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Obituary of ‘Squire George W. Hain of Williamstown
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on April 10, 2019
The obituary of ‘Squire G. W. Hain appeared in the Lykens Standard, 22 July 1904:
G. W. Hain, Justice of the Peace of Williamstown, and one of the oldest and most respected residents of that place, died at 12:40 p.m. Monday of rheumatism, after an illness of 11 weeks, aged 70 years, 11 months and 1 day. The funeral will be held this Friday morning at 10:00 o’clock, from his late home on Pottsville Street, where services will be conducted by his pastor, Rev. O. E. Stocking of the Methodist Episcopal Church, after which interment will be made in the Methodist Episcopal Cemetery, under the direction of R. W. Day & Son.
George Washington Hain was born August 18,1833 in Pine Grove, Schuylkill County. He was a son of Samuel Hain and Elizabeth [Kiefer] Hain. His father kept the Valley House at this place many years ago, where he died in 1858, and his mother in the latter part of the ’70s. G. W. was educated in the public schools of his native place, Lykens and Pottsville. His parents located at Salonico, Clinton County, then in Mt. Patrick, Perry County, next at Montgomery’s Ferry, and finally at Lykens. He drove a canal boat from Gurty’s Notch to Philadelphia for some years. He then served as brakeman and later as fireman on the railroad. In 1856 and 1857 he followed the canal with his own boat, and about this time purchased a home in Lykens with the money saved while on the railroad. In 1858, upon the death of his father, he began to assist his mother to conduct the Valley House and continued to do so until 1861. He then enlisted in the Civil War with the Washington Rifles. In 1859 he purchased a farm in what was then Wiconisco Township, and located there in 1862, teaching school in the winter. In 1864 he opened a general store in Williamstown, and four years later built a hotel (the Mansion House) which he conducted for several years. He moved to his late home, adjoining the hotel, in 1868, In 1869 he was commissioned Justice of the Peace, and served continuously in that office, with the exception of three years, up to the time of his death.
He was married in Halifax, this county, in 1855, to Miss Sarah Woodside, who died in 1864. Their children are Dr. W. J. Hain of Philadelphia, Mrs. Emma Jane Parfet of Harrisburg, Mrs. Anna Florence Edmondson of New York, Mrs. Agnes Amelia Chesney of Washington, Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Bartman of Sayre, Pennsylvania, and Charles Henry Hain, deceased. He married, secondly, Miss Lucy Whitman, of Williamstown, January 11, 1874, who survives.
Mr. Hain was a staunch Republican, and cast his first vote for John C. Fremont. He was a member of Post No. 280, G.A.R., and Lodge No. 675, I.O.O.F. of Williamstown.
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