Born 1818 Kentucky to parents born in Tennessee. These same parents family was said to be from eastern Pennsylvania, but later lived in Western PA. a few years and then went back home (soldiers on the 'western front')Other family stories suggest the earliest Paul's enlisted with the British in Holland. They were Hessian soldiers. Not long after enlisting they figured out they were fighting on the wrong side.

If the family oral stories are correct one of our Paul ancestors was kidnapped and taken into a fort, where he was kept tied up and tortured and later died. He was to be killed, but when made to run the guantlet, he succeeded. In those years, many settlers were kidnapped and treated much the same way. Many were later freed through negotiations between the British and the colonial leaders.

After the Revolutionary War, the soldiers migrated to the area assigned them for bounty lands.

The little that is known seems to suggest a (Paul)migration from the upper colonies, through the lower colonies, through the Shenandoah valley, through the Cumberland Gap and into Tennessee (according to G.W.'s mortality schedule). From there it's known George was born in Kentucky (by his census reports).

George is next picked up in Greensburg, Indiana, when he filed for a marriage license to marry Verlinder E. Callaway, daughter of Andrew Callaway. What's most interesting about this is that there were other Paul's with considerable influence living at Greensburg. Their migrations equal the migrations of our Paul's. The Michael Paul migrations were from Pennsylvania, by way of the Ohio river and flat boats. Once in Kentucky, many of the families migrated into other areas, such as Ohio. After about 20 years some returned to Kentucky and formed a party going to Decatur Co., Indiana. No small thing in those dangerous times. For some, it was an unfortunate decision, such as the case of Jonathan and John Paul, who were aware of the danger of settling north of the Falls of the Ohio.

George is possibly next in Bartholomew Co., Indiana (his in laws owned land there) 1840, with a wife and small son. There is a census record for a family that matches to his son, Gabriel, being born in 1839. And that was the same area Verlinder's parents were living after removing from Decatur Co.

In 1850, the George Paul (spelled "Poll" on census) family is found living in Franklin Mills. The only potential clue in this is they lived next door to her brother. And another possibility is he was some relation to a family of Paul in a neighboring township.

There are others of Verlinder's family living in the same vicinity. At least three were siblings. As I have not located a burial place for the widowed and remarried mother of those children, it's possible she, too, moved on. But other researchers say she died in Bartholomew Co., as did her second husband. She was said to marry John Williams in 1841. If that is accurate information, he was about 20 years younger then she. My grandmother had very detailed stories of Verlinder's life and this was never mentioned. But my grandmother did say Sarah was well off and settled in Indiana. She did not wish to move away from the life she had always known. She also did not want her daughter moving away and overstepped her bounds trying the keep the girl from going.

By about 1852 George Paul had moved his growing family on westward and is now living about a half mile west of the hamlet of Fremont, Iowa. Here he remains for 10 years, surrounded by Paul's who migrated from Henry Co., Indiana (about 15 miles north of George when he lived in Decatur Co.)

Ah, but these were the years leading up to the Civil War. Many a family broke apart in those times. Did that happen to George? Was he disowned for his stance? Will we ever know? Friction started much sooner then the actual war and lived on far beyond the end of it.

The Mexican War played it's role in these years and altered many people's lives. After it was over some of these Mahaska Co. men were looking to make a westward migration. They went west to Oregon in 1852, but the land they preferred near Fort Walla Walla was not open to settlers. They would have to wait a couple years. But meanwhile the natives of those areas took exception to this encroachment by the 'white eyes' and a new war was on. By 1858, the first waves of white settlers trickled into areas such as Dry Creek. By the time the James Ellis (brother in law to Gabe Paul) arrived 1860, land was being settled along Whiskey Creek, east of Waitsburg.

In 1862, a great migration to Walla Walla was to take place. By that fall all of the families of Paul's of Fremont had made their way to Fort Walla Walla. On that list was Rev. Joseph Paul, his sons, and many other Fremont residents, such as Sarah Ellis (2nd wife and widow of David Ellis) and her children. Sarah was the only grandmother Harriet Ellis knew. Harriet's father, Billy, was a child by the first wife. Harriet's step uncle, Sam Ellis, was married to Capt. Kennedy's daughter.

Most of them were led west by Captain Kennedy (neighbor, friend, sheriff, former Mexican war soldier). Near their train was another train known as the Newbern Colony. Interestingly there was a place near where George Paul lived in Indiana , called Newbern. Did his train consist of families from there? In trail diaries there are mentions of the Newbern train assisting the Kennedy train after the massacare.

One clue is a much later newspaper article about daughter, Melissa, in which it says their family traveled with the Armstrong family from Grande Ronde to Walla Walla. Were they part of the entire trip or just folks they joined up with at Baker City?

Another pioneer Paul child said there were an even 100 wagons in their train and that it was a city on wheels. This matches a description of the Kennedy train after it was in the Platte River areas. Due to it's size, it was vulnerable to attack. Travelers had been advised to travel in smaller groups to avoid the wrath of the natives

In 1862, Gabriel was 22 years old and married one year to Harriet Ellis. They had a baby on the way and it's possible that Mary Ellen Paul was actually his daughter with Harriet. When Harriet died in 1863, Verlinder took Nathan in. But she first had to leave the child with someone the family referred to as "Aunt Polly". This matches to Margaret Winnett, who had a miscarriage and could still produce breast milk for the baby. After he was weaned, he lived with his grandparents until he was 7 years old. Then he was old enough to live with his father and help Gabe on his piece of ground.

Other children of George and Verlinder 1862:

Sarah was 21 (if she lived). She is not on other census records, but her brother's obituary states she was living "in the east". That brother died in 1925. So perhaps Sarah was married there and never went west. The obituary did not state her name

John was 19 and single on arriving at Walla Walla. Little is known of him going forward.

Elizabeth Ann was 16. She would later marry Frank Harmon. Some have said that her brother, Gabe, was married to Martha Harmon. There is no documentation.

Effie was about 14. Her name appears in various ways and I think her headstone says Emiline Winnett. She later married a son of the Winnett's (friends of her parents, and who put them up the first winter in the west).

Melissa was just 12 years old that year. Her westward adventure is told in the book "Covello, A Pioneer Remembers," written by her grandson. Melissa later married Samuel Peoples English, a pioneer of 1867 from the same general area she came from

George Washington Paul, Jr. was nearly 9 years old when his family left Iowa. He grew up in Waitsburg and in 1879 he married Eliza Whitesean. George moved on from there and settled at Deep Creek, WA. for awhile. His daughter died in 1884. He moved on to California and led an interesting life there.