GEORGE L. REMINGTON GRAVESTONE PHOTO
South Kansas Tribune, Wednesday, April 17, 1895:
Death of Col. Remington
In the death of George L. Remington at the age of 67 years, which occurred April 12th, our city loses one of her very best citizens. A gentleman of high christian character, who was always cheerful and helpful, and it was always his pleasure to do duty whatever that was. He served his country faithfully in the great civil war, enlisting early in 1861, he was elected Captain of the Twenty-first New York volunteers and served at the front until in 1864 when ill health compelled his resignation. The following year he was married to his now bereaved wife. He engaged in the wholesale tobacco business in Buffalo, New York, and subsequently was elected register of deeds in that county. Later with his family he removed to Saginaw, Mich., where he was in the lumber trade until 1882, when he located in this city. For a time he was engaged in the cattle business, but in 1885 connected himself with the First National Bank of this place, and has served a bookkeeper, vice-president, and for five years has been its cashier. As a business man he was honest, prompt, and always reliable, and his associates always found him a man of excellent judgment and of unswerying fidelity. He has served the city as Member of the Board of Education and for years he has been its president, and none have proved more faithful, or to have a more unflagging interest in the educational affairs of the city. In religion he was of the Presbyterian faith, and he honored the professions he made, by a life void of offense. He was superintendent of its Sabbath school, a leading official member, and often when the pastor would be absence Col. Remington was called on to officiate, and to read a sermon, and in the last general assembly of the church he was selected to represent the Neosho Presbytery as its lay delegate. He was gifted in oratory and has often been called on as a public speaker, and always did credit to himself and his subject. In his fraternal relations he was a member of McPherson Post No. 4, G. A. R.; of the Modern Woodmen, and of the several Masonic fraternities, having passed the chairs with honor. The funeral on Sunday, was at his home; and was in charge of the Knights of Templar, attended by the Master Masons and the Modern Woodmen. Sermon by his pastor, the Rev. G. W. Bean, assisted by Chaplain Rev. J. W. Wright.
From History of Montgomery County, Kansas, By Its Own People, published by L. Wallace Duncan, Iola, Kansas, 1903, pgs. 682-684:
GEORGE L. REMINGTON. During the comparatively brief period of twelve years that he was permitted to mingle with and be one of the citizens of Montgomery county, the late subject of this record, George L. Remington, lived a life conspicuous for its relation to men and affairs, for its usefulness to be civil and social institutions and conspicuous for its purity and dignity as exemplified in his daily walk. Few men exhibit such strong and genuine elements of character and win the unbounded confidence of a community in so few years, as did he, and his death, April 11th, 1895, was mourned as a public loss.
Born in Lancaster, near Buffalo, New York, Mary 24, 1832, he was a son of Rev. James Remington, a noted Presbyterian minister of western New York, and for eighteen years pastor of the congregation of Lancaster. Though he had given up regular work very late in life Rev. Remington died in 1889 at over ninety years of age, still in the harness, as it were, and doing the work of the Master. He married Caroline Evans, who died in the seventies, being the mother of three sons and two daughters, namely: Rev. Charles, of Buffalo, New York, the only survivor of the family; George L., of this memoir; James, who died about 1880 and passed his life chiefly in the milling business; Mary, who died unmarried about 1875, and Jennie, who was for many years a deputy in the office of the Clerk of Erie county, New York, and died in 1891.
The education of George L. Remington was acquired in what we now term the common schools and in Gambler College, Ohio. On leaving college he entered the Union army as a private, joining company “C”, 21st New York Vol. Inf. He rose by successive promotions, viz: to First Sergeant, and August 7, 1861, was commissioned 1st Lieut., and Capt., Dec. 12, 1861. He succeeded Capt. Washburn who was killed at Second Bull Run in August, 1862. His regiment formed a part of the Army of the Potomac and he participated in all the engagements of that famous and splendid army and was discharged in 1864, resigning and leaving the service on account of failing health. September 14, 1865, he married Alice Pomeroy, a daughter of Robert Pomeroy, a banker and one of the old settlers of Buffalo, New York. Mr. Pomeroy married Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of a Baptist clergyman, and died in 1856 at sixty years old. He resided in Buffalo when the British burned that city during the war of 1812 and he and his mother were the last to leave the destroyed city. Mrs. Remington is the fourth of nine children in her parents’ family, five of whom are yet living.
Mr. Remington was in the service of the government in the commissary department of the army at Nashville, Tennessee, for near one year, immediately succeeding the end of the war, and on returning north engaged in the wholesale tobacco business in Buffalo. Subsequently he was elected Register of Deeds for Erie county, New York, and some time after the close of his official career he moved his family out to Saginaw, Michigan, where he embarked in the lumber and salt business and conducted the same successfully till some time in the year 1882, when he disposed of his Michigan interests and became a resident of Independence, Kansas. As a citizen of Saginaw he ingratiated himself into the love and esteem of his compeers and was favored with public trusts. He was a member of the Board of Education, where he rendered valuable service, and was an active and faithful worker in his religious denomination.
For about two years after coming to Montgomery county, Capt. Remington was engaged in the cattle business. In 1885, he was invited to become cashier of the First National Bank of Independence. He filed the position ‘till his death and in it demonstrated a peculiar fitness and adaptation to the place. He was always courteous, sincere and reliable, prompt in fulfilling his obligations and faithful in serving the constituents of the bank.
As a citizen of Independence, Capt. Remington took a prominent part in all its affairs. His ability and integrity were at once recognized and he accepted the public trusts that were imposed on him with an eye single to the public good. He demonstrated his unflagging interest in public education by long and faithful service on the school board. He was President of that body for some years and many were the ideas he advanced for the improvement of the facilities and methods of education. He was a leading member of the Presbyterian church and, in the absence of the pastor, was frequently designated to read a sermon and to comment on the character, good works and teachings of the Sabbath School and the beneficent works of a good man were felt in this field, also. In his capacity as a teacher and leader his work was most effective. He was a ready and pleasing talker, and was a storehouse of information on popular subjects and, in 1894, was chosen by the Presbytery of Neosho to be a delegate to the General Assembly at Saratoga, New York. He was a member of McPherson Post G. A. R., was a Modern Woodman and a Knight Templar Mason, by whose direction and under whose auspices his funeral was held. In politics he was a Republican
Capt. And Mrs. Remington’s family comprised three children, namely: Jennie P., wife of Will P. Lyon, of Independence; Allen A., who married Lizzie B. Marshall and is a merchant of Bristow, Ind. Ty., and George F., who died Sept. 18, 1899, at twenty-three years of age.
Contributed by Mrs. Maryann Johnson a Civil war researcher and a volunteer in the Kansas Room of the Independence Public Library, Independence, Kansas.