Thursday, July 16, 2015

Happy Birthday George C. McClellan VanBilliard


My Great-grandfather, George C. McClellan VanBilliard, was born on 16 Jul 1864. Son of Jerome VanBilliard and Ellen Shick, he was born in Freemansburg, Northampton, Pennsylvania. He was the middle child of 7 children. It was only in the 1870 census that the middle name of McClellan is found. 

On 19 Sep 1885 George married Susan Haas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  They had 9 children and the next to youngest, Elizabeth, was my paternal grandmother. My father, George Charles O'Donnell Sr, was named for his maternal grandfather.

In the 1930 census George was living in New Hope,Bucks,Pennsylvania. He was work as a foreman for the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, at the time the biggest competitor of Western Union, who later took them over. I have this letter that he sent to my father. I never saw this letter until after my father died so I don't know if he ever saw his grandfather in June of 1930. George VanBilliard died a few months later on 10 Nov 1930 in Brookfield, Madison, New York.