Lamar-Monroe County GaArchives News.....George Sheram At Death’s Door 1936 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Lynn Cunningham http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002535 January 15, 2005, 9:33 am Unknown Newspaper (probably from Atlanta) An Atlanta newspaper 1936 Death Near George Sheram At Death’s Door George Sheram, 98 year old Confederate veteran, who became famous when he refused rides while hiking to veterans’ conventions, Friday was at the point of death. The veteran had been in failing health for more than a year. He took to his bed last Sunday at the Confederate Soldiers’ Home here, and the physicians report that his strength is going fast. Uncle George, as he was known far and wide, was a victim of the wanderlust, and frequently had played hooky from the soldiers’ home, disappearing for months. To satisfy his passion for fishing, Mrs. Mary Goudelock, superintendent of the home, frequently took him to a like near Roswell. A picturesque figure with white hair and a flowing beard, Uncle George had walked to many conventions, refusing rides along the way. At the age of 83 he made his way to Richmond. He was wounded twice during the War Between the States, and was one of three Georgia brothers who distinguished themselves in the conflict. As a lad of 14 he enlisted in the Confederate army in 1862. He was a private in Company K of the Fifty-third Georgia Regiment, and served until the end of the conflict. At the Battle of Gettysburg he was wounded in the knee. At Bull Run he fell with a bullet in the shoulder. Neither wound kept him out of service long. Uncle George started his famous walking trips in 1912 at the age of 75. He made his way to veterans’ conventions in Richmond, Chattanooga, Tampa and New Orleans. Motorists on the highways offered lifts to the picturesque old man, but he scornfully refused all aid. He even made his way to a convention in Los Angeles, but was forced to backtrack through desert country and board a train, lack of water being too much for him. He contended that this was the only time he did not walk all the way. The veteran entered the Confederate Soldiers’ Home here in 1932, and immediately his high spirits, his incurable wanderlust and his insistence upon fishing made him a trial to the superintendent. Rather than see the old man miserable, Mrs. Goudelock made a practice of taking him to a lake north of Atlanta. There he was happy, and his companion always saw to it that he made a catch. Uncle George could not remain long in one place, however, and he was forever playing hooky from the home. Last November he disappeared. Mrs. Goudelock followed him to Chattanooga, but the veteran gave her the slip. When next heard from he was visiting relatives in Tennille, his boyhood home. He returned after four months, and the day after he came back the superintendent took him fishing. Notes: Sheram, George Washington -- Enlisted as a private in Company K, 1st Regiment, Georgia Infantry (Ramsey's), June 18, 1861. Mustered out at Augusta, Georgia March 18, 1862. Enlisted as a private in Company K, 53rd Regiment, Georgia Infantry May 6, 1862. Wounded at Malvern Hill, Virginia, July 1, 1862; Chancellorsville, Virginia, May 3, 1863. Appointed 4th Corporal in 1863; 3rd Corporal October 1863; 2nd Corporal August 1864. Absent without leave February 28, 1865. No later record. Pension records shows he was at home on sick furlough April 1865. Born in Monroe County, Georgia, October 11, 1839. Died at Confederate Soldiers Home, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2, 1936. Buried at Barnesville, Georgia. From Georgia Death Index: Name: George W Sheram Death Date: 03 Oct 1936 County of Death: Fulton Certificate: 27825 Additional Comments: Record obtained from Old Jail Museum and Archives, Barnesville, Georgia. Compiled by Shanna English. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/lamar/newspapers/nw1920georgesh.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 4.3 Kb