George W. Deatrick - G.A.R., Bishop Post

George Washington Deatrick was a native of Fredericksburg, Wayne County, Ohio, where he was born in 1837. In the 1860 census, he lived with his parents, John J. N. and Elizabeth and siblings, Harriet, Charlotte and Charles.  George was 17 and he and his father both worked as "fullers and carders" - men who used spiked brushes to untangle and straighten cotton from its bolls and then they "fulled" it, cleaning and preparing it for spinning or weaving.  In that same year, the young George married Anna Maria Ober.



On July 31, 1862, George enlisted in Company H, 102 Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry for three years service.  He was promoted to Full Corporal on September 27, 1862 and again on September 21, 1864, he was promoted to full sergeant.  He mustered out on June 30, 1865.

After George's mustering out, he and Anna moved to Defiance in 1866.  By 1870, they had son, Harry - 9, born before George left for service, Alice - 2, and Willie - 1.  George was a store clerk and they were able to have a domestic servant, Ines Ward, 15.

George W. Deatrick was a very active member in the community, serving as postmaster, holding many offices in various fraternal organizations, and at one time, running for Auditor.  He worked many years as a bookkeeper for the Defiance Machine Works.  In the 1910 census, when George was 72 years old, he still had that job.  Living at 209 Wayne Street, he and Anna had with them her mother, Barbara E. Ober, 89, and a housekeeper, Katherine Daldorf, 22.  It was George and Anna's 50th year of marriage.

That very same fall, Anna Deatrick passed away, preceding her elderly mother in death.  The Defiance Democrat ran her obituary on September 21, 1910:

At some point, the widowed George moved to Washington, D.C. to live with his son, William O.  In the 1920 census, George, 82, lived with William, 50, an auditor for the Internal Revenue Bureau, and wife, Ethel, 40, and their two daughters, Dorothy, 16, a government clerk, and Elizabeth, 10.  

George W. Deatrick died on April 13, 1923, at the age of 86 in Washington, D. C.  His body was brought back to Defiance for burial in Riverside Cemetery.

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(This is part of a series on Civil War veterans of Defiance County who were part of the G.A.R., Bishop Post, that headquartered in the city.  Formed in 1879, the post was named after a local man, Captain William Bishop, Company D, 100th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Army who died as a result of wounds received in battle.  The veterans' photos are part of a composite photo of members that has survived.  If you have other information or corrections to add to the soldiers' stories, please add to the comments!)