Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Greenwood, George S 
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Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

George S. Greenwood, engaged in general agricultural pursuits on section 19, 
New Lenox township, was born in the state of New York in 1838, his parents 
being John and Mary Ann (Brown) Greenwood. The father was born in England and 
his life span covered seventy-four years. He came to America in 1833 and after 
residing in the east for several years removed with his family to Will county, 
Illinois, in the fall of 1841. The voyage to the new world was made on a 
sailing vessel and after six weeks spent upon the water he landed at New York. 
For about five years he continued to reside in the Empire state and thence 
came to Will county, settling in New Lenox township, where he resided for 
three years, and then removed to Joliet township. He followed the occupation 
of farming, thus providing a comfortable living for his family. His early 
political allegiance was given to the whig party and upon its dissolution he 
joined the ranks of the new republican party. He was also a member of the 
United Brethren church. About two years prior to his death he removed to the 
city of Joliet, where his remaining days were spent in retirement from labor. 
His wife, who was born in the state of New York, died upon the old home farm 
in Joliet township when sixty-four years of age. She was a worthy Christian 
woman and also held membership in the United Brethren church. George S. 
Greenwood is the only surviving member of a family of twelve children. His 
father was married twice, the second union being with Sarah Huston, who 
removed to Ohio after her husband's death. The twelfth member of the family 
was a son of the second marriage. The brothers and sisters of our subject were 
Mary Ann, John, William, Jane, Harvey, Llewellyn, Benjamin, Sarah, Alfred and 
Aaron, twins, and Charles. George S. Greenwood was only three years of age 
when brought by his parents to Illinois, so that he was reared in Will county, 
spending his boyhood days upon the home farm in Joliet township, while in the 
district schools near by he mastered those branches of English learning which 
usually constitute the curriculum of a public-school. He remained with his 
parents until twenty-one years of age and then began farming on his own 
account by renting land in New Lenox township. From his father he inherited 
the farm upon which he now resides. His time and energies are given to the 
further cultivation and improvement of his place and everything about the farm 
is kept in good condition. Mr. Greenwood was married in 1860 to Miss Matilda 
King, who was born in Will county, Illinois, a daughter of George and Sarah 
King, who died when Mrs. Greenwood was only three years of age. Unto our 
subject and his wife were born six children, but three died a short time after 
birth, while George K. died at the age of one year and eleven months, and John 
when eleven months old. The only one now living is Jane, the wife of Charles 
Myers, a resident of Fullerton, North Dakota, and they have five children. 
After losing his first wife in 1901, Mr. Greenwood was again married, in 1903, 
his second union being with Mrs. Hannah J. Holden, who was born in Will county 
in 1846 and is a daughter of George and Lucinda (King) Campbell, old and 
honored residents of this county. Her father was a native of New York and from 
that state removed to Ohio. In 1842 he came to Illinois and settled in Joliet 
township, Will county, where he spent the most of his life, though he died in 
Missouri in 1896. His wife was born in Ohio and came with her parents to this 
county in the '30s, making her home here until called to her final rest in 
1873. The present Mrs. Greenwood first married Benjamin Squires, who died in 
1886, and by that union had nine children: Arthur, now a resident of St. 
Louis, Missouri; Joseph, of Joliet, Illinois; Eva, who married William 
Gillespie, of New Lenox, and died in 1893, at the age of twenty-two years; 
Annie, wife of Frank Long, of New Lenox; Sadie, wife of Lewis Walter, of St. 
Louis; Bessie, who died in 1892, at the age of thirteen years; Mabel, wife of 
Herman W. Tohtz, of St. Louis; and Benjamin and Oscar, who also make their 
home in St. Louis. For her second husband Mrs. Greenwood married Thomas Irvin, 
who was killed in the cyclone at St. Louis in 1897, and her third husband was 
Richard Holden, who died in 1904. She has eighteen grandchildren. Mr. 
Greenwood votes the republican ticket and his position upon public questions 
of moment is never an equivocal one. He has served as road commissioner and is 
now a township school trustee. He has been a resident of Will county since the 
fall of 1841, covering a period of two-thirds of a century, and few residents 
of this part of the state have longer resided within its borders. He became 
familiar with its history as an eye witness of the events which have left 
their impress upon its annals, and well deserves mention among the early 
settlers. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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