George W. Warner Sr.

George W. Warner Sr. was born in 1816 in Greenbush, Windsor County, Vermont.

(His service records noted his place of birth as Greenbush, New Hampshire; however, there is no Greenbush, NH. The 1850 census for Ada, Kent County, Michigan lists his place of birth as Vermont. This discrepancy between the two records would perhaps indicate that he was born very close to the line dividing the two states. Alternatively he was possibly born in Greensboro, Orleans County, Vermont In 1850 there was a G. W. Warner (35 years old) living in Troy, Orleans County, Vermont; a George S. Warner (31 years old) a merchant living in Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont along with his wife Harriet and young son Henry (7 months old); and a George W. Warner (12 years old, born in Massachusetts) living in Halifax, Windham County, Vermont, with two elderly women by the name of Pratt.)

George was married to Vermont native Electa A. (b. 1818), probably in Vermont, and they had at least four children: George W. Jr. (b. 1841), Julia (b. 1843), Edgar (b. 1846) and Carrie (b. 1855).

George moved his family from Vermont to Michigan sometime after 1846, and by 1850 they had settled in Ada, Kent County where George worked as a shoemaker. By 1860 he was working as a shoemaker and living with his wife and children in Plainfield, Kent County. (He was possibly related to Highland Warner of Algoma, Kent County, whose father James was also born in Vermont; Highland would serve in Company C, Third Michigan.)

George Sr. stood 5’8” with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion and was 44 years old and residing in Kent County when he enlisted in Company B on May 13, 1861. (His son George Jr. would enlist in company M, Sixth Michigan cavalry the following year. George Jr. survived the war and returned to his home in Plainfield. He was married to Mary and was probably the same George Warner listed as living in Plainfield in 1890 and 1894. He received a pension (no. 374084). George Jr. died in 1898, probably in Kent County. In any case, it appears he is buried in the Soldiers’ Home cemetery in Grand Rapids township.)

George Sr. was discharged for a varicocele on the left side “of nine years’ standing” on July 29, 1861, at Arlington Heights, Virginia.

George eventually returned to his home in Michigan after he left the army, probably to Plainfield. By 1870 he was working as a farmer and living with his wife in Austerlitz, Plainfield Township, Kent County.

George died in early 1880.

In June of 1880 Electa (listed as “mother”) was living with her daughter Carrie and her husband Frank Whitney and their family in Ensley, Newaygo County. Electa applied for a pension in March of 1880 (no. 261044) but the certificate was never granted.