through his place burning the corn in the field and wheat in the stack.”

“There were no churches in that section then, but the Methodist itinerant came along and Grandpa Avise opened his house for preaching and he and wife, my mother and I think an older brother Thomas Avise and wife with probably some others joined the M.E. Church and formed a class in Grandpa’s house. Probably during the 5th or 6th year of his residence here Father was converted and joined the church, and I can just remember his baptism and that of my brother Sam, then a babe, by a Methodist minister named Poole.” M.A. Hewes

M.A. relates a story from his childhood visit to his Grandpa Avise. During these years Grandfather Avise had moved to Carthage and was working at his trade of shoemaker.  When I was some six years old they left me at Grandfather’s to attend school where I remained some six weeks.  My teacher was A.W. Blakesley who afterward married Mother’s sister Hannah.  When Father and Mother came to Carthage for me, they said I crawled under the table and laughed and cried for joy at seeing them again.  I remember that Uncle Blakesley punished me once by splitting a quill pen and putting it astride my nose had me sit facing the school.  Yet I have two cards in his handwriting certifying that Avise Hewes is a good boy in school.”

Matthias Avise writes about his own conversion. “…the time of my conversion was about the middle of March 1851.” Rev. Jesse Cromwell was the preacher on the Payson Circuit at the time. He was a Kentuckian, not a great preacher but a fine exhorter and held a fine meeting at the time mentioned. He had good social qualities, but was a slave to his pipe and tobacco. Mrs. George Sinnock left the Baptist church and joined the Methodists at that meeting. I had felt for months that I ought to be religious, and one night at this meeting as Bro. Cromwell was closing for the evening he warned the congregation not to slight the wooings of the Holy Spirit. I went forward two nights and on the second was to my own mind clearly and consciously forgiven my sins”.

Matthias Avis went on to become a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church serving churches in northern Illinois until his death in 1904.

On September 15, 1858 Great Grandfather, M.A. Hewes, married Elizabeth Jane Wright. It was at the close of his first year on the Plymouth Circuit ( he was a Junior Itinerant minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was how the Methodist Church was designated at that time.)

In his account of that time M.A. Hewes writes, “On July 5, 1859 a little girl was born to us but she seemed to partake of the mother’s consumptive tendencies and died November 14, 1859 at New Hartford, IL. I think this was the hardest year of my ministerial life with sickness and poverty. We had a comfortable little house with five rooms and had just gotten fixed up when friends came with a good supply of eatables which, of course, was very acceptable.

I had quite a large circuit, one of the points, Bowen, being 12 miles from home. There had been poor crops the year before and I paid as much as 80 cents per bushel of corn to feed my horse and considered it a favor to get it at all. I closed up the year having received $200 salary. The conference that year was held at Danville, IL, and I borrowed $6. from Grandpa Hewes, lest I had to pay full fare to and from conference, as I only had enough to take me there. The Wabash, however, gave us half fare, so I returned it when I came back.

We only kept house here a month when little Anna died. One of the members went to Rockport, seven miles and bought a coffin on credit for me. We then started for Payson and buried her in the old cemetery and taking the mother to her father’s 3 miles south of Payson, and waited on her until January 12, 1860, when she passed away in the triumphs of faith, and we buried her beside her little one. She was 20 years old. I felt as I left the cemetery that I was broken up for all time and could never be happy again. I seemed to be completely crushed, but learned afterwards that time can wear away the effects of the severest trials.”

Great Grandfather, Matthias Avise Hewes gives this account, “My colleague and the local preachers had been keeping up my appointments (during Elizabeth’s illness) and holding protracted meetings with considerable success in my absence.  I returned and went into a meeting at Atlas which my colleague had begun, and we had some 25 or 30 conversions and accessions to the church.  Near the close of the year the Quarterly Conference asked for my return, but my name was read out for Virginia. This was the fall of 1860 and as the law then only required ten day’s residence in the county I voted for Mr. Lincoln for President and Richard Yates for Governor.  I had resided in Cass County about 10 ½  days. 

The next spring was the beginning of the Civil War which was continued for four years with varying success until it eventuated in the destruction of slavery and the restoration of the union.  During this year I secured a settlement between the trustees of the church and Levi Springer who held a claim of $1200 against the church. Here I became acquainted with Thos. J. Metzler, a lifelong friend, and the young woman, Minerva Dunlap Cavender, who afterward became my wife and your mother.  I had supposed Mr. Metsler and she were keeping company with serious intent, but when he enlisted and and was going away, I asked him about it and as he said I was mistaken, I began keeping company with her and during the next year at Warsaw I corresponded regularly with her and Oct. 16, 1862, we were married on the farm two miles east of Arcadia, Morgan Co. Illinois by Rev. Curtis Powell of the Illinois Conference..  The year I spent at Virginia was almost barren of results as well as the one at Warsaw.  The country was all in a state of excitement and bitter animosities were raised between the Unionist and the Southern sympathizer. The latter were commonly called “Copperhead” because unlike the rattlesnake the copperhead snake would strike or bite without giving a warning.

