In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1910) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1827, Madison county
From Young's history of Lafayette County, Missouri (1910), History of Lafayette County, Mo., carefully written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, cities, towns and villages, together with a (1881)
GEORGE W. GARR, farmer, P. O. Dover. Is a native of Virginia, Madison, county, born May 4, 1827. Was raised on a farm and educated in the common schools. May 17, 1850, he came to Missouri, locating in Lafayette county, and engaging at carpentering, which trade he had learned before leaving Virginia, and which he followed until the breaking out of the war. In July, 1862, he enlisted in Col. Gordon's regiment, company B, under General Shelby. Entered as private and was engaged in the battles of Carthage, Little Rock, Prairie Grove, Helena, where he was wounded in the shoulder and arm, but not seriously. Was also wounded at Clarendon by a ball passing through the arm, and breaking one of the bones in the wrist. At Westport he was struck by a ball which he now has in his possession. His horse was killed in same battle, he making a very narrow escape. At the close of the war he went to Mexico with Shelby and has never been regularly discharged. July 4, 1865, he left Mexico for home, arriving there the last of the month. In August, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Slusher, daughter of Thomas Slusher. Their union is blessed with three children, viz: Alice M., Alberta, Wm. Willis. Mr. Garr built one of the first hkses on the Petitesaw Plains. Is now engaged in the cultivation of one of the finest farms in the state, consisting of 600 acres.
As printed in History of Lafayette County, Mo., carefully written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, cities, towns and villages, together with a (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
GEORGE WILHOIT GARR.
One of the venerable and highly honored citizens of Lexington, and one of the best known men in Lafayette county, is George Wilhoit Garr, living in retirement in his cozy home on North Sixteenth street. His long, useful and eminently successful life has been one worthy of emulation by the younger generation. He was born of a sterling old family of the Old Dominion, his birth occurring in Madison county, Virginia, May 4, 1827. He is the son of Willis and Anna (Roebuck) Garr. Both these families are of German origin, the early members coming from Bavaria to Virginia about 1732, locating near where the subject was born, in a Dutch settlement and Lutheran neighborhood. The first church, built there in 1720, is still in good repair and in use. The Garr family is widely scattered, although the old Garr homestead there is still in the family.
George W. Garr remained at home until he was twenty-three years old. He had learned the carpenter's trade. On May i, 1850, he started west and landed in Dover, Lafayette county, Missouri, his brother, William Roebuck Garr, having accompanied him. They stopped at the home of an old neighbor, who had erected a house for his father, John Yeager, who had come to Dover in 1844, and they began working for Capt. John Webb near Dover. Willis Garr died February 19, 1866. William R. Garr was an expert carpenter, and the two worked together eighteen months near Dover. So many of the men in this locality had gone to California that wages were high here, the Yeagers being the only carpenters left near Dover. Their first work was on a house for Captain Webb. On account of poor health, William went back to Virginia for the winter, while George W. continued at his trade. In the spring his brother Wilham returned and they went in together and worked as partners until 1859. William then went back to Virginia, and, owing to the unsettled condition of affairs and the war coming on, did not return to Missouri. He entered the Confederate army in his native state and was a prisoner for some time. After the war he came back to Lafaytte county, Missouri, and made his home with the subject until his death, in 1875. George W. Garr continued to work at his trade with Daniel Slusher until the war broke out, when he enlisted in the Confederate service under Capt. Joe Shelby. Later Shelby raised a regiment and Mr. Garr enlisted in the same, serving with distinction until the fall of 1864, when he was discharged with three others for the purpose of going to Texas and caring for one of the four comrades who had smallpox. Mr. Garr went on to Rio Grande, remaining in that region until the close of the war. He got work at his trade at Matamora at four dollars per day. He returned home in July, 1865. He made a most faithful and gallant soldier, according to his comrades, and was wounded three times with musket balls. He now has a ball fired during the fight of the Big Blue or Westport, that passed through many folds of his overcoat and struck his belt buckle, knocking him from his horse. He thought he had been shot through, and upon feeling for the wound found the bullet, which he has kept as a souvenir.
Upon his return to Lafayette county Mr. Garr was married, on August 29, 1865, to Mary A. E. Slusher, daughter of Thomas H. and Minerva (Beck) Slusher, of Dover township, and a sister of Dave Slusher, who still lives at the old home. She was born in Clinton county, Missouri, coming to Lafayette county when seven years of age. She was twenty-two years old when she married.
George W. Garr, after his marriage, engaged in farming and carpentering for two years, later devoting his time exclusively to farming. He was very successful, being a hard worker and a good manager, and added to his original purchase from time to time until he is now the owner of one of the choice farms of Lafayette county, consisting of six hundred and ninety-two acres, paying ten, fifteen and twenty dollars per acre for most of it. About five hundred acres are in a high state of cultivation and all is well improved and well kept, the balance of the land being in pasture. He has long been a feeder of cattle, hogs and other live stock and breeds high grade stock. Excellent buildings are to be found on the land, but Mr. Garr has preferred to live in Lexington for the past nineteen years, having erected an attractive and costly home on North Sixteenth street. He has rented his farm all these years to one man, Dave Eagan, who came from Virginia when twenty-one years of age and worked as a hand for Mr. Garr for six years, taking charge of the same when Mr. Garr moved to town, the latter merely giving the place a general oversight. This is generally conceded to be one of the best farms in the county. It is in a high state of fertility and is admirably located in every respect.
Mr. Garr has never been a public man, although he has taken more than a passing interest in public affairs, always supporting such measures as he deemed would be for the general good. Politically he is a Democrat. He has been a devout member of the Baptist church for a period of sixty-three years, since 1847, and his life has been exemplary, his friends being numbered only by the limit of his acquaintance. His dealings with his fellow men have ever been honorable, honest and on the square in all the relations of life,
[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]
As printed in Young's history of Lafayette County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1910. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.