George W. Browning was born around 1829 in Pennsylvania to Joseph Browning and Sarah Ann Coleman. His mother died around 1830. He married a woman named Cinderella around 1849, and their son Emmett was born around 1860. In 1850, the couple was living in Athens, Pennsylvania, and Browning was working as a mason. They apparently moved to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, by the late 1850s.
Browning enlisted in the Union army on December 20, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company E of the 54th Ohio Infantry. As he explained to his wife, he went "into the army out of Pure love for my country and any thing I can do and not complicate my honor I will do." He was promoted to 2nd lieutenant on February 5, 1862, and he took part in the Battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and Chickasaw Bayou. He probably supported the Democratic Party, and he published an account of the Battle of Shiloh in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He resigned on February 13, 1863, and returned to Cuyahoga County. He wrote to his wife that was returning "to my Beloved family, if not in health [then] with a clear consience that I have discharge[d] my duty as A soldier to my country."
By 1870, the family was living in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and Browning owned $3,000 of real estate and $800 of personal property. Cinderella died around 1875, and he married Alice O. Seek around 1879. Their daughter Alice was born around 1880, and Browning also adopted a daughter named Nellie sometime before 1875. He applied for a federal pension in June 1880 and received one shortly afterward. He died in Erie County on September 18, 1892.