This prosperous farmer is to be classed among the most enterprising men of the County and his hard labors, deprivations and hardships endured in the struggle to open this new country, demonstrate him to be possessed of true grit, energy, wisdom and powers to overcome.
George W. Dill was born in Nevada County, California, on June 24, 1870. His father, Henry P., was born in St. Louis, on June 13, 1833. In the early fifties he went across the plains with ox teams and although the Indians were on every hand they escaped a battle and he was soon in the mines of the Golden state, where he discovered some valuable properties.
After mining for some time on his own responsibility, he took the superintendency of a large hydraulic company and operated it for seventeen years. He is now farming in Washington. He married Elizabeth, the daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Sullivan. She was born in California in 1850. May 28. They had the following children, besides our subject: Henry, died in California; Laura L. Hayhurst, Elizabeth L., with parents.
George W. worked with his parents until he was of age and then went to Whitman County and farmed for three years. In the panic of 1893 he was completely broken up financially and packed his blankets seventy miles to work in the timber. Two years there and he came with a three horse team to the reservation country and during that trip camped out when the mercury registered twelve degrees below zero. He took a quarter by homestead right and has given himself to its culture since. He had a stopping place for freighters and travelers during the days of freighting to Grangeville. He was one of the first to settle on Mason prairie and has made a fine showing, having marketed over twelve hundred bushels of grain this year, has stock and is a prosperous man. He drew up the petition for the first school district and was appointed director by the County superintendent.
Politically he is a Democrat but is an independent thinker and chooses rather the man than the tenets of any party.
Back to: Nez Perce Biographies
Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903