GEORGE WILL AND GEORGE WILL, JR.
HE following address was delivered by
Grace
Reah Johnson on October 26, 1930, dedicating a
bronze memorial which marks the final
resting
place of George Will and George Will,
Junior, in the
cemetery at McArthur, Ohio.
George Will was a soldier of the
American Revo-
lution, and George Will, Junior,
served with Anthony
Wayne in the campaign of 1794 and
also in the second
war with Great Britain, 1812-14. They had lain buried
in a neglected cemetery at Adelphi
until members of
the Will family transferred their
remains, in 1930, to
the cemetery at McArthur, and erected
the bronze
tablet for the dedication of which
this address was
delivered.
Grace Reah Johnson (Mrs. Arthur C.
Johnson, Sr.), is the
great-granddaughter of George Will,
Junior.
(615)
GEORGE WILL AND GEORGE WILL, JR.
Pioneers, Who Served Their Country Well
BY GRACE REAH JOHNSON
Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg
address--the
classic consecration speech of all
time--says of that bat-
tleground, "We cannot dedicate--we
cannot consecrate--
we cannot hallow--this ground. The
brave men who
struggled here have consecrated it far
above our power
to add or detract."
And so it is my part only to record
what I know of
the lives, and endeavor to pay a bit of
tribute to the
achievement of the two brave men who
lie sleeping here,
and whose names are engraved on this
enduring bronze.
Much of the glamour of European travel
lies in
visiting spots famous in history. No one who has
seen the majestic lions in Trafalgar
Square which sur-
round the Lord Nelson memorial, can
fail to thrill to the
memory of the man who established for
England the
Supremacy of the Sea, and at the foot
of whose statue
is engraved the words,
"Not once nor twice in our rough
island's story--
The path of duty was the way to
glory."
To the Daughters of the American
Revolution and to
the Sons of the American Revolution we
cannot give too
great credit for their achievement in
marking historical
(616)
George Will and George Will, Jr. 617
spots and perpetuating the record of
heroic deeds. To
our fair land they have given many a
wayside shrine
where our youth may pause, and reflect,
and be inspired
to fight with a stout heart whatever
struggle meets their
every day.
To most of us there is, in all American
history, no
period so soul-stirring as the period
of the Revolution
and the story of the lesser campaigns
which established
our United States of America.
We owe a debt of eternal gratitude to
those sturdy
pioneers who gave us so firm a
foundation, who builded
our nation upon a solid rock of
security and justice and
freedom.
They sailed uncharted seas, navigated
unknown
rivers, made of the wilderness a tilled
and fruitful land,
blazed a clear trail on the western
deserts; and many of
them gave the last full measure of
devotion on our battle-
fields.
In the book "Official Roster,
Soldiers of the American
Revolution Buried in Ohio," page
399, you will find this
entry--
George Will, 1st Lieutenant 6th
Pennsylvania Regi-
ment, served 11 years in English and
Prussian service.
Born May 3rd, 1747, in Germany, parents
supposedly
English. Married Susannah Hunsicker.
Died 1828,
Adelphi, Ross County, Ohio. Buried in
old cemetery
near center, grave marked.
Reference--Natl. No. 83925
D. A. R. Lineage. The history of the 6th
Regiment is
very scant; was captured with all its
records in disaster
at Fort Washington.
In the Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd
Series, published
under the direction of Matthew Quay,
Secretary of the
Commonwealth, and found in the Chief
Record and Pen-
sion Office in Washington, D. C., you
will find the mili-
618
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
tary record of this first George Will.
He had served for
eleven years in the English and
Prussian Service. He
was commissioned an Adjutant of the 6th
Penn. Regt. on
February 15th, 1776--and soon afterward
commissioned
First Lieutenant. His name is last
borne on a list of
officers dated August 27th, 1778, with
remark "Re-
signed".
This first George Will came to America
as a
young boy and lived in Berks County,
Pennsylvania, or
in the vicinity, until after the birth
of his grandson,
Jacob Gresinger Will, in Somerset
County, Pennsyl-
vania, July 11th, 1806.
Some time after that, the family set
out to wrest
their fortune from the fertile lands of
Ohio and settled
in Adelphi, Ross County. Here he died
on October 13th,
1828, and was buried in the old
Lutheran cemetery--
until July, 1930--when his remains were
brought here
to McArthur to lie beside those of his
descendants and
kin folk.
George Will, the Second, was born in
Reading,
Pennsylvania, on July 3rd, 1774--the
son of George and
Susannah Will. The youth was enkindled
by the same
spark of patriotism that inspired his
father, for when
barely eighteen years of age, he ran
away from home to
join General Anthony Wayne's army at
Pittsburgh in
August, 1792. He continued in
this army throughout
the entire campaign of General Wayne in
the middle
western country (with the exception of
two months in
1794, when he was recuperating from a
wound). The
enlistment was completed in Detroit in
April, 1798.
This second George Will thus gave six
years of his
young manhood to serve with General
Wayne against
George Will and George Will,
Jr. 619
the Indians, British and Canadians and
to help open to
American settlers the country round
about Fort Wayne,
Greenville, Detroit, etc.
In the battle of the Maumee, now known
as the "Bat-
tle of Fallen Timbers" (this
battlefield was just six
miles from the present city of Toledo),
on August 20th,
1794, George Will received a severe
wound through his
body, which rendered him unfit for
active service for
about two months. As a little girl, I was
many times
thrilled by my grandmother, Sarah Will,
showing me the
bloodstained red sash worn by her
husband's father in
the battle of Fallen Timbers. Many
times did I beg for
the tale of how he stuffed this sash in
his open wound
and so fought on until the battle
ended. My mother,
Mrs. Reah, heard this account many
times from her
father--relating to his father.
