George Albert Lively was born on July 8th, 1873. So for those of you trying to calculate in your heads, no need. He was born 139 years ago this year. :)
George has always been somewhat of a family mystery. He was a brother to my Great-Grandma, Clara Belle Lively Rosan. He was born in Randolph County, Illinois. And at some point, ran off to the West Coast. That was most of what we knew for a very long time.
Grandma's brother, Nolan Rosan, wrote a family history book in 1977. I am forever grateful that he did this, because it's an awesome family history tool! He tells stories about everyone that he remembered from growing up, as well as stories that he remembered hearing about those same people. Every time I refer to it for something, I always have the thought that I need to compile something similar about the people from more recent generations...but I haven't started it yet. It's on my mental list of things to do before I die. :) Hopefully I'll get to it sooner, rather than later.
Anyway... This is what my Great-Uncle Nolan had to say about George...
"Uncle George was born July 8, 1873. Not much is known of him. I was told that at an early age he left home stating that he would not come back until he could pay off his dad's debts, or until his dad was free of debt. I disremember which. Mom said he was never heard from again, but Maxine gave me two letters he had written to her mother, Alice Lively McQuinn. One was written from Vancouver, British Columbia and the other written in California but postmarked Spokane, Washington. We used to have a photo of him. He was a very nice appearing man with a full black beard."
Now...I would love love LOVE to get my hands on those letters!! I have always felt a connection to George, and I'm sure it's for the simple fact that he's been such a mystery. But still. It would be so cool to see those letters. So see what he actually said for himself. I don't know why Nolan didn't tell in the book WHAT George said in those letters. Maybe he didn't think it was important...but I think no matter what he said, it would be interesting. And to see the picture?? Wow. I think I might be a bit jealous of that generation that they at least got to see what George looked like in a picture. I have nothing but my imagination to conjure up what he might have looked like.
None the less... in the past couple of years I HAVE been able to find a little more info on George. Here is a run-down of where he was before he left Illinois...
1873 -- born in Randolph County, Illinois
1880 -- age 7, Randolph County, Illinois (1880 census)
1900 -- age 27, Sparta, Randolph County, Illinois (1900 census), worked as a coal miner, lived with his Uncle Turner Lively
Now...why was he living with his Uncle in 1900, and not with his parents? Or on his own? His parents didn't die until the 1920's. And he wasn't married. They all lived in the same area as one another...so it's not like he had to go live with Turner to find work. He could have lived at home and been a coal miner. Coal mining and farming were the two big businesses for this area at that time. Combine this knowledge with what Nolan wrote about his father's debts...maybe he and his father didn't get along? George would rather live with an Uncle that he may have liked better than he liked his own father? Who knows.
That brings me to what I was able to uncover in the past couple of years, thanks to Ancestry.com. Sometimes I find nothing on that site...and other times I feel like I've found a pot of gold. The pot of gold was the case with this...but it wasn't a full pot. ha ha.
1910 -- age 37, Getchell, Snohomish County, Washington (1910 census), worked as a laborer at the Star Logging Company Camp
1916 -- age 43, arrived in Coutts, Alberta, Canada (Border Crossing records), listed as a farmer from Spokane, Washington, going to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
1920 -- age 48, arrived in Kingsgate, British Columbia, Canada (Border Crossing records), listed as a farmer from Spokane, Washington, going to Calgary
In the 1920 record, it has some extra tidbits of info...like his reason for going to Canada. Except you can't read it. Or at least I can't make it out. I can make out the first part, "to look for". Upon staring at it tonight, I think it might even say "to look for land"...and then another word. But the most important part of the line, is very light and hard to read. I tried to crop the image so I could post that portion of the document here...but it was even lighter and more hard to read than it is in the first place. Not sure why. But here is the whole document. It's really pretty interesting. Here's what it states...
Port: Kingsgate
Date: August 20, 1920
Name: G. Lively
Last permanent address: Spokane, Wash.
Age: 48
Occupation: Farmer
Birthplace: DuQuoin, Illinois
Citizenship: USA
Race or people: English
Able to read: Yes
Able to write: Yes
Language: English
Religious denomination: Protestant
Money in possession belonging to immigrant: $185.00
Object in coming to Canada: To look for _______________
Destined to: Calgary, Alb.
Apparent condition of health: Good
From: Kingsgate
To: Calgary
Train No.: 828
And here is the cropped version...
So now you know about my Great-Great Uncle George. I would love to eventually find out more about what became of him. Did he stay in Canada? Did he ever marry and have children? Did those possible children go on to have children... and then those children had children...that might possibly be trying to learn more about their Great-Grandfather and where he came from or how they wound up in Canada?
Maybe someday I'll find him... but until then, the search continues... and for today, anyway, Happy 139th birthday, Uncle George! :)
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