CUYAHOGA COUNTY OHIO - OBIT: BARKWILL, George (d. 1862) *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Dick Bolt dickbolt@his.com 07 October 1999 *********************************************************************** George Barkwell-Barkwill CPR RR accident 1862 Cleveland Here's the text, from The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Monday, October 13, 1862: Fatal Accident in the Pittsburgh Railroad Yard George Barkwill, a car repairer, in the employ of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company was almost instantly killed about nine o'clock this morning, in the yard of the latter company, under the following circumstances: Mr. Barkwill was at work between a couple of cars near the Pittsburgh Freight Depot, repairing the brake. While engaged in this task, a locomotive suddenly backed up against the car upon which he was at work, and pushed the train to which it was attached, (consisting of three cars) suddenly together, catching Mr. B.'s neck between the "bumpers" of the car upon which he was engaged, and the one at his back. The unfortunate man had sufficient strength left, after being struck, to crawl off from the track, when he sank upon the ground and almost instantly expired. This sad accident is owing entirely to the deceased's carelessness, in commencing to work between the cars, before he had displayed a red flag from the end of the train - a rule which is universally observed among car repairers in the Pittsburgh yard. Mr. Barkwill was about forty years of age, and had been in the employ of the Pittsburgh Company about two months and a half. He resided at corner of Scoville and Perry street, and leaves a wife and two children. ###################### FULL FILE TEXT ################## George ____ Barkwill Version of 8/17/93 b. Christened Dec.24th, 1822 in Monkleigh, Dev, Eng 1821, 23 or 24 (tomb stone says 1824)( records of Mrs. Budd says 1821?) Born in England? i pre 1850 m. ??? cia 1860 in US ? d. October 13th,1862 (43) Cleveland RR yard of C & PRR(See Cleveland newspaper Plain Dealer article) * Father & Mother were: Francis Barkwill / Balkwill & Catherine Lemon. . His wife was Louisa Elizabeth (Cross) Barkwill who will later married Mr. Asplin and was referred to Gramma Asplin by my dads family. . US census of 1850 lists George as being 26 (This would make his birth date 1824?) * George had 2 sisters and a brother: (1) Elizabeth Jane (b.12/4/1825 m. 10/26/1846 & became Mrs. John Palmer) (2) Mary Jane (b. ? m.2/15/1888 d. 8/16/1907& also married John Palmer after her sister died); & son . Had a son ???????????? Son or Brother??????? (3) George Franklin Barkwill, b.12/16/1857 & d.1/13/1919. He was married to Emma L. Jones. His son and wife had children: Ruth, Eva, Florance Frank. This son Franklin was born in Ohio and moved to Sewickley, Pa. Frank & wife Zella had daughter who is/was Mrs. David Clark of Rochester, Mich & Detroit. She likely had two children as it was reported there were two grandchildren. May run this line and report under new sheet for George Franklin. G.F. Barkwill was listed as clerk auditors office, C&PRR, bds. 130 Croton.; Cleveland. This must have been the RR job promised to George's son. * Eva listed here in 1900 was age 21, born Nov. 1878 and living at 91 Belle Ave. * Josephs notes indicate his son was Ernest ?? . Being in Census of 1850 indicates George was here in US at least 10 years before becoming a US citizen . Listed in 1861-62 as Barkwill . Nov. 5, 1860 became a citizen of USA from England. We have state of Ohio, Cuyahoga County document still in family. Document has both Barkwill & Barkwell on it? . Home was 51 scoville (4th Ward ) in Cleveland. . Buried in Old Woodland Cemetary which is proported to be in a very bad neighborhood now. . George had daugthter Ella Louisa (Barkwill) Bolt born 1862. Was this before his death or after. Existing info says Ella was born in Dec.1862 and he died in Oct. The death notice says two children at home also??? Only know of two children?? Was an extra one in the hopper? .. See attached News paper articles here. To copy on reader and input! . Where in England did he come from? Family info says he was a blacksmith by trade in England. . When and how did he come to the US? Here's the text, from The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Monday, October 13, 1862: Fatal Accident in the Pittsburgh Railroad Yard George Barkwill, a car repairer, in the employ of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company was almost instantly killed about nine o'clock this morning, in the yard of the latter company, under the following circumstances: Mr. Barkwill was at work between a couple of cars near the Pittsburgh Freight Depot, repairing the brake. While engaged in this task, a locomotive suddenly backed up against the car upon which he was at work, and pushed the train to which it was attached, (consisting of three cars) suddenly together, catching Mr. B.'s neck between the "bumpers" of the car upon which he was engaged, and the one at his back. The unfortunate man had sufficient strength left, after being struck, to crawl off from the track, when he sank upon the ground and almost instantly expired. This sad accident is owing entirely to the deceased's carelessness, in commencing to work between the cars, before he had displayed a red flag from the end of the train - a rule which is universally observed among car repairers in the Pittsburgh yard. Mr. Barkwill was about forty years of age, and had been in the employ of the Pittsburgh Company about two months and a half. He resided at corner of Scoville and Perry street, and leaves a wife and two children. There is more as there was a full inquiry by court and someone yrs ago sent me transcripts of each worker interviewed. Georges son received a life time job from RR after this. His wife would remarry into the ASPLIN family.He was my great grandfather from Devon Eng. Family info says he was working on RR in England before he came to US, but have never found any info on this. I need to see Devon census records for 1861 to find out. I am always on the look out for info on Cleveland RR yard operations in that period. I have been looking for photos of that period of RR cars. The closest I have gotten is LOC Civil War photos of RR yards with cars. I think the LOC has on line some CW photos of its RR yard also, but not 100% sure. Dick ==========OH-FOOTSTEPS===========