BIOGRAPHY: George Washington SOULT, Mifflin County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by P. S. Barr Copyright. All rights reserved. http://files.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/mifflin/ _______________________________________________ The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania. Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 466 & 469. GEORGE WASHINGTON SOULT, deceased, was born in Granville township, Mifflin county, Pa., February 22, 1822. He is a son of Philip Soult, of Huguenot lineage; his mother's family name is Kauffman. Mr. and Mrs. Philip Soult had the following children: Two who died when very young; George W.; Mary A. (Mrs. Samuel Davis); Sarah Elizabeth (Mrs. Matthias Moser); and Jane E. (Mrs. H. Stoll), of California, died in January, 1897. After receiving elementary instruction in the common schools of Lewistown, George W. Soult became a pupil in the academy of the same borough. His course in that institution completed, he became a teacher, and labored faithfully in that profession for some years. He enlisted at the beginning of the war with Mexico, and served for two years; for meritorious service, he was promoted to the rank of corporal, but his health failed, and he received his discharge, and returned to Lewistown. There he was for some time employed in a store, and afterwards engaged in mercantile business on his own account. At the beginning of the war of the Rebellion, Mr. Soult was for a short time in the commissary department, at Harrisburg, Pa., but desiring more active participation in the conflict, he came back to Lewistown, recruited Company A, One Hundred and Forty- ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was mustered in as first lieutenant, August 30, 1862. He was promoted, January 1, 1863, to the rank of captain and assigned to Company H, of the same regiment. At Gettysburg, Pa., he was wounded in the first day's fight, July 1, 1863, and on June 24, 1865, he received his discharge. Mr. Soult was next employed in the Railway Mail Service, being the first person to enter that service from Lewistown. Five years later he resigned that position and turned his attention to farming in Granville township, where he resided during the rest of his life. The orders to which he belonged were the lodges of F. and A. M. and of the I. O. O. F., at Lewistown. He was also a member of the Grand Army Post of that borough. George Washington Soult was married, September 15, 1864, to Eliza A., daughter of Matthew T. Mayes, of Mifflin county, and Martha (Ewing) Mayes, of Huntingdon county. Their children are: Walter, born May 24, 1866, married Bessie Powell, and has four children, is at present employed in the Railway Mail Service, New York and Pittsburg Railway Post Office; William, born September 6, 1868, married Fannie Van Zandt, has one child, resides on the homestead; George Howard, born August 28, 1871; and Matthew Frank, born September 4, 1877. Mr. Soult died October 3, 1882. He was an earnest and consistent member of the Presbyterian church at Lewistown. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Eliza A. (Mayes) Soult, were Andrew and Annie (Shaw) Mayes; their children are as follows: Elizabeth, born May 25, 1788; James, born November 20, 1789, died February 4, 1829; William, born March 16, 1792, died October 5, 1838; Andrew, born October 7, 1797, died February 8, 1856; and Matthew, born July 19, 1803, died August 31, 1845. Andrew Mayes died April 8, 1827; his wife survived until January 28, 1831. Mrs. Soult's maternal grandparents, William and Elizabeth (Anderson) Ewing, had seven children: Mary; James; Margaret; Martha, the mother of Mrs. Soult; Thomas; Elizabeth; and William. Mr. and Mrs. Ewing were of Scotch-Irish descent, and resided in Shavers Creek valley, Huntingdon county, Pa.