Britts - George
GEORGE BRITTS
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Source: Zach, Karen Bazzani. Montgomery Medicine Men ... Crawfordsville, Indiana: Montgomery County Historical Society, 2002.
George Matthew Britts was born in Virginia Sept 11, 1812, and was a cabinet maker by trade. After his marriage to Mary Jane Rogers (December 10, 1835 in Putnam County, Indiana), he studied medicine under his father-in-law's tutelage (Dr. Henry Rogers). George Britts followed his new profession in Parke and Montgomery Counties for a few years. In 1842, George Britts and family traveled in Henry County, Missouri with Dr. Rogers and Dr. Rogers' son, John A. Rogers, also a doctor. In the year of the great flood, 1844, they all returned except for the younger Dr. Rogers. Britts then established himself at Parkersburg, later moving to Bainbridge. Here the family lived until Spring of 1857, when they again moved to Missouri, purchasing a homestead four miles NW of Clinton, Missouri. Here, George Britts practiced medicine, was Postmaster of Clinton for a time and loved growing fruit. He died there June 3, 1883. Contrary to his Virginia upbringing, Dr. Britts was a Whig and when the Civil War broke out, he became a staunch Union man, even though his son, John Henry Britts served as an officer and doctor for the Confederate Army. According to long-time Britts researcher, John Britts (in 2002, jhbritts@bellsouth.net) Dr. George was "genial and socially inclined; a very companionable man and great conversationalist, having been known to spend the entire night with his brothers and neighbors dicussing topics of interest to him."
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From findagrave.com - buried Englewood Cemetery, Clinton, Henry County, Missouri (also has a foot stone with GMB).
Source: 1883 History of Henry County, Missouri, pg 676. "Fields Creek Township"
Dr. George M. Britts. At the beginning of the second quarter of the present century, the state of Indiana was a comparatively hew territory, and known as a part of the Great West, which, from its unsurpassed fertility and the advantages it offered for settlement, was attracting an immense emigration from the older states, especially from Virginia and Kentucky. Among those from the former states who sought a fortune in the new Eldorado, was John Britts, father of the subject of the present sketch. The home he left in Virginia was near Fincastle, Botetourt County, in the Roanoke Valley, where his father, Adam Britts, a native of Prussia had settled about the middle of the last century. John Britts family consisted of ten children, five boys and five girls: Elizabeth (married to John Myers), Samuel, Catherine (John Myers' second wife), Margaret, died young, Joel, John, David, George M., born September 11, 1812, Mary (married to James Foster), Sarah (married to Allen Harrison). From the oldest to the youngest in the order named, all came west with their parents in 1832, and settling near Ladoga, Montgomery County, Indiana, coming overland down the great Kanawha Valley to Gallipolis; thence through Dayton, Ohio, and on to their new home. About the same year, 1832, Dr. Henry Rogers, who was born February 9, 1792, and married June 5, 1817, to Elizabeth Mackey Reid, emigrated from near Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky, and settled in Montgomery County, Indiana. His family consisted of four sons and two daughters: John Alexander Rogers, born March 29, 1818; William Burgess Rogers, born March 29, 1819; Mary Jane Rogers, born November 27, 1820; Sophia Ann Rogers, born February 12, 1822; George Reid Rogers, born January 27, 1823, and Thomas Sydenham Rogers, born February 18, 1824. The heads of these two families were neighbors and friends at this early day, and the family were more closely united by the marriage of Geo. M. Britts and Mary J. Rogers, December 10, 1835. From this union there were six children, all living at this date. John Henry, born November 1, 1836, named after his two grandfathers. Susan Elizabeth, born February 5th, 1839, single, named for her two grandmothers. Sarah Jane, born January 19th, 1842, married to Elijah Reid, of Cass County, Missouri. Sophia Alice, born December 9th, 1844, married to Herman J. Huiskamp, Keokuk, Iowa. Mary Isabell, born December 20th, 1848, and married to Emerson Harris, Henry County, Missouri, and Georgie Ann Britts, born January 3d, 1855, married to Frank Taylor, of Henry County, Missouri. Immediately after his marriage George M. Britts began the study of medicine with his father-in-law, which calling he has followed continuously to the present day, though without the advantage of an education in a medical college. He, by virtue of native talent and ability, has obtained an honorable position in his profession, and enjoyed an extensive practice, and is now in his seventieth year and in vigorous health. In the fall of 1842 Dr. Henry Rogers' family, his son John A. Rogers, married to Catharine Gorman, Dr. George M. Britts, wife and his then two children, and two families by the name of Arnett, in all five families, emigrated from Indiana and settled in Henry County, Missouri, Dr. Henry Rogers locating in Clinton. Dr. John A. Rogers in the Parks neighborhood, twelve miles east of Clinton, and Dr. G. M. Britts at Calhoun, where he lived the remainder of 1842-3, and then in the summer of 1843 moved to Clinton. In a few months after their arrival in Missouri Dr. Henry Rogers lost his wife, who died at her brother's, John Reid's, house January 19th, 1843, and is buried in the family grounds, three miles southeast of Clinton. This misfortune and the idea that the climate was not healthy rendered Dr. Rogers dissatisfied. He remained at Clinton in the practice of medicine till August, 1843, when he determined to return to Indiana on a visit, taking with him his daughter Sophia and youngest son. After reaching his old home he was married September 26th, 1843, to Mrs. Jane Kirkpatrick, and decided never to return to Missouri. This was a great disappointment to the family as most of them desired to remain in Missouri and make it their future home, but rather than have the family separated, especially the two daughters, all in 1844, except Dr. John A. Rogers and family, returned to the old homestead in Indiana, where Dr. Britts lived until 1857, when he once more retraced his steps to Henry County, Missouri. Here he has since lived, following his chosen profession with a good degree of success.