Notes and Links

George Varner was 44 years old when the Civil War broke out and 48 when it ended. George Varner entered the army in the later stages of the war. He enlisted in Ellis Logan's Alabama Home Guards, Coosa Co, AL, on May 7, 1864. He served about one year, until the end of the war. He probably saw no action against Federal troops. The Home Guard's primary job was to maintain civil order at home rather than fight against Union troops.

After the Civil war, during the Reconstruction era, George Varner served as Commissioner of Roads and Revenues in Coosa County, AL, from Aug 1868 to Nov 1871. The Union Army and Federal officials, so-called Carpet Baggers, often appointed native southerners, as local officials who were called scalawags. George Varner may not have been regarded as a scalawag, because of his prior service in the CSA Home Guard.

Life as a farmer, during and after the reconstruction period, was difficult for southerners. The economic conditions were adverse to competition from the midwest and capital to buy farm equipment and employ farm hands was difficult to obtain. The balance of George Varner's life was mostly a struggle to hold on to some of his property and educate his children as best as he could. Many younger families moved westward into Texas and farther west, seeking better economic conditions. George supplemented his income by teaching and preaching in the local schools and the Methodist Church. A more detailed accounting of his aquiring and selling land, mortgaging property, and borrowing to make ends meet can be found in Chapter VII, George Varner and his families, of his descendant, Gerald Varner's genealogy, Varner families of the South, Volume II, referenced below. George Varner died between 1893 and 1900 in Coosa County or Shelby County, Alabama.

• m1. Mary Ann Elizabeth Smith, on Sep 1, 1851, in Tallapoosa County AL. Mary Ann was born in 1832 in GA and died c1871 in Coosa County AL. She was the oldest daughter of an 800 acre plantation owner, William Wynn Smith, and his wife, Mary J. Bostick. William and Mary Smith were originally from South Carolina and married there in 1831. They subsequently moved to Georgia in about 1831, and began to raise a family. Six children were born to them in GA, then they moved to Alabama in 1843, where three more children were born to them.

  George Varner and Mary Ann had 4 children:

  • William David Varner; b. 1853, Coosa County AL; William and his wife had moved to MS sometime after 1900, where he died.
    • m. Sophia Bailey on Dec 27, 1874, when she was only 14 years old and needed parental permission to marry. They had 10 children between 1876 and 1899.
  • Mary Emma Ann Dalucia Varner; b. Aug 5, 1854; d. Nov 1927
    • m. Elias Kelley; b. Mar 17, 1850 in AL; d. Jan 17, 1916 Coosa Couty AL. They had nine children.
  • Cleopatra Penelope "Nep" Varner; b. 1857, AL; d. 1951 in Birmingham AL, while living with her daughter, Laura (Gandy) Bailey.
    • m. Maxwell Whiddon "Max" Gandy; b. May 1857, in GA; d. May or Jun 1912. Max was the son of Francis Marion Gandy and Zilpha Grooms. Nep and Max had 9 children.
  • Laura Eugenia Varner; b. 1859 in AL.
    • m. ___? Henderson.

• m2. Sarah Jane Findley, on Jul 24, 1872. Sarah Jane was born in May 1846, and died after 1900 in AL. George and Sarah Jane had 6 children:
  • Judith Varner; b. 1873
  • Sidney Oliver Varner; b. Jan 2, 1875; d. Apr 11 1959, White County AR
    • m. Lula Emaline Vincent; b. Sep 6, 1884, Independence County AR; d. Mar 20, 1944 Cleburne County, AR. Sidney Oliver and Lula Emaline had 9 children.
  • Whitfield Varner; b. 1877, Coosa County AL
  • Robert Esau Varner; b. Mar 19, 1879; d. Mar 27, 1956, Coosa County AL.
    • m. Nevada Clifton, on May 1, 1909. Robert and Nevada had 5 children.
  • Repsie D. Varner; b. 1882, Coosa County AL
    • m. Brad L. Humphrey, on May 11, 1911, in Coosa County AL. Repsie and Brad had 2 children.
  • Anna Rachel Varner; b. Jan 1887; d. Jun 20, 1902.

References:

• Communication with Lisa Bannister
• Varner families of the South, Volume II, Chapter VII, by Gerald Varner.
• Descendants of John Verner, Sr., by Cynthia Verner Eckert.
• The Verner Genealogy by Clara Verner Wallace
• The on-line Verner Family Genealogy, by Don Verner of Texas.
• The Verner/Wingfield Collection