George Benjamin Haight
George Benjamin Haight was born on 19 April 1845, the son of Ambrose Haight and Eliza Platt of Clarington, where the Haights had settled when they came from New York. He went to the Civil War three times: in the 135th Pennsylvania Infantry, a nine-months regiment of 1862 and 1863; in Company D of the 2nd Battalion of Pennsylvania Infantry for six months in 1863 and 1864; and from 28 July 1864 to 29 June 1865 in Company E of the 57th Pennsylvania, the regiment his kinsman David Wakefield Haight served in, through the siege of Petersburg to the end.
He came home to the river. The Clarion was a rafting river, and every spring the winter's cut of pine and hemlock went down to Pittsburgh lashed into rafts steered by men with long oars. George Haight was called the "King of the Water Raftsmen on the Clarion River."
On 16 June 1865, a month out of the army, he married Esther A. Bamicel. She died on 9 November 1871, leaving a daughter, Mary E. On 22 February 1874 he married Mary Melissa Nulph, a girl of fifteen from the Nulph family of Scotch Hill. The census of 10 June 1880 found them in Mill Creek Township, Clarion County: George, 35, laborer, Mary M., 20, Mary E., 14, John W., 5, Ester A., 2, his widowed mother Eliza, 62, and a servant Mary A. Platt, 20. Five more children followed: James Franklin, Eliza Jane, William George, Joseph Curtis and Harry Albert. His daughter Anna Esther married her cousin Harry Robert Haight.
He died on 15 February 1898, aged 52, and is buried in Daniels Cemetery at Port Barnett, Jefferson County, under a weathered marble stone: Geo. B. Haight, born Apr. 19, 1845, died Feb. 15, 1898. His widow drew a pension on his service.
Parents
Ambrose Haight (1812-1878)
Eliza Platt (1818-1889)
Children
Sources
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Cite: Heirology, "George Benjamin Haight (1845-1898)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/george-benjamin-haight-1845-1898-53e39a.