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"I was born near the town of West Burlington, Burlington Township, Bradford Co. Pa. [Pennsylvania] July 23, 1844. ... The name of my father was Frederick G. Crofutt and mother's maiden name was Philena Campbell.."[1]
George Clinton Crofutt was born on the 20th moon day, at 11:00 in the evening of Wednesday, according to his father's family bible,[2] 23 July 1844,[2][3][4][5] in Granville Township, Burlington, Bradford County, Pennsylvania (PA),[3] [6] where his parents, Frederick and Philena,[7] probably lived in 1844. George, on his 1864 enlistment document and a 1914 deposition (quoted above), stated his birthplace was West Burlington, Bradford Co., Pennsylvania. West Burlington was incorporated in 1855, eleven years after George's birth. His death certificate just says he was born in Pennsylvania. The examiner, during the 1914 deposition, mentions that 23 July 1844, was a Tuesday 7th moon day, while 23 July 1845 was a Wednesday 20th moon day. George had no explanation for this discrepancy.[1]
"I had sisters and brothers as follows: James L. Crofutt, William C. Crofutt, Lydia A. Crofutt and Harriet E. Crofutt. I have given you the names in the order of birth except Harriet E. who was the oldest, and only a half sister. ... I come after Lydia A."[1]
"In the summer of 1850 I was living with a man by the name of Card. No, I was living with my father at that time in Burlington Township, Bradford Co. Pa., but I did live with a man by the name of Thomas Card and his wife Ruth Card, in Leroy Township, Bradford Co. Pa. from about 1846 to 1849."[1]
George doesn't mention his mother again and since he was living with a different family, the Cards, in 1846, it can be assumed that she died about the time George was two or shortly thereafter, and his father, who was at an economic low point, placed him with another family.
1850: Leroy Twp., Bradford Co., PA. (enumerated 2 August 1850) George, only six years old, was residing with Thomas, 36, and Ruth, 26, Card/Case/Carl/Casl/Cad.[8][9][10] George's father, Frederick, lived about 10 miles away in Burlington, PA, with the older children.[11]
"In the summer of 1860 I was living in the Town of Canandaigua, about 1 1/2 miles from Canandaigua, Ontario Co., N.Y. I was then living with a man by the name of William Judevine. I do not remember his wife's name. They did not have any children."[1]
1860: Enumerated on 22 June, George was not listed on the census with William Judevine, age 33 and Mariah, 31 (Family # 265) or Wm. Judevine, 55, and his family (#1365).[12][13][14]
"I am the identical George C. Crofutt who served in Co. D, 33rd New York Inf. from May 7, 1861 to June 2, 1863 and in Cos. M, 3rd and 5th Pa. Cav. from March 21, 1865 to August 7, 1865."[1]
On 28 April 1861,[5] or 7 May 1861, George C. Crofutt enlisted as a private in Captain H.J. Cliffords Co. (D) 33rd Regiment of the New York State Volunteers (Infantry) commanded by Col. R.F. Taylor, for a term of two years.[15] The regiment was organized at Elmira, New York, and George mustered in May 22, 1861.[16]
The 33rd regiment did service in the defense of Washington, D.C., until March 1862. Highlights of their efforts were the Siege of Yorktown, April 15-May 4; Battle of Williamsburg, May 5; Storming of Fort Magruder.[17] During this enlistment George suffered from some assorted ailments, stomatitis (inflammation of the mouth), catarrh, fever, cold and constipation.[18]
While covering Pope's retreat to Fairfax Court House, Sept. 1-6, Crofutt was captured (Sept 2) at Fairfax Court House.[18] The Regimental Return dated Sept. 1862 reported him as absent without leave. On Oct 18, 1862, he was reported as a deserter.[16][18]
In the meantime, George was paroled at Fairfax Court House (Lee's Cavalry Camp) Sept. 3 and reported to Camp Parole, Maryland, and was sent to Alexandria, Virginia, Nov. 1862 and rejoined Co. D on Feb 28, 1863. The charges of desertion were not officially dropped until Oct 5, 1877.[18]
