George Washington DeGroot was born on January 3, 1842, in New York City. His parents were Edward DeGroot and Hannah West. The surname ‘DeGroot’ suggests Dutch origins.
In 1850, George’s father was listed on the federal census as a ‘clothier, someone who made and sold good-quality men’s clothing. He might have had a small shop. Living on the same street near the DeGroots were a shoemaker and a tailor.
Between 1855 and 1860, Edward DeGroot moved his family to Adams County, Illinois, where he became quite a well-to-do farmer. Although George registered for the Civil War draft in 1863, no evidence of Civil War service has been found to date. George was working on his father’s farm in 1870.
On December 11, 1878, George married Laura F. Garner in Illinois. Over the years, they had five children: Eugene Dawe, 1879; William Clyde, born 1881; Edith and Harry Lester (twins), born 1886; and Robert Stanley, born 1889.
Instead of continuing as a farmer, George DeGroot became a railroad employee, possibly for the famous Rock Island Line. For some years between 1886 and 1890, the DeGroots were in St. Louis, Missouri. By 1900, they were back in Rock Island County, Illinois, and George and his son Clyde were working as a baggage handlers.
In 1901, after 23 years of marriage, Laura DeGroot divorced George on the grounds of cruelty and infidelity. Not long thereafter, DeGroot seems to have come alone to Arizona.
He was living at 4th Avenue and Jackson near the railroad tracks when on December 13, 1903, he died of pulmonary tuberculosis. He was buried in Rosedale North, where he has a grave marker.
- by Donna L. Carr
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