George Scott Royce was born in Illinois in 1860, the son of Amelia C. Moore and George L. Royce. His father, a school teacher, enlisted in the 45th Illinois Infantry, Co. G on 17 Sept 1861. He was discharged from Chicago on 12 Jan 1862 due to disability. He died in April 1863 and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Rockford, Illinois. Per his family tree in Ancestry.com, Amelia also died, on April 21, 1863. I did not find her grave. Both George and his older sister, Grace, were left orphans. I believe he and his sister came to Oregon sometime around 1880 before his 20th birthday, as he was only 19 years old when the 1880 Census was taken. He was living, at the time, with the Fromans in the Albany/Lebanon area stating he was a nephew and a farmer. The Fromans were related by marriage to the Burkharts and the Willamette Valley was growing as more and more people learned of it's fertility and wonderful climate for growing crops. George found work all around the area but found that he liked Albany the best for one reason more than farming. Her name was Nellie Olivia Burkhart (b.1859) and she was a daughter of Leander Burkhart, a prosperous farmer and member of a founding family of the town of Albany. He also had horses that were kept at the ready for the stage coaches that came thru on their way both North and South, although the railroad would be coming soon. Oregon had become a state in 1859, the year of Nellie's birth, and with it, more laws and forms of government and more expansion of what had been just a little township only 35 years ago. I don't know how he managed to get an introduction to her, but there was an attraction and the two of them courted and wed on Sept 2nd, 1882 in Albany. I would guess that her husband and her brothers joined together in building their home. He decided that his best employment would be as a carriage maker since farming was seasonal and he would build carriages during the rainy season, which was quite a long season in Oregon. They were blessed with their first son, Winfield Scott Royce, on July 2nd, 1885. They adored their little boy. Then, on Sept 12, 1889, they were blessed with a second son who they named George F Royce after his father. I don't know when George Scott Royce, carriage maker, who worked around so much smoke and came into contact with others who had the "lunger's cough" began to cough himself, but he was diagnosed with Consumption, which we now call TB, and at that time there was no cure. Nellie's beloved husband passed away on May 14th, 1890, just a few months before their 8th anniversary. Her sons were almost 5yrs old and almost one year old and the little one was beginning to cough. She took him to doctors although she knew it was just a matter of time before the illness "consumed" little George as well. He passed from this life on Nov 19th, 1890, just 2 months and one week after his 1st birthday. Her older son, whom she'd nicknamed 'Winnie', was 5 yrs. old and somehow he and she escaped the illness but not the sorrow. She was a widow at the age of 31. Both her husband and her baby boy were buried at the Masonic Cemetery in Albany as her husband had belonged to the Masonic Order. She missed both of them terribly and mourned them in a secret place in her heart for the rest of her life. She rented out rooms to make enough money to support herself and Winnie and time passed. She was my great grandmother, a daughter of Oregon Pioneers and a survivor. She was not expecting to marry again, but love found a way into her life again the following year. For if not for he, there would be no me. See my great grandmother's memorial to see what happened next. ***^*** With All Sincerity, Kathie