George Vinton Lake, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born November 19, 1884 in Lewis, West Virginia.

A few years later, in 1888, his brother Nimrod Evans Lake was born, as well as his sister Sarah Givens Lake. Then on August 19, 1897, he welcomed brother Lorenza Dow Lake.

The 1900 Census lists 15 year-old George as “At School”:

The following year, his father – John William Lake (b. 1865) – died. Then in 1906, George married his first wife, Gertie Jane Pickens. On July 10, 1907, they had a daughter, Ercil Isis Lake.

On the 1910 Census, George is married to second wife, Victoria Keith:

On February 21, 1915, George & Victoria welcomed my grandmother, Sara Mae Lake. A year later, George lost his mother (Ellen Caroline “Ella” Forinash, b. 1865).

George’s World War I Draft Registration Card lists his occupation as “Farmer” for “Himself”:

In 1918, George lost son Andrew Hensley Lake to “Spanish Influenza followed by pneumonia”:

The 1920 Census reflects much of the same information as the decade prior, except the family is living in Jackson, Louisa, Virginia:

George’s son George Calvin Lake was born in 1922. It also appears that George might have visited Hawaii in that year:

A Passenger List from 1925 also suggests that he might have traveled to England:

On the 1930 Census, George is living on the Collins Settlement in Lewis, WV. He is described as a farmer.

By the 1940 Census, George is listed as widowed. His highest level of education is shown as “Elementary School, 5th grade” and he is now a “Farm Hand”:

George is living in Bruceton Mills, WV in 1942, according to his World War II Draft Registration Card:

George died July 5, 1958 in Weston, Lewis Co, West Virginia.