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by Frederick Whittaker (Author)
GEORGE ARMSTRONG OUSTER was born in New Rumley, Ohio, December 5, 1839. New Rumley is a group of houses, an old established settlement, in Harrison County, on the border of Pennsylvania, and peopled from thence early in the last century. It is a small place, not set down on any but very large scale maps, and most of the population of the township is scattered in farm houses about the country. The family history, gleaned from the family Bible, is plain and simple. It is that of an honest group of hard workers, not ashamed of work, and it shows that the stock of which the future general came was good, such as made frontiersmen and pioneers in the last century. Emmanuel H. Custer, father of the general, was born in Cryssoptown, Alleghany County, Maryland, December 10th, 1806. To-day, a hale hearty old man of seventy, somewhat bowed, but well as ever to all seeming, he stands a living instance of the strong physique and keen wits of the determined men wlib made the wild forests of Ohio to bloom like the rose. He was brought up as a smith, and worked at his trade for many years, till he had saved enough money to buy a farm, when he became a cultivator. All he knows he taught himself, but he gave his children the best education that could be obtained in those early days in Ohio. "When quite a young man, he left