At Virginia I had a room with bed, stove, and book shelves and boarded around a week at a place, and received $125 in money as a salary.  In the fall of 1861 I was sent to Warsaw on the Mississippi some 49 miles north of Quincy, Illinois.  Here I had a few men and the women and children of those in the army to look after.  They arranged me a room in the basement of the church with straw carpet, bed, stove and other necessary appliances and I took my meals a month at each place.  I presently became acquainted with the local preacher who had a photographic car in the city.  As I was very lonesome I asked him to room with me, which he did for several months until finally he enlisted in the army.  When in Decatur a few weeks since I looked and found him still running a photo gallery.  He is married and has two boys, one attending Illinois College Jacksonville.

During this year Aunt Lib and Uncle Ken were married and I performed the ceremony.  I started on Friday on the Warsaw ferry boat which was going to take a load of freight to St. Louis.  I engaged passage to Quincy and we started early in the morning, but the hull leaked and when some 15 or 20 miles down the river sank in 10 or 12 feet of water. I got my valise and jumped on a barge in tow until the boat settled when as the upper deck was out of the water I climbed back and we remained there until five p.m. when a boat came along and took us to Warsaw.  Saturday morning I started with horse and sulkey and drove to Quincy and then out to Payson Sunday morning.  I married Aunt Lib and Uncle Ken Sunday afternoon.  Bro. Powell was Pastor at Payson then and I did not like to do it for he and I were great friends.  Aunt Lib insisted I should however, and so when your mother and I were married nearly a year after I had Brother Powell marry us.

We were married after conference October 16, 1862 and were sent to Mendon Circuit 16 miles north east of Quincy.  I then had a horse and buggy, some household goods, and $50 at interest.  The parsonage on the north side of the public square had been rented and we had to wait for it a week or two until the year was out.  Then we had quite a time cleaning, mending plaster and papering, but finally felt we were very comfortably fixed up for young married folks. We visited the members a great deal and thus made many friends. The First Quarterly Conference fixed my salary at $350 but at the Fourth all being they increased it $50 and paid it before conference.  Here at Mendon August 1, 1863 you were born, as I remember, at 12:15 AM Sunday morning.  Of course we were very proud that our first baby was a boy.  But a baby in a home is always of interest and so ere you though you caused us the loss of many hours of sleep at night.   Many a night I have held you in my arms and jolted you to sleep in a chair without rockers.  One time at Payson I was so provoked that I threatened to slap you, when Grandma Hewes in the next room said, “Avise, don’t you whip that child.”  August 14^th, 1865 Eva was born about midnight also, and we had our hands full with two babies, and as I was on my third year at Mendon we knew we must move that fall which made it still harder”.

Rev. J.L. Crane was my P.E. the 1^st & 2^nd  years and Rev. W.S. Prentice the third.  Near the close of my term Brother Prentice said, “Hewes where do you want to go this fall”.  I said I do not know but I think I ought to go where they are able to pay me more salary as I have now been preaching twelve years on what is considered a bare living.  I was told afterward that when Brother Prentice nominated me for Paris, that Peter Wallaced wanted to know something about me Prentice replied, -“Well, Hewes is a man who never did a foolish thing in his life.”

So in the fall of 1869 my name was read out for Paris, Illinois.  I did not think we received a very cordial reception here, as they wished to send us to the Hotel, but finally Mrs. Adam Link took us in, until we could get out goods unpacked so we could live at home.  Here Minnie was born on Dec. 25, 1869 about 3 AM and when she was about five weeks old, about ten o’clock at night your mother roused me up, saying she had such a terrible pain in the region of the heart, and I walked the floor supporting her for nearly an hour, when she became easier.  I ran across the street for a neighbor woman to stay with her while I went for Miller who lived nearly a mile west of the city.

