The Eades Family, from Worcestershire to Kansas and beyond, Part 1

Originally published 7 Jun 2020

In 2014 I wrote about my possible 2xg great-uncle George Eades and his son David, but wasn't sure if they were related to me. Now, thanks to autosomal DNA results, not only have I confirmed they are my relatives, but I have also discovered two further children of George who emigrated to the USA.

George Eades' parents, Joseph and Mary (my 3xg grandparents), lived near Hanbury, Worcestershire until the 1820s when they moved to Edgbaston, about 15 miles away on the outskirts of Birmingham. (see previous post). Their four eldest children, including George, were born in Worcestershire. In 1844 George married Elizabeth Green nee Chadwick at St Martin's church, Birmingham. They lived on Bell Barn Road, Edgbaston with their 5 children. Their daughter Priscilla died in 1852, as did George's step-son Richard Green. Their son Joseph possibly died in 1864. In 1869, aged 48, George emigrated to the United States.

In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. The homestead was an area of public land in the West (usually 160 acres) granted to any US citizen (or a person intending to become a citizen) willing to settle on and farm the land. The occupant had to reside on the land for five years, and show evidence of having made improvements.
In 1865 the American Civil War ended.
In 1866 the Kansas Pacific Railway reached Junction City, Kansas.

In 1869 George, probably with his son David, emigrated to the United States and by 1870 they were living in Junction City, Kansas. In 1873 they were joined there by George's daughter, Sophia. In April 1874 George relocated to Smith County, Kansas where he homesteaded a farm in Harlan township. In 1875 George appears on the Smith County census with E Eades, female born 1832 in England. I'm not sure if this is George's wife Elizabeth, as she was born c.1812, and possibly died in 1878 in Birmingham. In 1879 the railroad reached Gaylord in Smith County and George's son George Jr joined his father there. George Sr lived in Smith County for 30 years, until his death in 1904, aged 84.

George's obituary appeared in the Gaylord Sentinel of 2 June 1904. Here is an extract:
After a lingering illness Grandpa George Eades died at his home in this city on Wednesday morning June 1 1904. The decline has been rapid for the past two weeks and death was not unexpected….Born of poor and humble parents in a country where he was deprived of the advantages of an education, he lived to work out a good and useful life. He was compelled at the early age of six years to work that he might earn his daily bread, and never succeeded in attaining knowledge other than the different letters of the alphabet. But his natural tendency was to retain and profit by the things with which he came into contact, and in the long years of his struggles with the world, handicapped as he was, there accumulated in his mind a storehouse of useful knowledge not attained of books, but having root in his own personal experience. His favorite study was the simple works of Nature and his only desire was to beautify the world by patient care and attention to the things given into his hands. Grandpa Eades was honest as the day is long, simple in his mode of life and unwavering in his loyalty to his friends and ideals. He merited the high esteem in which he was held by the people of this city. In his thirty years residence he became widely known, and his death is sincerely lamented.
George was buried in Gaylord Cemetery.

Still to come in Part 2: George's children George Jr, David and Sophia.