George Washington Warner

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@R1203558009@ North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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Book Title: Lineage Book : NSDAR : Volume 117 : 1915 1,61157::3535146

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@R1203558009@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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1,60525::2460452

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@R1203558009@ North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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Book Title: Lineage Book : NSDAR : Volume 117 : 1915 1,61157::3535146

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@R1203558009@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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1,60525::2460452

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@R1203558009@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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1,60525::2460452

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@R1203558009@ Derbyshire, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1910 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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1,9931::2735163

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@R1203558009@ Maryland, Compiled Marriages, 1655-1850 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations Inc

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1,7846::238696

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@R1203558009@ North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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Book Title: Lineage Book : NSDAR : Volume 117 : 1915 1,61157::3535146

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@R1203558009@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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1,60525::2460452

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@R1203558009@ Maryland, Compiled Marriages, 1655-1850 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations Inc

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1,7846::238696

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@R1203558009@ Derbyshire, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1910 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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1,9931::2735163

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@R1203558009@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

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Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=120242842&pi...

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@R1203558009@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

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Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=153930756&pi...

Inscription on gravestone: Revolutionary Soldier

George Varner was born in Pennsylvania or Maryland in about 1755. He moved to Rowan County North Carolina, with his parents, probably during his childhood years. He fought with American forces during the Revolutionary War. He moved to Wilkes County, Georgia soon after the end of that war. He became a prosperous planter, acquiring extensive holdings of land an Negro slaves. He died in Oglethorpe, GA in 1827. George and his wife Elizabeth raised a large family. They moved to other communities in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana.
George Varner moved to Georgia from Rowan or Randolph County, North Carolina, during the 1780's, shortly after the Revolutionary War ended. He was a resident of Wilkes County (Ogelthorpe County after 1794), Georgia, as early as 1785, when he and John Henley, Sr. both residents of Wilkes County, Georgia sold 200 acres of land, part of a 400 acre tract located on Falling Creek in Washington County, Georgia to Barnaba Dunn, 5 July 1785. Tax records also place George Varner in Wilkes County as early as the late 1780's.
In 1788, George Varner was granted 200 acres on Dry Fork of Long Branch in Wilkes County (Ogelthorpe County after 1794), Georgia. On 2 June 1791, he purchased an additional 300 acres on Long Branch. He built his plantation home on one of these acreages, and as the years passed, he added to his land holdings. He owned over 1700 acres at the time of his death in 1827. Most of his land holdings were located on Dry Fork of Long Branch, near his plantation home. Unfortunately, no records that describe the plantation buildings have been found.
George Varner's land holdings on Dry Fork of Long Branch were located in Wilkes County, Georgia, until Ogelthorpe County was created, at which time the George Varner plantation home became part of Ogelthorpe County. It was located in what is now the Northeast corner of Ogelthorpe County, near the County Line Baptist Church.

George and Elizabeth "Betsy" Varner married while they were residents of North Carolina although no record of their marriage had been located. This conclusion is based on the fact that their son John Varner was born in NC in 1783. Based on the order in which George and Betsy's children were listed in George Varner's will, John Varner is believed to have been their oldest son.
Elizabeth "Betsy" Varner is believed to have been Elizabeth Henley before her marriage. She was probably the daughter of John Henley and sister of Susannah Henley, who married Matthew Varner. Several Varner researchers have reached this conclusion, based partly on the fact that George and Betsy named one of their sons Henley. Also the name has been used many times by later generations of George and Betsy's descendants.
George Varner's wife's name was discovered by searching land deed records. George Varner and his wife Elizabeth "Betsy" Varner sold land on three occasions. Apparently Betsy died before George Varner wrote his will, in 1825. She is not mentioned in the will.
George and Betsy lived on land which was adjacent to Frederick Varner's plantation. Frederick is believed to have been George Varner's brother or cousin. Matthew Varner also lived near George and Frederick for a few years after the three of them settled in Georgia. Matthew is also believed to have been George Varner's brother or cousin. George and Frederick lived adjacent to one another until their deaths during the 1920's. In about 1800, Matthew moved about 12 miles Northeast of George and Frederick, to farm land located on Falling Creek, also in Oglethorpe County.

