George H. AbneyGeorge H. Abney, whose post office address is Rara Avis, Itawamba County, Miss., was born in South Carolina, February 15, 1828 and is a farmer in this county. His parents were William T. and Charlotte P. Abney, both of whom were born in Edgefield district, S.C. His father died in South Carolina son after his return from the Indian war in Florida. His mother married Col. David Patton, of Fleming county, Ky., and he and his sisters and brothers went to Kentucky with their mother, where he received his education. In 1847, at the age of seventeen years, he enlisted in the United States army, and did gallant service in the Mexican war as a member of Company L, in Colonel Butler's historic Palmetto regiment. After being stationed for a while at Lobos island, in the Gulf of Mexico, he went to Vera Cruz, where he took part in that battle; afterward in the battles fought at Conteras and Cherubusco. In the last named fight he received a severe wound in the right leg, and was sent to the hospital at San Augustine, and afterwards to Micicoca. One of the memorable incidents of his war experience was the execution by hanging of thirty deserters, of which he was a witness. He received his discharge from the United States service at Mobile in 1848 and in 1849 he married Miss Anna Griffith, a daughter of William and Mary (Abney) Griffith, both natives of South Carolina, in which state Miss Griffith was born in 1832. The subject of our sketch has devoted his life principally to farming, and is the owner of a good small farm. He is public spirited in a moderate degree and has done what he believes he should in the establishment and maintenance of schools and churches, and it may be said of him that he is ever ready to aid with his means those who call on him in need. He is a democrat politically, and he and his wife are members of no church militant. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate army and took part in the engagements at Shiloh and Resaca. At the time of the general surrender he was in the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. He moved to Mississippi after the war, and came to be regarded as one of the solid, substantial and in every way reliable citizens of Itawamba County.Abstracted from an 1891
edition of Goodspeed's History of Mississippi
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