Ringgold County IAGenWeb Project

Ringgold County Biographical Sketches

George LILES

pp. 366

“George LILES, a prosperous and enterprising farmer of Union Township, living on section 3, was born in Ross County, Ohio, September 21, 1828, a son of Lemuel and Hannah Liles, the father a native of Tennessee, and the mother born in Pennsylvania, of Dutch descent. They moved with their family to Ohio in an early day, where both died, the mother in 1852, and the father in 1875, in his ninety-seventh year. They were the parents of fourteen children – ten sons and four daughters, of whom our subject was the ninth child. Thirteen of the children grew to maturity, and at present seven are yet living. George Liles was reared on a farm and early in life inured to toil.

He grew to manhood in Logan County, Ohio, and was there married July 13, 1854, to Miss Hannah Cooper, a native of Hardin County, Ohio, born December 4, 1835, a daughter of William and Sarah Cooper. To Mr. and Mrs. Liles have been born thirteen children, of whom eight are living – Joseph G., at home; Aramintia, wife of Samuel Donavan of Union Township; Lemuel, at home; Ruth, wife of William Dickson of Union Township; Julie, John, Emma Agnes and Birt, living at home. Four died in infancy, and one son, Franz Sigle, died at the age of sixteen years.

Mr. Liles resided in Hardin County, Ohio, one year after his marriage, and in the fall of 1855 located in Davis County, Iowa, where he followed farming and coal mining for several years. In January, 1865, he visited Ringgold County, when he purchased 160 acres of John Paine, who had built a small cabin on the farm and opened twenty acres, and the same spring brought his family to their new home, where they have since resided.

Mr. Liles made his first money in Ohio, in cutting hoop poles, stave bolts, etc. When he reached Davis County, he had but $240 in cash and a team. There he bought a farm of 120 acres for $1,000, making his payments principally with the money he earned at coal-mining, and by his industrious habits and strict economy he has acquired from small beginnings a good property and is now the owner of a good home; and by his honorable and industrious life he has gained the confidence and respect of the entire community.

Mr. Liles has never allowed unfavorable weather to interrupt the usual farm operations, believing that seed time and harvest are promised, and he has never failed to merit and receive fair returns for labor.

In politics Mr. Liles is a Republican. In his religious faith he believes in the doctrine of the United Brethren denomination. Mrs. Liles is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.”

(Submitted to the Ringgold County IAGenWeb Project by Christy Jay, email: Jaygenie@aol.com)