George Daniel McNabb
#M4 MCNABB, George Daniel
Born: 12 Jan 1873 Mt. Palatine, Putnam, Illinois.
Died: 14 Jan 1960 Britt, Hancock, Iowa
Father: Daniel MCNABB #M8 (5 Feb 1845-13 Sep
1931)
Mother: Mary Frances GEORGE #M9 (27 Sep 1849-23 Apr
1925)
Married (1): 1 Feb 1900 Forrest, Livingston, Illinois to Bertha Elsie STANFORD #M5. They had four children.
Children:
1.(M) John Willard MCNABB (22 Sep 1900-29 May 1939.)
2. (F) Lila Marie MCNABB (30 Jan 1902-18 Jan 1913.)
3. (M) *Donald Oliver MCNABB #M2 (17 Sep 1903-1 Nov
1939), m 29 Nov 1928 to Elsie Gladys LUNDQUIST #M3 in Salt Lake City, Salt
Lake, Utah.
4. (M) George Stanford MCNABB (11 Feb 1905-5 Sep 1926.)
*Direct line to Frances M. Gray
Married (2): 29 Aug 1907 Old Rolfe, Pocahontas, Iowa to Hattie Belle JOLLIFFE #M5a. They had four children.
Children:
1. (F)Reva Iola MCNABB #M2a (b 17 Jun 1908)
2. (F) Iva Bernice MCNABB (4 Dec 1910-16 Apr 1914)
3. (F) Viola Gail MCNABB (10 Jul 1912-15 Apr 1914)
4. (F) Verla Gene MCNABB (17 Sep 1915-6 Aug 1983), m 2 Aug 1941 Hancock, Iowa, to John
Arnold BIDNE.
George was educated at Paynes Point School His early life was spent on the family farm except the time that he spent at an academy learning surveying and engineering. At about age 15, he went to live with a great uncle, Robert Drysdale McNabb (son of John McNabb III and Margaret Morrison) near the McNabb homestead. George looked after Robert who was dying of cancer. Robert died in 1890.
When the family moved to Tonica, La Salle County, Illinois, George worked for a time with his father in a meat market and grocery store. After his marriage he and his family moved to Wesley, Kossuth, Iowa where George surveyed land for Hancock County. His wife Bertha died from blood poisoning shortly after his last son's birth. Two years later George married Hattie Belle Jolliffe.
After George's marriage to Hattie, the couple established their home at Britt, Hancock, Iowa. George was employed by Hancock County as a construction engineer and built about 150 bridges and culverts. He built the largest bridge in the county at the time, saving over $20,000. During World War I he was appointed Hancock County Engineer and served in that position until the end of the war.
George had built a little house on wheels which served as his bedroom and office while on location. It contained a kitchen and was pulled by a team of mules. He and his crew took the house to the site where they were surveying a field, draining the marshy swaps of Iowa, or building a small bridge or culvert. The room had space for for men, having two double bunks.
As an engineer for the county, he built his bridges, at times, four feet wider than he was supposed to. He said, "It isn't long before our roads are going to have to be wider." Later, most of the bridges that he did not build had to be widened because of automobile traffic.
He was still working after he was 70. The state inspector would ask to have him laid off because he was too old. After the inspector left, the county had to put him back to work because there was no one else to do the job.
He only owned a car for about two years.
SOURCE:
From his daughter Reva McNabb in an interview with Frances Mildred McNabb
Gray. For more information, see Life and Letters of Donald Oliver McNabb by
Wallace F. Gray, August 1997, pp. 302-303.
Interview with Reva McNabb (mentioned above)
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