I want to preface this by saying that I know that not everybody knows their family’s history. I’m extremely lucky and grateful that there are records dating back as far as 1700s for one side of my mother’s father’s family. But I know on my father’s side of the family, my grandpa is half Native American and was abandoned as a baby to an orphanage. We have no clue what sort of lineage he has. I doubt we’ll ever know. Its also a damn shame that my father’s family tree doesn’t extend that far out—because pretty much everybody that knew died and nobody wrote it down. All I knew is that they came from the south and were farmers. But we do closely resemble North Carolinians. No joke. But what I do know I want to share with all of you because I think its interesting.
Without further adieu, I present you the amazing story of one of the many of my mother’s father’s lineage heroes: George Washington Omans.
Seven generations down the line, we have good old George Washington Omans. He was a good chap. Actually, he was a farmer, a carpenter, a grocer and also fought on the Union side of the Civil War. He grew up in Clay, New York and enlisted at 21 at Palmyra, New York where he was assigned to B Company, 110th Infantry as a private where he transferred after a brief month to the regular army. It was called the Company C of the 147th Infantry and was stationed three miles north of Georgetown at Washington D.C.
Most people in the 147th Infantry died from Malaria but thankfully George Washington Omans was spared. He was in the battle of Fredricksburge and Belle Plain on the Potomac in November of 1862.That next year in May, they were at Chancellorville and in July of the same year, the 147th was at the Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg. This dude was on the Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg. GETTYSBURG! Most of the 147th Infantry died from illness, malaria and heat but they did some great work at Culp’s Hill on the south side of Gettysburg. Apparently there’s a huge memorial dedicated to them at the Gettysburg battlefield.
I should go check it out sometime.
George Washington Omans wasn’t just a badass that dodged bullets and Malaria at Gettysburg, he also returned back to service to be re-enlisted after his year was up to the 11th Cavalry and was sent to Lousiana where they fought head to head in battles at Jackson, Mississippi, Manning’s Plantation and Doyle’s Plantation in August 1864. It was not long after that he got out and back to his wife where they had a 10 children over 20 years.
He settled down in Missouri and is listed as an early member of the LDS Mormon Church and died in 1922 in Joplin, Jasper County Missouri.
I am so planning to go visit his grave some day.
The story doesn’t end there. There is also the story of George Washington Oman’s great grandpa Thomas Omans who fought in the Revolutionary War…but that, my friends, is a story for another day.