George Washington Brock of Henrico County, Virginia (1868-1937)

George stood about five feet, ten inches tall and weighed approximately 160 pounds. He had brown hair, hazel eyes and a soft voice. He usually wore overalls, a belt, big shoes and long underwear. He thought that the long underwear kept him warm in winter and cool in the summer. George never smoked nor drank, but did chew tobacco. He rarely took baths and slept in separate beds from his wife after the birth of their last child. He was a mild-tempered man and only went to beat his daughter Elna once. She sassed him in the field about a tractor and he took off after her. She ran to Mamie who made him leave her be. This was the only time she ever recalled him so upset with her.

George grew-up on a farm in Henrico County, Virginia. His parents died when he was in his early teens and he was raised by relatives. He later rented property in the same area, near Broad Street and Springfield Roads, after his marriage to Mamie. On his farm, George had horses, cows, mules and other small animals. Even though he eventually settled in the city, George could not let go of his land. He went to the country every weekend and tended to his property.

Mamie was not George's first marriage. His first wife was Maggie Ford and they had one legitimate child together. George thought that he may have had two other children by her but discovered his wife had been having an affair. The two children actually belonged to a Charlie Butler, Maggie’s future, second husband.

Being alone was not ideal for a man of forty years. George needed a wife to care for him as he got older, so he began looking for a second. One night, he went to a party and from across the room saw the woman that he wanted. She was a young girl, about twenty years-old, and George had to meet her. During this time period, you could not approach a woman. Instead, you had to be formally introduced. To get around this technicality, George got a friend to introduce him to Mamie’'s sister. To her, George was just a "country man" and she showed little interest. However, the half-sister did invite George to dinner with her family.

On the night that George went to dinner, Mamie was in the front room with her fiancé. They had been working on a quilt for their hope chest and were almost finished. Not paying any attention to the young lovers, George went into the kitchen with Mrs. Clarke and asked for her daughter’s hand in marriage. Mrs. Clarke thought that George wanted the sister and approved the marriage. However, when George explained that he wanted Mamie, Mrs. Clarke told him to marry any of her daughters that he wanted. Mrs. Clarke was from a well-to-do family and liked George because he was established.

At about the same time that her marriage was being arranged, Mamie came into the kitchen to display her finished quilt. George looked at her and said, "I'll be sleeping under that." Upon hearing this, Mamie knew what had happened. She married George, despite giving-up her true love, so that she would not disobey her mother. As for her fiancé, he never married and lived with his sister until he died. His name was Mr. Wilkerson and the last time anyone saw him was outside of Mamie's funeral. He sat on the corner and would not go inside. After Mamie was buried, Mr. Wilkerson approached her son, Edward, and gave him a large picture of her as a young woman. He told Edward that he had always dreamed of having her back but that it was too late. He had to let go because she was gone. Mamie was Edward’s mother, he deserved the picture. Mr. Wilkinson had no need for it any longer.

George loved his home in the country and allowed family members to stay there while he was away. For example, his daughter Doris and her husband lived there for awhile and ran the farm for George. One evening, Doris was washing dishes when she saw the man that Mamie had evicted looking at her through the window. Bernard would not go outside to run him off. He told Doris that she was seeing things. However, the next morning, there were two horses and several cows deathly ill. The man had poisoned George’s livestock, an emotional blow that he never recovered from.

After the incident, farmers came from all over to help George try to save his horses. The men got the animals into the barn and had to put boards under their stomachs so that they would not lie down. If they were allowed to do so, the horses would give-up and die. Despite all of their efforts, the horses did die, along with all of his other animals except for one cow and her calf. Heartbroken, George had Mamie sell his barn full of feed and his two cows. She got a mere $30.

While in Richmond, the Brocks lived on Lombardy, West Cary and Belvidere Streets. George was not happy in the city, but as mentioned before, he spent his weekends at the farm. The only problem that George had was that Mamie controlled the car. He could not drive and had to depend on her to take him to and from the country. However, she did so ever weekend, so that she could spend time with her boyfriend, Eddie Alley.

George was employed by the city and walked to and from work everyday. On his way home, he would search for anything recyclable, especially foil cigarette wrappers. He would later sit in the backyard and ball-up the foil to sell. He had a pull-string pouch that he kept his recycling money in. Mamie did not have the heart to ask him for that money although he never spent it on anything. The pouch never left his body.

As it has become obvious, George loved animals. The family had a pair of black cats which had kittens in the kitchen cupboard. Not realizing it one day, George let the male cat into the house, thinking it was the female. He felt terrible when the male killed all of the kittens. He took their death to heart.

Two weeks before George died, he had a heart attack. The doctors told him to take two weeks of vacation and after fourteen days he went back to work. Mamie objected to his decision and was so furious that she refused to pack his lunch that day. George went into the kitchen, made a sandwich and set-off for work. The night before, he told Mamie that he had helped her raise all of the other children but that he was not going to be around for Elna. She was confused by him saying such a thing.

About noon, George returned home with two men. They sat in the truck and Mamie offered them some soup but they were not hungry. George sat around for a few minutes. His daughters, Elna and Alease, were on the front porch when George got ready to leave. Almost as if he knew he was going to die, George watched his two girls through the back window until they drove out of sight. He had a second heart attack while cleaning-up Monroe Park less than an hour later. George was rushed to Memorial Hospital, but it was too late. He died shortly after arriving.

About an hour after George died, one of his fellow workers showed-up at the Brock home. He gave Doris her father's hat and belt, but his money pouch was gone. No one ever saw it after that point. The only positive aspect about George's death was that he got his one wish - to die with his shoes on.

At his funeral, Mamie saw George in a suit for one of the first times since their wedding. She made the comment that "if he looked that way more often, I could have loved him." After the services at Bliley's, George was buried on the old Brock homestead on Broad Street Road. In the early 1980's, all of the graves from that site were moved to Westhampton Memorial Park on Patterson Avenue because of the expanding road.