Written by his grandson, Roger Doyle
George Washington Chitwood born April 21, 1896, was the fourth of eleven children of Stephen Benjamin Chitwood (Jan 7,1870- Mar 5, 1949) and Julia Ann Wray (May 17, 1870- Apr 7 1938). Most every line of my family has a “George Washington” in there somewhere and it’s a reasonable assumption that they were named from our first President, but I would guess that George Washington Chitwood got his name from one of Stephen’s brothers that passed away at 9 years old when Stephen was 7. That’s obviously as assumption but that’s what I would have done, so it’s not a stretch. Julia was the daughter of David and Louisa Virginia Wray. Stephen and Julia are both buried at what used to be the Wray’s Chapel Church in Redwood Va. It’s now someones home. I listed the location of the cemetery in another post.
Stephen was the son of Skelton W. Chitwood, (Oct 28, 1835 – Jul 19, 1930) and Mary Elizabeth Sink (Mar 23, 1841 – Aug 12, 1919). There is a fair amount of documentation on “Skelt” and “Lizzie”. Skelton served in the Civil War under Capt. Ned Bridges in Co. G 37th Battalion of the Virginia Confederacy. Elizabeth’s parents were Stephen and Lydia Dillon Sink. Skelton and Elizabeth are both buried in the Bousman Cemetery at the end of the road that goes down beside the Glade Hill Rescue Squad.
The paternal ancestry of George Washington Chitwood stops at Skelton Chitwood. There are no verified records of a father to Skelton Chitwood. Some ancestry pages claim his father to be a Skelton Chitwood who lived from 1820-1850, which would put him around for the birth of Skelton and his three siblings. However, neither Skelton or his siblings have a father listed on their marriage records at the Franklin County Courthouse, they all were signed by their mother but have “Unknown” as the father, and I have found nothing showing that there was a Skelton Chitwood Sr.
The mother of Skelton Chitwood, was Naomi Chitwood. Naomi lived from around 1810 to at least 1900. She is listed (as Oma Chitwood) on the 1900 census as living with her youngest son, Sparrell and his family. She is listed as a widow. No other records that I’ve found ever mention her ever being married. Noami lived with her assumed mother while raising her children, her mother’s name is Frances Chitwood.
George Washington Chitwood “Grandpa Chitwood” lived a long life, passing at the age of 96 on January 4, 1993.
I had the honor of knowing him for the first 20+ years of my life, and always enjoyed seeing him and hearing him talk. He had great stories, even though some of them might have been embellished a bit or maybe, a lot. One that comes to mind is about a hobo that was hit by a train and the train took his head off. They had to get him cleaned up for his funeral but couldn’t find a razor sharp enough to handle his tough beard. So, they had to burn it off with a torch. (It didn’t sound so bad to hear him tell it) I also remember a joke he told just about everyone as they walked up onto the porch at grandma and grandpas house… he’d ask each one of them if they’d ever had ground hog sausage. When they’d say no, he’d remind them that most sausage is ground hog. An exchange that I remember between him and my dad one Christmas was that Grandpa Chitwood said to my dad, “Hey Vernon, do you remember that shirt you got me for Christmas last year? My dad said, “Yeah”, Grandpa Chitwood said, “I aint even wore it.”