George Lewis Ravens ¹⁶⁰

  General Notes:

"George Lewis was born 29 June 1840 in Hanover and belonged to the Lutheran Church in Philson, Germany. Lewis attended school and was an office boy for a lawyer. As a lad of 15 years of age he made the trip to America alone and sailed from Bremmen, Germany. 6 weeks later he landed in New York. Lewis went to St. Louis, Mo, and worked as a general laborer for three years, then moved to New Orleans, became a clerk in a hardware store, but returned to St. Louis and removed to Memphis, Tennessee, but as sectional feelings were strong just before the Civil War, he didn't want to enter the Confederate Army, so he came to Illinois and found employment, learning the trade of bakery in Ottowa, LaSalle County.
In 1866 he married Amanda Melvina Varner, born 19 Nov 1845 in Wood Co., West Virginia, who's parents were Jacob and Elizabeth Varner. Amanda's older brother, David, homesteaded in Kingman County, Kansas, and later gave the land on which Varner, Kansas, an unincorporated town was built and named for him.
Lewis and Amanda had eight children, 2 died of diptheria in 1880 and are buried in Morris, Grundy Co., Illinois. The family moved to Kingman Co, Kansas. In 1883, they moved to Hall Co., Nebraska in Cameron Section 1 NW quarter; sold out in 1906 and returned to Kansas, then again returned to Cairo in 1909 and built a home at 108 W. Syria, where their granddaughter, Leon (Mrs. Percy) Braun now lives [1986].

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GEORGE LEWIS RAVENS, a substantial and representative citizen of Cairo,
Nebraska, has been a resident of the United States since he was fifteen
years of age. He was born in Germany in 1840, one of a family of three
children born to his parents, George Jacob and Adaline Ravens. Mr. Ravens
had one brother, the late George W. Ravens, who was in the banking and
insurance business at Ottawa, Illinois. He also had one sister, Mrs. Amalia
Stanch, who is now deceased. The father of Mr. Ravens was a millwright by
trade. After coming to the United States he settled at Kansas City in 1857,
here he worked as a carpenter until his death there at fifty-five years of
age and Mr. Ravens's mother passed away also there at the age of fifty-three
years. She was a member of the Lutheran church but the father was a Free
Thinker.
George Lewis Ravens attended school in Germany but was apprenticed to no
trade. He was an office boy for a lawyer before coming to America, and
though only a lad of fifteen he made the trip across the ocean alone. He
left Bremen on a sailing vessel spending six weeks on the ocean before
landing at the port of New York. It required considerable courage to leave
the old country for America as the only relative he had here was a brother.
For three years after reaching St.Louis, Missouri, he worked as a general
laborer. In search of employment he went to New Orleans, becoming a clerk in
a hardware store there for six months and then returned to St. Louis as that
city seemed more homelike he remained there one year longer. He then secured
a position in Memphis, Tennessee, but as sectional feeling was strong at
that time and he did not want to enter the Confederate army, he came as far
north as Illinois. There he found ready employment learning a fine trade and
for the next thirteen years he remained at Ottawa, working in a bakery. By
this time Mr. Ravens was prepared to go into business for himself and opened
a bakery at Morris, Illinois, which he conducted prosperously for six and a
half years, but like so many fine men of German descent he felt the call of
the land and during the next two years he followed farming in Kansas. In
1883 he came to Hall County and bought one hundred and sixty acres of
railroad land, put substantial improvements on it and sold advantageously.
He then returned to Kansas and invested in land which he sold in the next
three years, before coming back to Hall County to take up his residence in
Cairo.

Mr. Ravens married Miss Amanda Warner, who was born in West Virginia in 1845
and died in 1914. They had the following children: George, who died in
Illinois; Frank, who also died in Illinois six weeks later; Amelia, the wife
of E. E. Bellamy, died on her husband's farm in Michigan; Rose, the wife of
Mr. Jessen, a gardener in California; Jennie, the wife of Fred Willis, a
farmer in Hall County; Lewis David, a farmer; Mable, the wife of John Cady,
an undertaker at Beatrice, Nebraska; and Rena, the wife of C. A. Clark, a
farmer in Hall County. Mr. Ravens is a member of the Lutheran church. He has
never been active in politics but has held minor offices in the order of the
Odd Fellows, with which organization he has been connected for many years.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Immigration to US, 1854-1855, New York. He sailed alone as a lad of 15 from Bremmen, Germany. Six weeks later he landed in New York.

• Census, 22 Jun 1870. ³³

• Census, 3 Jun 1880, Morris, Grundy Co, Illinois. Ravens, Louis, 39, baker, born Hanover
Ravens, Amanda, 34, wife, keeping house, W. Virginia, W. Va., W. Va.
Ravens, Amelia, 12, dau, at school, Illinois, Hanover, W. Va.
Ravens, George, 11, son, at school, Illinois, Hanover, W. Va.
Ravens, Rosa, 8, dau., at school, Illinois, Hanover, W. Va.
Ravens, Frank, 5, son, Illinois, Hanover, W. Va.
Ravens, Louis, 1, son, Illinois, Hanover, W. Va.
Dalhouser, Henry, 42, servant, wworks in Bakery, Wertemborg, Wertemborg, Wertemborg

• Census, 5 May 1910, Cairo Village, Hall, Nebraska. Ravens, George L., head, 69, M1, 44 years married, Germany, Germany, Germany, immigrated 1885
Ravens, Amanda, wife, 64, M1, 44 years married, mother of 8, 6 living, Virginia, Va., Va.
Ravens, David, son, 31, single, Illinois, Germany, Virginia

George married Amanda Elizabeth Melvina Varner, daughter of Jacob Varner and Mrs. Elizabeth Varner, on 25 Oct 1866 in Ottawa, Lasalle, Illinois. (Amanda Elizabeth Melvina Varner was born on 19 Nov 1845 in Parkersburg, Wood, West Virginia,^{161,162,163,164} died on 26 Jun 1914 in Cairo, Hall Co., Nebraska ¹⁶⁴ and was buried in Cairo, Hall Co., Nebraska ⁵³.)