Sturgills in America

Sturgill, George Benton

Events

Parents

Families

Narrative

The following article came from A History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harvey Counties Oregon by Isaac Hyatt, published 1902.

GEORGE B. STURGILL: Among the sturdy pioneers who braved the dangers and hardships of that weariest of all journeys on this continent, crossing the plains in the earlier days with ox teams, mention must be made of that esteemed and prominant citizen whose name is at the head of the paragraph, and whose life of activity and enterprize is well known to the dwellers of this county.

Francis H. Sturgill and his wife Caroline Richmond, parents of our subject antives respectively of North Carolina and Alabama, were married in Lee Co., Va., came to Missouri in 1841, settling in Sullivan County where they remained until 1865. At that date they with their children undertook the trip accross the plains to Oregon and on August 29, while en route, the mother was taken from them by death. She was descended from a very prominent Virginia family, the Richmonds.

Mr Sturgill first settled in Wingville and took a homestead where he devoted his time and energy to agriculture until 1877 and then came to the lower valley of the Powder River.

One day while Mr Sturgill was mowing he stopped to remove the sickle and having completed that job he leaned the sickle against a tree at the rear of the machine. The horses became frightened and backed up so quickly that they caught his arm against the blade of the sickle, severing an artery from which he bled to death. (Another account of this event as told by one of his descendants was that the sicle was entangled in weeds and he was trying to clear it when the horses jumped forward. This seems more likely to have been the case D.A.S.) He was esteemed by all who knoew him and his death was mourned by the entire community. He was in his 62nd year at the time of his death and his funeral was taken charge of by the Masons and in their cemetery near Baker City he was buried. Mr. Sturgill had been very prominent in the politics of the county and had held several public offices, among them County Assesor in 1870-72.

Returning to our immediate subject, George B. Sturgill was born Dec 8,1841 in Sullivan Co., Mo., and there recieved his education and remained until the trip across the plains above mentioned, on which occasion he acted as captain, being eminently fitted for the responsible position since he had spent the summer of 1864 in mining the famous Alder Gulch of Montana. In 1868 he commenced to buy land and sell stock and for six years thereafter he resided in Union County, then returned to Wingville where he remained until 1893 when he bought his present place in the lower valley of the Poiwder River, where he is at present engaged in farming and raising stock, being one of the most prosperous and substantial settlers of that community.

The marriage of Mr. Sturgill and Miss Lida A. White was solomnized in Missouri in October 1861. Mrs Sturgill's parents, Madison and Elizabeth (Abbot) White were natives of Virginia and Ohio and her mother died on June 1, 1850 and is buried in the Williams graveyard near Milan, Mo. To our subject and his wife have been born the following children: (see page below)

Mr Sturgill is a member of the IOOF Lodge #69 at Wingville also of the Modern Woodsmen Lodge #48. He is prominent in politics, having chosen the Populist party to affiliate with and frequently he is nominated for important offices, in 1892, running for Coroner. At present he is a member of the School Board and is efficient a-and faithful in the discharge of his public duties. -pg 132-133

GEORGE BENTON STURGILL and his brother WILLIAM STURGILL, heard the siren's call of gold in the fall of 1863, and they saddled their horses and rode by themselves across the great plains to join the prospectors at the fabulous gold strike at Alder Gulch, Montana. If there had been no gold in the West, one must wonder how much of this wide country would still be unexplored and unsettled.

After one cold winter and eight or nine months of hard back-breaking labor with little reward, they both decided that gold mining was not for them; so again they saddled up and headed back to Missouri. William decided to stop off in Denver, and George continued homeward by himself. While recrossing the praries, he had plenty of time to think about stories other miners had told him, stories about the clear streams and fertile green valleys of Oregon.

When he reached Missouri again, he told his young wife and other relatives the things he had heard. At that time the Civil War was still raging and renegades from both sides were raiding in Missouri; so after some discussion, a group of relatives, friends and neighbors decided to form a wagon train and migrate to Oregon. George was elected to act as captain for this expedition, and early in the spring of 1865, they headed westward. Eventually the wagon train came to a halt in the Powder River Valley of Oregon, and the search for homesites began.

All of the children of George Sturgill and his wife Lyda White were born in Oregon, except their first son, who crossed the plains with them. - pg 134

Source References

Ancestors