In action at Chancellorsville, May 1, 1863, George was wounded (nature or location of wound not stated),[16] however from oral family knowledge, it is known that he got a bullet in his left shoulder, which was never removed, and caused his arm to be crippled. (In later years he wore a row of buttons up his shirt sleeve to facilitate getting in and out of his shirt.)[19] He spent his remaining enlistment time in the USA General Hospital in Elmira, New York. On June 2, 1863, he was transferred to Geneva where he was honorably discharged,[15][5][16] the regiment having been mustered out by reason of expiration of term.[17] George was 18, 5' 5", light complexioned with blue eyes, and light hair. His occupation was farmer.[15]
No stories of their courtship survive, but about six months after his discharge, George C. Crofutt married Julia Delphine Fleming 17 Dec 1863,[1][3][4][20][21][22] at Granville Summit, PA.[1][20][21] The Rev. William L. Warner officiated.[1][20][21] We know that Julia was a member of the Methodist Church, but George commented that as far as he knew he had never been baptized.[1]
At the time, the Army was a steady, paying job. George reenlisted March 21, 1864, as part of Company M of the 3rd Regiment of Cavalry Volunteers. He enrolled at Burlington, Pennsylvania, and mustered in Mar 21, 1864 as a Private at Troy, Pennsylvania, for a 3 year term. At enrollment, he was described as age 21, 5’8 ½”, brown hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, occupation fireman or farmer, residence Burlington, Pennsylvania.[18][5][16]
Nov. 11, 1864, George was reported sick. During that same November his first child daughter Georgia Bell was born.[20]
Just before the battle of Cold Harbor, May 1864, when his regiment was in camp about two miles south of Salem Church, Virginia,[23] George wrote a letter home to his wife.
A family story of this tour as a cavalryman survives, repeatedly told in the first half of the twentieth century by his son, Charles. It is of a night when George was foraging for watermelons in a southern field. He found a ripe melon and mounted his horse holding the large melon on the pommel of his saddle. Suddenly a voice said “Get out’a here you damn Yankee” and a shot whizzed past his ear. The horse jumped and set off at dead speed, the melon fell broken across the saddle.[19]
After Lee's surrender, April 1865, George was transferred to Co. M, 5th Regiment of Pennsylvania Cavalry, by reason of consolidation. They were on duty at Richmond, Virginia, but George was present in confinement (nature of offense not stated). He was mustered out at Richmond, Virginia, Aug 7, 1865.[16][17]
On Sept. 18, 1865, George was a resident of Leroy Township, Bradford Co., Pennsylvania.[15] His second child was born the 19th.
George and his family moved around the Bradford County area during the next 20 years. At least two of his children born 1871 and 1881 were born in West Franklin, Pennsylvania. Children born in 1876 and 1885 were born in Leroy, Pennsylvania. He was probably moving to where work was as a farm laborer and lumbering, so that he could support his growing family.
The 1870 US Census at Granville Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, P.O. Granville Summit (enumerated Aug 9) lists Crofut, George, 26, Farmer, real estate value $100, personal property $200, born Pennsylvania, male citizen over 18; Julia D, 22, keeping house born Pennsylvania; Gorgie, 5; Effie, 3; Bell, 9/12, b Aug; children all born Pennsylvania.[24][25]
During the 1870s, George was occasionally listed on the tax lists in Granville Township, Bradford, with one cow.[26]
In 1876, he first applied for a pension at the age of 32.
The family was enumerated in the 1880 US Census: Le Roy, Bradford, Pennsylvania,[27] and consisted of G. C. Crofeet, head, 35, worked on a farm; Julia H. Crofeet, wife, 32; Alice Crofeet, daughter, 10; Lydia Crofeet, daughter, 8; Minnie Crofeet, daughter, 3; Lillie Crofeet, 1.
The 1880 Census enumerated Georgia Crofutt, 15, and Effie, 12, as pupils at Mansfield Soldiers Orphans Home, where orphans lived but also the children of soldiers who had been seriously disabled could get an education.