Your mother lingered about three weeks, being propped up in bed in a nearly sitting posture or she would seem to smother.  She passed away on Sunday morning as the church bells were ringing.  Mrs. Jones a Presbyterian neighbor had been taking care of Minnie for some two weeks at her home just east of our residence.  The ladies of the church paid her for keeping her some seven weeks, and also bought a metallic casket in which we took your mother to Jacksonville for burial.  We stopped with Rev. Wood a Baptist Minister in Jacksonville whose wife was your mother’s cousin.  A sister of this Mrs. Wood is the wife of General McClernand of Springfield, Illinois.

Funeral services were held in the church at Paris Illinois conducted by the Presbyterian Minister, and from West charge now Grace Church, Jacksonville, conducted by Dr. Short and other Methodist preachers.

I then took you and Eva with me to Grand Pa Hewes’ on the farm two and a half miles S.W. of Payson, where we remained some two weeks.  From there we went overland to Clayton and remained over Sunday with Uncle Ken’s family.  On Monday morning we went to Jacksonville and over to Virginia.  Here you broke out with measles and as soon as we dared we returned to Jacksonville and started for Paris the next morning.  Eva broke out with measles while we waited for the train which was late.  Grand Pa & Grand Ma Cavender were with us as they were to keep house for me.

With great anxiety and care for Eva we reached Paris at 11 PM.  I had telegraphed from Pana to Mrs. Thomas Bowen to have the parsonage well warmed, and I carried Eva in my arms wrapped in my big shawl with several thicknesses of vail over her face.  She did not seem to be affected by the day’s travel only with weariness and she got through all right.

When I returned to Paris I soon discovered that some of the leading members had been working against me in by absence, but I went to work with vigor and had large congregations and was popular with the masses.  Some of the opposition insisted that I should be S.S. (Sunday School) Superintendent, and I was elected , and within a year the school ran up from 116-320 with a nice library case and $125 worth of books.

In about 4 or 5 weeks after your mother’s death the Presbyterian Minister’s wife died and I was invited to deliver an address on the occasion.  The family was so pleased that they asked it for publication in the city papers, and it is now in one of my scrap books. While at Paris I had an average of about 25 funerals and some 18-20 weddings per year.

I suppose Grand Pa and Grand Ma Cavender did the best they could, but it was not home for me, and so in about a year after your mother’s death I began to look for a companion for myself and a mother for my children and I think I was directed by Providence in the choice.

About a week before my second year closed at Paris I was married to Lavina Staats near Dana, Indiana by Rev. Peter Wallace on September 7, 1871.  We both desired to be moved as she had taught five years in the Public Schools of Paris.  We had many friends in the community, and the town paper doubtless expressed the common feeling, when giving a notice of our marriage, it added “worthy couple and well mated”.

When Conference adjourned my name was read out for Lincoln, Illinois.   After leaving Grand Pa with household goods enough added to theirs to be comfortable, a cow, and $50 in money we packed up the rest and took our journey to the city which was named for Abraham Lincoln.  Before the C.&A.R.R. went through it was called Postville and I visited the old frame courthouse where Mr. Lincoln used to attend court.  On our arrival at the Depot among the first items we heard was that Chicago was burning.  We were met by Brother William A. Pegram and taken to his home where we remained about a week on account of the severe illness of Rev. Little’s youngest child and the delay of our goods at Springfield, Illinois.  Here the Audience (sanctuary?) room of the church was in process of completion.  They had been worshiping in the basement for a number of years and because of the Chicago fire we were delayed, so that the room was not completed until the last of February and I think it was dedicated on the first Sunday of March. Dr. Bowman (now Bishop) dedicated: preaching morning and evening.  They were carrying a bonded debt of $3000 and they lacked some $1800 on completing the upper room When the day was over we had $5240 subscribed.

The young people were very sociable and kind to us and some were quite displeased because we were moved at the end of one year.  I asked for the removal however, as I had a feeling that my work was done. Rev. H. Buck was my Presiding Elder and when I told him he had better move me, he said I could to Delavan if I wished. I told him I thought that it would suit me very well. So at Conference my name was read out for Delavan.  I think it was the shortest move I ever made viz 18 miles.  We went over on the train with our goods one forenoon, took dinner and supper with Sam’l Lawton’s and slept in the parsonage that night and lived on without troubling our friends any more.

I thought the folks were rather hard to get acquainted with, but they were true friends and we spent three of the most pleasant years of my ministry here.  They allowed me $1200 per year and paid it, and paid their benevolences without complaining and were, I believe, the most liberal congregation I ever served. The first winter 1872 & 1873 here, I believe it was, we had some 25 cases of small pox and varioloid (a mild form of small pox),  and we had no protracted meeting.  During the second winter 1874 a revival broke out during the week of Prayer which would be January 1874.  The meeting lasted some six weeks and resulted in some 90 conversions with about 42 accessions to our church.  It was at this time you joined the church, about the middle of February, 1874. The Meetings were conducted by the Pastors, Hough, Campbell and Hewes, – two nights in each church and each hold his own services on the Sabbath.  There was a wonderful kindly feeling between the churches during the remainder of my stay in Delavan.

