Previous information about GWH Robertson’s parentage is has been proven incorrect. See post Everything You Know Is Wrong.

George W. H. Robertson was 20 years old when he married who we think might have been his first wife, Charlotte.  A marriage between a George W. Robertson and Charlotte J. White of Somerset County, MD is recorded in the Maryland Compiled Marriages 1655-1850, and dated 3 January 1843.  We are assuming Charlotte died rather quickly after the 1843 marriage.  They had no children that we know of.

George marries Leah Wainwright on 20 February 1844.  George is now 21;  Leah is 19.  Leah was born in 1825, in Somerset County, and is the daughter of Joshua Wainwright and Mary Street.  (See Our Elusive Great-Great-Grandmother.)

George and Leah had 6 children, including our great grandfather, James Washington Thomas Robertson (born 29 November 1849).  George and Leah’s children are

• George Henry (1845-1896)
• William Edward (1848-1860)
• James Washington Thomas (1849-1932)
• Laura F. (1852-1912)
• Charlotte Ellen (1854-1943)
• Martha Jane (1860-1920)

Ten years after the birth of George and Leah’s last child, Martha Jane in 1860, Leah must have died.  She is listed in the 1870 census, 10 June, but must have died shortly after that.  We have not been able to find a record of her death or a gravestone.

George marries a third wife, Ellen Larmore, and their first child, Elmer Harry, is born 29 November 1872, according to Elmer’s 1918 draft registration.  George and Ellen’s three children are

• Elmer Harry (1872 —)
• Nora Ellen (1874-1898)
• Vernon Whidley (1879 —)

On 13 March 1895, George wrote a last will and testament, leaving various parcels of land to his younger children and his wife, Ellen.  His oldest sons, George Henry and James W. T., received nothing in this will, as George had made “ample provision” for them before this time.

We are thinking that George was an upstanding citizen and a man of his times.

• He registered for the Federal draft on August 31, 1863.  Maryland was a border state in the Civil War, and we assume George, who was 41 in 1863. would have fought for the Union?  As far as we know, he saw no action.
• He was active in the leadership of the Prohibition Party of Maryland.  The July 4, 1891 issue of the Salisbury Advertiser has him nominated as Clerk of the Circuit Court for that Party.
• His name appears on the Tax Rolls for the State of Maryland in 1863 – as a Retail Dealer.
• We have several deeds that mention GWH Robertson as buyer and/or seller.  We’ll be sharing that information later.

On 13 April 1876, James W. T.’s first wife, Esther A. Robertson, died at the age of 26.  It was then that George and James set aside some land on their property for a Robertson Family Cemetery.  Esther was the first interee.

George Henry, George’s first son, died on 21 March 1896, and he was also buried in the newly established cemetery.  George himself died on 9 Jan 1897, and he is buried beside his oldest son.  George Washington Henry was 74 years old at the time of his death.