Wiley George

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Wiley George. Born in North Carolina, in 1797, and the kind of man who never quite stopped moving.

At seventeen years old, he enlisted in the Georgia militia and went off to fight in the War of 1812. That's a young man stepping into a very big story, and he came out the other side. He lived in Georgia, then Alabama, and somewhere along the way he married a woman named Nancy Jones.

Nancy died in 1834, and the record goes quiet on that grief. What we know is that by 1840, Wiley George was heading to Texas. He settled in San Antonio and engaged in business for some time.

Then, in 1845, he married Anna McConnell, down in Victoria. A new chapter, a new place, a new life. Three years later, in 1848, Wiley and Anna moved to Port Lavaca and took up residence in a fine new home.

George was speculating in horses, which is the kind of enterprise that sounds glamorous and risky in equal measure, and honestly, it probably was both. In 1849, he and Anna had a son, W. B.

George. A family, a fine home, a business in horses. In 1862, Wiley George died.

His estate was valued at four thousand, six hundred and thirteen dollars and fifty cents. To the penny. Someone counted carefully.

He is buried in the Port Lavaca Cemetery, in an unmarked grave. All that movement, all those miles from North Carolina to Georgia to Alabama to San Antonio to Victoria to Port Lavaca, and the ground that holds him carries no name at all. The marker does, now.

What the marker says

(1797-1862) Born in North Carolina, Wiley George enlisted in the Georgia militia at the age of 17, fighting in the War of 1812, He lived in Georgia and Alabama and was married to Nancy Jones (d. 1834) before coming to Texas in 1840. Settling in San Antonio, he engaged in business for some time, eventually marrying Anna McConnell in Victoria in 1845. They moved to Port Lavaca in 1848 to reside in a fine new home while George speculated in horses. He and Anna had one son, W. B. George, born in 1849. When Wiley George died in 1862, his estate was valued at $4,613.50. George is buried in the Port Lavaca Cemetery in an unmarked grave. (1998)