George S. Grape
George S. Grape was born around 1830 in Maryland to George and Charlotte Grape. His father died in the 1840s. He grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and by 1850, he was working as a teacher. By 1860, he owned $1,500 of personal property.
He remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. His brother William served in the Union army, but poor health and family obligations kept George from enlisting. As he explained in February 1864, “I really would be willing to enlist myself if the family could spare me. I think I would go with pleasure in spite of my health, and in spite of the privations, in order to have some part in putting down the accursed rebellion.”
Instead, he supported the Union war effort as a civilian. In August 1862, he delivered a speech at a “war meeting” in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. As he explained to his mother, “we were pressed into the service for future speeches…You see therefore that you have two sons in the service of the country, but using different weapons.”
He married Susan Carter in the 1860s, and they apparently had no children. By 1870, he owned $13,500 of real estate and $22,500 of personal property. Poor health forced him to resign from teaching around 1888, and he died in Baltimore on January 24, 1894.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (3865) | Grape, George S. | 1830 | 1894-01-24 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Civilian
- Rank in:
- Rank out:
- Rank highest:
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 4
People - Records: 2
Places - Records: 2
SOURCES
1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; The Baltimore (MD) Sun, 25 January 1894; George S. Grape to Charlotte Grape, 6 August 1862, DL1709.006, Nau Collection; George S. Grape to William H. Grape, 12 February 1864, DL1709.012, Nau Collection.
