George Haw was born on October 8, 1836, in Dishforth, England. He immigrated to America around 1844 and settled in Boscobel, Wisconsin. By 1860, he was working as a druggist, and he owned $500 of real estate and $700 of personal property.
In August 1862, he received a commission as a 1st lieutenant in Company B of the 33rd Wisconsin Infantry. The regiment took part in the Vicksburg campaign. In January 1863, he confessed that he “would like to come home,” but he refused to leave until his “duty [was] done here.” He maintained “confidence in God and the final triumph of the cause of Freedom and the right.” He apparently fell ill in the spring of 1864, and he resigned on April 2, 1864.
Haw corresponded with Annie M. Henry throughout the war, and the couple got married in 1863. They had at least two children: Mary, born around 1864; and Hattie, born around 1866. They moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, in the 1860s, and Annie died there on September 30, 1869. By 1870, he was working as a bookkeeper, and he owned $4,000 of real estate and $18,000 of personal property.
He married Mary Anna Corkhill on May 30, 1871, and they had at least four children: George, born around 1873; Alice, born around 1876; Carl, born around 1879; and James, born around 1883. By 1880, he was working as a hardware merchant in Ottumwa, Iowa, and he employed at least one white servant. Mary Anna died on April 15, 1896, and he married Katharine I. Jeardeau on November 11, 1899. According to a local writer, she was the “state agent and principal of the Sparta [Wisconsin] public school.” They lived in Ottumwa, and he died there on September 10, 1911.