1850 Gabriel Meals (age 56), Nancy (age 53), Henry (age 26, stone cutter), William (age 24), Frederick (age 16), Joseph (age 15), George (age 10), Lydia (age 7) Meals and Elizabeth Baughman (age 84, born Germany) lived in Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania. [1]
1860 Nancy A Meals (age 63) lived in Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania with Henry Meals (age 37), Joseph Meals (age 23), George W Meals (age 19), and Lydia A Meals (age 17). No spouse was listed. Elizabeth Baughman (age 98) lived with them. This census entry suggests that Gabriel had already died. [2]
1868 George W. Meals and Maggie A. Little were married on August 22, at Saint James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania. [3]
1880 George W. Meals (age 40, born in Pennsylvania, married) lived in Southport Twp, Chemung County, New York, in a household with Margaret A. Meals (age 31), Cara May Meals (age 10), Georgia I. Meals (age 8), Joseph M. Meals (age 5), Constant Meals (age 3), and Ernest I. Meals (age 1). George W. Meals's parents were both born in Pennsylvania. George W. Meals's occupation was stone cutter. [4]
1900 Magie Meals (born in Pennsylvania in Mar 1850, married for 27 years) lived in York Ward 9, York County, Pennsylvania, in a household with Constant Meals (age 23), Ernest J Meals (age 21), John C Meals (age 29), Henry K Meals (age 15), Edeth A Meals (age 13), and Raymond E Meals (age 11). Magie Meals's parents were both born in Pennsylvania. Magie Meals had had 13 children, 7 still living. [5]1901 George W Meals (1840-1901) was buried at Prospect Hill, Manchester Twp, Pennsylvania. [6]
1920 Constant Christian Meals, son of George W Meals and Maggie A Little, died, at age 42 on March 4, 1920, in York Twp, York County, Pennsylvania. Constant Christian Meals was born on March 18, 1878, in Pennsylvania. (Death certificate: 44293). [7]
1924 Margaret Augusta Meals, daughter of Samuel Little and Yeates, died, at age 75 on May 9, 1924, in West York, York County, Pennsylvania. Margaret Augusta Meals was born on March 22, 1849, in Pennsylvania. (Death certificate: 54785). [8]
1924 Margaret A Meals died and was buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery, York, York County, Pennsylvania. [9]
1950 Henry Arthur Meals, son of George W Meals and Maggie A Little, died, at age 66 on July 30, 1950, in West York, York County, Pennsylvania. Henry Arthur Meals was born on June 23, 1884, in Towanda, Pennsylvania. (Death certificate: 62912). [10]
A biosketch of George Meals reports [11]:
Son of Gabriel & Nancy Ann Baughman Meals and husband of Margaret A. Little Meals, whom he married August 22, 1868, in Gettysburg, Adams County. In 1860, he was a stone cutter living in Gettysburg. He stood 5' 9" tall and had brown hair and blue eyes. Deemed "one of the finest specimens of physical manhood we have ever seen." Allegedly, he could write his name on a wall with a 56 lb. weight hanging from his little finger.
A Civil War veteran, who enlisted April 14, 1861, in Baltimore with the regular army and assigned to Battery M, 4th U.S. Artillery. He reenlisted after his three-year term expired and mustered out January 21, 1867. Lauded as "the first man to leave Gettysburg for the army," a statement his enlistment date may support. However, the claim that he "fired the first shot at [the battle of] Sharpsburg" is questionable, albeit a possibilty. On the down side, he contracted dysentery while in the army, and it remained with him all his life.
After the war, he lived in Williamsport, Lycoming County and Towanda, Bradford County, but, in 1890, was a resident of Spring Garden Township, York County. In November 1894, the state declared him "a lunatic." Died of heart disease.
[1] United States Federal Census, 1850, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[2] United States Federal Census, 1860, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[3] Pennsylvania Marriages, 1709-1940, [FamilySearchRecord].
[4] United States Federal Census, 1880, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[5] United States Federal Census, 1900, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[6] Pennsylvania, Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-2012, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].
[7] Pennsylvania Death Certificates, Certificate 44293, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].
[8] Pennsylvania Death Certificates, Certificate 54785, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].
[9] Find A Grave Memorial 44917207, [FindAGrave].
[10] Pennsylvania Death Certificates, Certificate 62912, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].
[11] Find A Grave Memorial 44917196, [FindAGrave].