Eventually, George Varner undoubted became a major producer of cotton. Buty during his early years in Georgia, he probably grew more tobacco and grain than cotton. Cotton gradually became a significant crop after the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, but it did not become the major crop in Oglethorpe County until about 1815. Tobacco was the major crop prior to then, but corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, and flax were also grown. Livestock included sheep, cattle, horses, swine, and, in a few cases, mules. Much of the grain went into domestic liquor production, although it was also used for grain and flour. In 1810, the county produced 34,455 gallons of spirits worth $27,564. George Varner's estate appraisal listed three stills, suggesting that his plantation produced some of the domestic liquor. Economic statistics for Wilkes County, which was adjacent to Oglethorpe County, reflect a similar dominant agrarian pattern.
Based on extant property records, George Varner was more prosperous that Frederick or Matthew and the brothers and cousins they left behind in North Carolina. He acquired his wealth through the use of slave labor combined with sound management and, most likely, hard work. Oglethorpe County, GA, tax records and George's will show gradual, steady growth in both his land and slave holdings.

In 1796, the first year for which complete tax records were located, George owned 9 slaves and 160 acres of land. He paid taxes of 3.96 3/4. The land had an estimated value of $94.05; the tax records do not give an estimated value for slaves. In just nine years--from 1796 to 1805--George had increased his slave ownership to 25 and his land holdings to 1,136 acres. His tax bill for that year was $9.54 1/2. After another ten years, in 1815, he owned 36 slaves and 1,679 acres of land, all on Long Branch. In 1825, he had 42 slaves and 1,820 acres and paid $15,26 1/2 in taxes. For several years in the 1810's and early 1820's, George also reported ownership of a "2-wheel gigg," apparently a "Cadillac" means of transportation for that day and time. The county, or state, levied an annual "luxury" tax on it of 50 cents!
George Varner needed a good means of transportation because he lived about 15 miles from Lexington, the Oglethorpe County seat of government, where he had to travel frequently to engage in such endeavors as serve on juries, which he had did many times, and transact business. His property holdings placed him in the wealthiest 100 families in Oglethorpe County, which was at the center of Georgia's thriving agricultural industry of that day. From time to time he probably traveled to the bustling commerce centers of Augusta and Athens, each a distance of 40 to 50 miles from his plantation. Augusta was to the northeast and Athens was to the southwest of George's plantation home. He lived close to a major road that led to Augusta in one direction and Lexington and Athens in the other direction. Putnam County, where George's sons Henley and William lived about the last 15 years of George's life, was some 30 miles southeast of George's plantation.
The Oglethorpe County, Georgia Superior Court was a familiar scene to George Varner because he served on its juries several times during the last 30 years of his life, as noted above. He also knew the Superior Court as a defendant in one know law suit. On 11 Feb 1822, Littleberry Jackson brought suit against George seeking payment of $300 which he said George owed him. Jackson claimed that George, on 20 Dec 1820, employed him as an overseer on George's plantation for the year 1821. The rate of paywas to be $300 for the year. He said he reported for duty 1 Jan 1821 and served until 4 Jan 1822. He said he worked in the capacity of an overseer and attended to the plantation business. He told the Court that George Varner had refused to pay him the $300 promised and that he attempted to defraud him out of it. The jury found in favor of Littleberry Jackson and ordered George to pay him $300 plus interest from 1 Jan 1822. George was also directed to pay court costs. Records that were located did not include an argument from George as to why he had refused to pay Jackson.

