George William Abersold (1883 - 1951)

Born 22 Apr 1883 in Cameron, Monroe, Ohio, United States

Died 26 Jul 1951 at age 68 in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Gordon Clark [send private message]

Biography

From Ruth Strait: "Dr. George Abersold was a coal mine doctor and surgeon near Wheeling, W. Va. He was at Grandma's one time when my cousin Morris and I were at church, playing out front while our parents were back in the cemetery for some reason. . . I swung under a bar used to tie up horses when people came to church etc. There was a sharp piece of rusty metal sticking in the ground which cut a nasty gash in my leg. Morris knew Uncle George was at the Sheets farm so he got me in 'the surrey with the fringe on top' and grabbed the reins and turned the horses toward the Sheets farm, not even telling our parents!

"Well, Uncle George said it was the first time he ever came to the farm without first aid equipment, but they had carbolic acid, boiling water, so he got busy. Morris was so interested he forgot about our parents, but all at once he took off! They couldn't imagine Morris doing such a thing as he was a very dependable child, must have been around 12. So he was forgiven and praised and they all came back to see the results. So I had a nice scar, may still be there, thanks to this surgeon uncle being at the right place at the right time.

"He also took out Bob and Bill's [Strait] tonsils. And he operated on my father but we lost him. So Uncle George has been a big help to our part of the family."I

From Earl Clark: "I also met Uncle George Abersold when we were living in Follansbee, for Wheeling was the closest downriver city. I seem to recall he also owned a billboard company, or could it have been a son of his? I know whoever it was told us a story of one of their crews pasting up a billboard on a windy day somewhere along the river when a sudden gust whipped away the last sheet just as they were about to paste it up. The paper went whirling into the sky and after watching a while the workers decided to pack up their brushes and come back the next day to replace it. But then they noticed the sheet of paper dipping and swooping their direction again, so they kept watching, and in a moment the sheet whacked against the billboard, the workers grabbed their brushes and past again, slapped it on, and went home."

Sources

• Family records.
• Personal recollection of Ruth Strait, Dec. 1994.
• Personal recollection of Earl Clark, 4 Feb 1995.