The Leroy Township taxlist during the 1880s listed George with one cow and sometimes a dog.[26]
In 1886, George was listed as a laborer in Carbon Run, a coal mining town in the Towanda Range.[26]
George's brother, James, in a 1907 pension deposition claimed that George lived in Alba, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. George doesn't mention Alba on his own list of places he lived in after the war. According to George's Pension Declaration dated May 1912, he lived in the following places after the war: Granville, Bradford, Pa; Leroy, Bradford, Pa; Burlington Township, Pa; Franklin Township, Pa; Leroy Township Pa, East Canton Pa.; and moved to McNett Township, Lycoming County, Pa. 25 years last March (about 1887). His Post Office address was Leolyn, Tioga County, Pennsylvania.[5]
Starting in 1877, the George Crofutt family settled on a farm in McNett Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. [28] [29] [30] He was listed in the 1890 Veterans Schedules in McNett Township Lycoming Co. Pennsylvania. There is a box for disability incurred, but it lists nothing for George. [31]
The Daily Gazette and Bulletin, (Williamsport, Pennsylvania) June 8, 1893, reported on the case of Commonwealth vs. George Crofutt. The charge was maintaining a nuisance.
George's younger children attended the McIlwain School in McNett at least during 1895/96 and 1896/97.[32]
1901: Daily Gazette and Bulletin, Williamsport, Pennsylvania March 7, 1901 - A QUIET DAY IN JUDGE MITCHELL'S COURT ROOM. - The case of George Crofut, charged with cruelty to animals, was resumed and the defense put in a general denial of the commonwealth's evidence. The jury rendered a verdict of not guilty, the prosecutor, Reuben Behm to pay the costs.
1903: Gazette and Bulletin, Williamsport, Pennsylvania 1 Apr 1903: F. Grant Sweet and wife, to George C Crofutt, land in McNett Township $100. Deed filed in Recorders office 31 Mar 1903.
1912 May 25th in his Declaration for Pension (certificate #141220), George declared he was 67, a resident of Mcnett Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.[5]
1913: Gazette and Bulletin, Williamsport, PA 22 Feb 1913, Jacob A. Carpenter et al to George C Crofutt land in McNett township: consideration $1. Deed dated 30 Jan 1913 Lycoming Co.
3 Dec 1914: "I am 70 years of age. P.O. address, R.F.D.1, Leolyn, Pa. Occupation, farmer."[1] "I am pensioned at $19 per month under the act of May 11, 1912. I am an applicant for increase under said law."[1]
1921: George was assessed for 20 acres of improved land and 96 acres of woodland valued at a rate of $3 per acre, for a total of $348 and was taxed $3.31. His wife's business was valued at $25.00. She was assessed .24. [33]
George, age 78, died Christmas Eve, 24 DEC 1922.[7][34][4][35][21] at his home near Newelltown, McNett Twsp, Lycoming Co., PA.[7][36]
Obituary Wellsboro Gazette. Vol LXVI, Wellsboro, Tioga county, Thursday Jan 11, 1923 -- "George Crofutt, aged 78 years, an old resident of McNett township, Lycoming County died at his home near Newelltown Dec 24."
Digested from his Obituary in the Daily Review Sat. Jan 13, 1923, located in the card files of the Bradford County Historical Society, Towanda PA: George Clinton Crofutt died Dec 24, 1922 - Newelltown, McNett Twp., Lycoming, PA. Age 78. Civil War. buried Dec 27, 1922, cemetery nearby. Survivors: wife Julia Delphine Fleming, children - Mrs. Eli Warburton, Elkland; Mrs Effie Hinkley, Towanda; Mrs Allie Barnes, Elmira; Mrs. Lydia Baldwin, Union; Mrs. Minnie Shoemaker, Niagara Falls; Mrs. Lillie Spencer, Grover; Charles Crofutt, Elmira; Addison Crofutt, Caledonia; Ernest Crofutt, Medix Run;
Buried
27 DEC 1922, at the Newelltown Cemetery.[37][7][38][39]
George's records in the Probate (Orphan's) Court of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, state his death as Dec 24, 1922. He left real estate of 68 1/2 (? unclear) acres in McNett Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. The documents list his wife and surviving children, with their ages and places of residence. Wife -- Julia D. Crofutt, age 75, of Leolyn, Pa. Children -- Georgia Warburton, 57, Elkland, Pa.; Effie Hinkley, 55, Towanda, Pa.; Allie Barnes, 53, Leolyn, Pa.; Lydia Baldwin, 51, Leolyn, Pa.; Minnie Shoemaker, 47 Niagara Falls, N.Y.; Lillie Spencer, 44 Grover, Pa.; Charles H. Crofutt, 42, Elmira, N.Y.; Addison Crofutt, 40, Woodville, Pa.; Ernest Crofutt, 38, Medix Run, Pa.
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