George Varner wrote his will in 1825. His executors filed it in probate in 1827. The will and subsequent estate proceedings reflect George's substantial capital holdings. According to his will, he had already given large sums of money to each of his children, all but one of whom had reached adulthood. Even after making those gifts, his personal estate was appraised at over $16,000, a substantial sum for that period in U.S. history, and he still owned about 1,800 acres of land. (The appraisal lists 52 Negro slaves by name. This suggests that he may not have declared all of them for tax records or on the 1820 U.S. census return, which reported him as having only 40 slaves.)
It is obvious that George was financially stable to and actually did give his children a good start toward accumulating their own estates. And the records show that some of them prospered, although it appears that none of them fared as well in a economic sense as George did. At least three of Georgee and Betsy's children--William, Henley, and John--served the public in important government positions in their respective communities.
The inventory of the property of George Varner, which was made by the probate office after his death, suggests that his plantation was producing a variety of products, many of which were likely being consumed by residents of the plantation, including his slaves and other workers, family members, and animals. In addition to the 52 Negro slaves and 3 liquor distilleries already mentioned, the inventory included the following items: 300 barrels of corn, 30 bushels of wheat, 27 head of cattle, 13 horses, 2 yoke of oxen and 1 work steer, 100 head hogs, 35 geese, 45 sheep, 27 turkeys, a wide assortment of farm tools and equipment, and miscellaneous household furnishings.

Apparently, George and Betsy Varner did not attend the nearby County Line Baptist Church. This conclusion is based on a careful examination of the original copy of the Church minutes. George Varner's name is mentioned only in reference to two of his slaves who joined the church. He was referred to in the minutes as Mr. George Varner. Had he been a member, he would have been referred to as Brother George Varner. Betsy Varner's name does not appear in the minutes. George and Betsy's plantation was near the church, so attendance there would have been convenient for them. George's brother (or cousin) Frederick and his wife Judah were members. George and Betsy's plantation adjoined Frederick and Judah's. There were other churches in the area that George and Betsy might have attended, including a Methodist one, but early day minutes for them were not located.George Varner was born in Pennsylvania or Maryland in about 1755. He moved to Rowan County North Carolina, with his parents, probably during his childhood years. He fought with American forces during the Revolutionary War. He moved to Wilkes County, Georgia soon after the end of that war. He became a prosperous planter, acquiring extensive holdings of land an Negro slaves. He died in Oglethorpe, GA in 1827. George and his wife Elizabeth raised a large family. They moved to other communities in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana.
George Varner moved to Georgia from Rowan or Randolph County, North Carolina, during the 1780's, shortly after the Revolutionary War ended. He was a resident of Wilkes County (Ogelthorpe County after 1794), Georgia, as early as 1785, when he and John Henley, Sr. both residents of Wilkes County, Georgia sold 200 acres of land, part of a 400 acre tract located on Falling Creek in Washington County, Georgia to Barnaba Dunn, 5 July 1785. Tax records also place George Varner in Wilkes County as early as the late 1780's.
In 1788, George Varner was granted 200 acres on Dry Fork of Long Branch in Wilkes County (Ogelthorpe County after 1794), Georgia. On 2 June 1791, he purchased an additional 300 acres on Long Branch. He built his plantation home on one of these acreages, and as the years passed, he added to his land holdings. He owned over 1700 acres at the time of his death in 1827. Most of his land holdings were located on Dry Fork of Long Branch, near his plantation home. Unfortunately, no records that describe the plantation buildings have been found.
George Varner's land holdings on Dry Fork of Long Branch were located in Wilkes County, Georgia, until Ogelthorpe County was created, at which time the George Varner plantation home became part of Ogelthorpe County. It was located in what is now the Northeast corner of Ogelthorpe County, near the County Line Baptist Church.

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Abstract of Will is in the documents.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Varner-860

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101356310/george-varner

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 31 2023, 10:08:27 UTC
• Military service: Pennsylvania
• Residence: Election District 8, Frederick, Maryland, United States - 1820
• Residence: District 7, Frederick, Maryland, USA - 1830
  • Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 31 2023, 22:46:59 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 31 2023, 22:57:33 UTC