George came to Kansas when he was 7 & attended
Salt Creek School. He worked with his dad who was a blacksmith &
in 1880 they built a shop about 3 miles south of Brooks Station.
After he married he opened a blacksmith shop in Brooks Station where he
worked until he died. George was tall, rather heavy & a loud-voiced
gentleman who chewed tobacco. He wore suspenders, high-topped shoes
& "galluses" on his sleeves. His chair was by the south window
next to the pot-bellied stove where he could see what was going on outside.
He loved to whistle, play the harmonica & listen to his brother, Charlie,
play the fiddle.
;
George W. Housley, 84, died at 5:30 am Monday
[September 25, 1949] at his home at Brooks Station, after an illness
of the past two weeks. Heart trouble was given as the cause of death.
George Washington Housley was born May 8, 1865,
in Pike County, Indiana. He came to Kansas at the rural community
in which he died. He was married to Sara Jane Gray, daughter of Sylvester
Gray, on April 16, 1882. To this union eight children were
born. Mr. Housley was a blacksmith by trade, which he followed
ll his life, starting with his father’s shop. He started in his father’s
shop when he was just old enough to pump the bellows and in 1880
they built a shop, put in two forges and went 50-50. On July 29,
1895 Mr. Housley and his family moved to Brooks Station, Wilson County,
and opened a shop which he conducted until 1948.
The following was written by Mr. Housley some
time ago telling of the work he had done: "I remember I sharpened
plow shears for 20 and 25 cents with a 31/2 pound hammer. The most
I have ever sharpened in one day was 32, that was from sun-up to sun-down.
I took great pride in making the plows run good and setting plow beams
and working over mowers and binders. I shod horses for the farmers
and setting wagon tires, cutting down wagons. I made new spokes in
the wheels, some horseshoes and horseshoe nails." Many a farmer has
called upon Mr. Housley for farm repairs in the days of the horse and buggy
carriages. When a youth Mr. Housley was converted into the Baptist
church.
Mr. Housley is survived by his wife, Sara Jane
Housley: four children, Carlos S. of the home, Mrs. R. S. O’Leary of Neodesha,
Mrs. Chas. Osburn of Fredonia and Mrs. Clyde Powell of Matfield Green,
Kansas; one brother, Henry Housley of Orange, Calif.; nineteen grandchildren
and nineteen great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his
parents, eight brothers and sisters and four children, one son and three
daughters. Mr. Housley leaves a host of friends and neighbors who will
greatly miss him. Funeral services for Mr. Housley were held yesterday
afternoon at 2:00 o’clock at the William Fawcett Funeral Home with the
Rev. Charles P. Knight of the Methodist church officiating. Mrs.
C. A. Lockard and Mrs. Russell Vickers, accompanied by Mrs. Guy Murphy,
sang "In the Garden" and "Abide with me." Burial was made in the Grandview
cemetery and the casket bearers were Elmer Carstedt, Elmer Williamson,
Roy Mahaffey, Wm. Hynek, Ed Stepanich and Joe Hynek.
Out of town relatives attending the services were
Mr. And Mrs. Don Powell and family of Barnsdale, Okla., Mr. And Mrs. Clyde
Powell and DeWayne of Matfield Green, Kan., Mr. And Mrs. Charles Osborn
and family of Fredonia, Mr. and Mrs. Claude Blaker and family of
Altoona, Mr. and Mrs. Virgil O’Leary and family of Bixby, Okla., Mr. and
Mrs. Eugene Powell of Emporia and Miss Betty Jane Osborn of Wichita.
Friends attending were Mr. and Mrs. George A. Blatchfield [should be Blatchford]
of Bixby, Okla., Mrs. Fletcher Powell of Madison and Mr. and Mrs. Nev.
Powell of Fredonia.
This information contributed by Jean M.Labrie
email address: jlabrie@in-motion.net
uploaded Aug 1998