Death At the Spelling Bee

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 Death At the Spelling Bee

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge Story No. 4 -


     A Northern Indiana night in January. There was a spelling bee at the schoolhouse in Silver Lake, a small town in Kosciusko County. George M. Barber was ready.

     Things happened fast in George’s life. He did things in a hurry; waiting around was not his style. He joined the Union Army in February 1864 when he was only 15. He served with the Indiana 128th Infantry, Company G, organized in Michigan City, with a number of other Kosciusko County boys. The army had an enlistment age of 18, but there were a number of ways around it. There were no official documents such as birth certificates and social security cards to prove one’s age. Maybe he looked older than his age; maybe some Kosciusko men vouched for him. Maybe the recruiter was anxious to meet his quota. 

     George had five older brothers serving in the Civil War. Maybe like other young men of the era, he was filled with dreams of adventure and glory. He served from 7 March 1864 to 10 April 1866. He and his compatriots were at Joseph Johnston’s surrender at Bennett Place, North Carolina, and served the rest of their time in locations such as Goldsboro and Raleigh.

     Back home, George married 16-year old Selena “Lena” Miller in October 1868, when he was just 19. They were so young that they probably “went to housekeeping” at his parents’ home. They shared their first Christmas as a married couple together. Then the schoolhouse opened again in the New Year, and a spelling match was scheduled. 

     A few nights before the spelling bee, there was an altercation between George and another young man named George; George Hanes. Hanes harassed George B.’s little brother Theron, who was 12. The two Georges agreed to meet at the spelling bee to fight things out. 

     George Barber came prepared. So did Hanes. Although this was not in their agreement, each came armed, so sure were they that the other was not going to fight fair. 

     It was over in seconds. Hanes succeeded in knocking George Barber to the ground, and instantly, he plunged a knife straight into the newlywed’s heart. In the chaos that followed, Hanes managed to escape. Lena was now a 16-year old widow. 

     George was buried in the Franklin Cemetery in his home township. A brother of George Hanes was arrested on charges of being an accomplice. These charges were later dropped, and Hanes was never charged. George Barber did have a weapon on him, and it was determined to be a “kill or be killed” situation. This did not sit well with the Barbers.

     Of course his family never got over his death. In 1919, they paid for a profile of his father, Milo Roswell Barber, in a local history book. A full 50 years after the killing, they included a sentence about George. They wanted everyone to know, “George was married to Lena Miller and seven weeks later was stabbed to death by George Hanes.”


George M. Barber (1849-1869) Husband and Civil War Veteran


Where he is in my family tree: George was the son of Milo Roswell Barber and Miranda Orilla Butler. He was my third-great grandfather’s nephew. (Myron Fitch Barbour and Milo Roswell Barber were brothers. See “Challenge” story No. 1 to see why they spelled their last name differently.) 


Sources:


     “A Fatal Duel,” Fort Wayne Daily Gazette, 8 Jan 1869. 

     Brother Arrested: Waterloo Press (Waterloo, Indiana), 28 Jan 1869, p. 2.


Copyright Andrea Auclair © 2023

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