George Cavender Hewes, son of Rev. M.A. Hewes, a member of the Illinois Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Minerva Dunlap Cavender Hewes was born August 1, 1863 in Mendon, Adams County, Illinois. He was the only son and eldest of three children. His early life was spent in the towns and small cities of central Illinois

In the fall of 1879, his father, being appointed to the Urbana charge, he entered the University of Illinois and in June of 1883 graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science majoring in chemistry.

In the fall he taught in a small district school near Farmer City for a short time, and then, having gone to Jacksonville, IL he began to work with a photographer and qualify himself for practical photography, some knowledge and practice of which had been gained at the University of Illinois.

In May 1885 he opened a photographic gallery in the town of Payson, IL.

He closed this gallery in September when he was offered the position of Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. This one year position ended in June 1886 and he resumed his photographic work until March 1887 when he accepted the position of Assistant Chemist in the North Western Fertilizer CO, Chicago. There he did the chemical analytical work of this company.

He tendered his resignation in July of 1888 and gave the following explanation to his son who recorded it as follows. When he was eleven years of age during a series of union revival meetings in Delavan, IL he became concerned for his soul’s salvation and, at the close joined the church. For two or three years he did not find the peace and rest he sought. When about thirteen he had the impression that the Lord would sometime send him to a foreign mission field, though it seemed then that it would be a very hard and disagreeable duty. This impression never left him and he settled it then in his own mind that he would go when sure that God was sending him. He did not tell others of his call. The sense of obligation to obey this call became such a burden that he could not be content in secular business and, though receiving a salary of $60 a month in Chicago where opportunities for advancement were so numerous, yet at the end of July 1888 he resigned from his position effective the following month.

In September 1888 he entered the Theological School of Depauw University, Greencastle IN with the definite idea of preparation for Foreign Mission work. His savings having been exhausted, his father helped for the expenses of the second and third years. When the Student Volunteer Movement reached DePauw University, he at once joined the band.

An effort to send out a University Missionary in 1889 failed, as no one was ready to go. Another effort to found an African Station in 1890 was begun but a representative of the university in the foreign field was desired and in 1891 the graduating classes were canvased and some began to fear another failure. Last of all George, a student at the theological school, was asked if he would go and he agreed.

He had once thought of Africa and had thought more of China, but the committee selected India as the field – a place to which he had scarcely had a thought of going. He felt that God had led so clearly in this that there was no hesitation. It was necessary at that time that someone go to preserve missionary interest in DePauw University.

In September 1891 he was recommended from the Carrollton charge to the Illinois Annual conference and, after being received was transferred to the North India Conference. He sailed from New York in October 1891 via England and reached Lucknow, India on December 9th.

On October 10, 1891 my grandfather boarded The City of Chicago, a steamer on the German Line. For the first leg of his journey George obtained the special rate of $45 for the voyage to Liverpool England, a distance was 3,040 miles across the Atlantic. The ship was scheduled to arrive in Liverpool on October 31st. This was the first of several ships that he would take to complete his voyage to Bombay, India.

October 28, 1891 – In his first letter to his family, he writes:

“Dear Folks, We have been out 7 days now and expect to reach Queenstown, Greenland on Friday morning…. We hope to reach Liverpool on Saturday morning, Oct. 31st. We have averaged 13 1/4 miles an hour since starting. We are now about 52 degrees N. latitude and 23 degrees W. Longitude. We passed many ships at a distance. The City of New York was one. We have had a very smooth voyage and I have enjoyed it very much.”

The ship made one stop at Queenstown, Iceland, where passengers could leave letters.

Sea Route New York City to Liverpool, England

His daily record of observations.

“The pole star seems very high in the sky. I think it rises 1 degree with each degree of latitude northward.”

Each day at noon George recorded his observations. These observations included the ship’s location, longitude and latitude, as well as the distance traveled during the 24 hours since the last recording.

He shared the following observations: I “saw a school of porpoises also saw phosphorescence in the foam, it looked like stars in the water”.

There were 48 passengers on board, 20 preachers.  The City of Chicago was “heavily laden with grain. The meals are very good.  The plates are changed six-eight times with different forks and knives.”

” The Captain read the English worship service on Sunday. ”