After Wayne's army was disbanded, the
second
George Will went home to Somerset,
Pennsylvania,
where he married Elizabeth Gresinger of
Chambers-
burg, on July 19th, 1798. There on July
11th, 1806, my
grandfather, Jacob Gresinger Will, was
born.
In the War of 1812, this second George
Will was an
Aide-de-camp to General McArthur,
entering the war as
a First Lieutenant in the 16th
Infantry, transferred to
the 19th Infantry on May 12th, 1814,
and at the close
of the war held the rank of Captain. We
know of these
eight years as an active soldier and
Captain Will was
forty years old when he finally left
the army.
Captain Will had in his possession a
journal or diary
of Wayne's campaign, kept by a
Lieutenant Boyer. This
he sent, in May, 1842, to Mr. John S.
Williams, editor
and publisher of the American
Pioneer, a monthly
620 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
periodical published in Chillicothe,
Ohio, and devoted
to the objects of the Logan Historical
Society. A copy
of this volume, Vol. 1, may be found in
the Ohio State
Library at Columbus. From the private
diary of Cap-
tain Will--the original now lying in
the vault of the Mc-
Arthur National Bank--I copy the
following:
Detroit. July 17th, 1797. This day I was
appointed
Serg't Major of the 2nd Regiment--in
which station I
was considered as capacitated.
and from the original of the following
detachment and
brigade orders:
Lower Seneca, Aug. 4th, 1813. Lieut.
Will of the
26th Reg't Infantry is appointed
Adjutant of the De-
tachment under my command until further
orders, and
as such will be obeyed and respected.
Signed Sam'l Wells, Colonel,
17th Reg't Infantry.
Newark, Canada, Fort George, Nov. 17th, 1813.
Brigade orders--First Lieutenant George
Will of the
26th Reg't U. S. Infantry, is hereby
appointed my Aide-
de-camp and is to be obeyed and
respected as such.
Signed Duncan McArthur,
Brigadier Gen'l., U. S. Army.
With this journal Captain Will sent
also a statement
of his own regarding the movement of
Wayne's army,
complete with dates, etc. On page 293
of this volume
you will find the following editorial
comment on Captain
Will's letter:
We congratulate our readers upon the
reception of
such valuable documents as the following
letter and
journal of which Mr. Will speaks. They
have a tend-
ency to settle some things considered
uncertain. We
shall much regret if Mr. Will cannot be
prevailed upon
to write out more of his pioneer
experience. When our
readers look at his signature and are
informed that every
George Will and George Will, Jr 621
line in the composition is fully equal
and ready to go
into the printer's hands without the
slightest alteration,
they will feel that he ought to do his
country that service.
We look upon such historical lore as he
is in pos-
session of like gold and diamonds on the
brink of a river,
which if not soon collected, will be
carried to the bed of
the ocean and lost forever.
This second George Will died in
McArthurstown on
March 27, 1845, but was buried beside
his father in
Adelphi; in July, 1930, the two
soldiers being brought
to this resting place.
Near him lie sleeping his son, Jacob
Gresinger Will
and his grandsons Daniel Will, Jacob
Swinehart Will,
and Aaron Will.
What manner of men these three
grandsons were,
you--their fellow-townsmen--know, and, knowing,
would say that they were honorable men
who carried
well a fair name.
And so we leave them here--their
warfare o'er.
Warm summer sun
Shine kindly here;
Warm summer wind
Blow softly here;
Green sod above
Lie light, lie light;
Goodnight, dear ones,
Goodnight, goodnight.
And now it is fit that we turn again for
one moment
to the living.
Of Captain Will's grandchildren,
through his son
Jacob,--and there were ten,--only one
is now living--
my mother, Clara Will Reah; and, so far
as we can as-
certain, she is the only living
grandchild of George Will
the Second.
622 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications To those of my generation, and the one, and the two, that follow me today--and to you all here--may we be lifted up by the many heroic lives that have preceded us. Each of us have our own kind of battleground, our own conflict of the soul and our own struggle with the prob- lem of living. The tasks confronting us are many and varied. The progress of inventions and science, the change in industrial conditions, far outstrip the think- ing and habits of the average man. We must find some solution to the clash between Labor and Capital, License and Liberty, to the care of the unfortunate, the con- quering of disease, the problem of production and over- production. There is still to be made some charting of the seas, of the waters under the sea, and the pathways in the air, just underneath the stars. There is for us all one clear call to uphold the Christian religion in an age of Unbelief--to bring back again the "Christ of the Indian Road." Let us rise to the challenge, lift high the Flag, revive the spirit of '76-- God of our Fathers, known of old Lord of our far-flung battle line; Beneath whose awful Hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine, Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet Lest we forget, lest we forget. |
|
GEORGE WILL AND GEORGE WILL, JR.
HE following address was delivered by
Grace
Reah Johnson on October 26, 1930, dedicating a
bronze memorial which marks the final
resting
place of George Will and George Will,
Junior, in the
cemetery at McArthur, Ohio.
George Will was a soldier of the
American Revo-
lution, and George Will, Junior,
served with Anthony
Wayne in the campaign of 1794 and
also in the second
war with Great Britain, 1812-14. They had lain buried
in a neglected cemetery at Adelphi
until members of
the Will family transferred their
remains, in 1930, to
the cemetery at McArthur, and erected
the bronze
tablet for the dedication of which
this address was
delivered.
Grace Reah Johnson (Mrs. Arthur C.
Johnson, Sr.), is the
great-granddaughter of George Will,
Junior.
(615)