REUBEN GEISE. A former highly respected resident of Dawson, the late Reuben Geise was for many years successfully engaged in the lumber business, and contributed his full share in advancing the industrial interests of this part of Terrell county. A son of George Adam Geise, Jr., he was born, September 8, 1821, in Newmanstown, Pennsylvania, of substantial German ancestry.

His paternal grandfather, George Adam Geise, Sr., was born, June 4, 1725, in Hanover, Germany, and was there bred and educated. At the age of twenty-nine years he came to America in the good ship “Peggy,” and located in Bern township, Pennsylvania. He there bought land, and was engaged in farming until his death, June 29, 1784. He proved himself loyal to his adopted country, bravely assisting the colonists in their struggle for independence. He married Barbara Haag, who was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, July 31, 1738, and there died in August, 1814, having survived him thirty years.

George Adam Geise, Jr., was born in Bernville, Berks county, Pennsylvania, June 17, 1772. He married April 15, 1797, Susanna Bright, who was born in Bern township, Berks county, a daughter of John and Anna Maria (Leis) Brecht, as the name was then spelled, though it was later changed to Bright, and a granddaughter of David Brecht. Her great-grandfather, Stephen Brecht, emigrated from Germany to America in colonial times, coming to this country a widower with three small children. Settling in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, he bought a tract from three Pennbrothers, John, Thomas and Richard, the land having been a part of their original grant. David Brecht, whose birth occurred in the Fatherland, September 8, 1719, was one of the three children that came with his father to this country. He served in the Revolutionary army, after which he resumed farming at his old home in Berks county, residing there until his death, September 22, 1783. John Brecht, or Bright, as he spelled his name, and his wife were both life-long residents of Berks county, his death occurring February 9, 1834, and hers on May 24, 1842. -

George Adam Geise, Jr., and wife were also life-long residents of their native county. He died March 29, 1858, while her death occurred October9,1856. Both were buried in the Lutheran cemetery, at Newmanstown, Pennsylvania. They were the parents of fourteen children, and when her death occurred they had sixty-three grandchildren, and twenty-nine great-grandchildren.

While a boy in his teens, Reuben Geise joined his brother George, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Learning the trade of a miller, he subsequently built a flour mill at Big Spring, Tuscumbia, Franklin county, and operated it as a merchant mill. Being thus employed during the war between the states, he was exempted from military duty, but during the last year of the conflict he entered the Confederate service, and was assigned to duty in the transportation of leather. He went with the army from Dixon Station, Alabama, to Rome, Georgia, from there refugeeing to Dawson, Georgia. At the close of the war, Mr. Geise established a saw mill in Dawson, and embarked in the lumber business, subsequently furnishing the Central Georgia Railroad Company with lumber. Meeting with well merited success, he continued in the lumber business until his death, October 25, 1880.

Reuben Geise married Jerusha Halsey Wood, who was born in Huntsville, Alabama, November 16, 1831, a daughter of Lewis Wood. Her paternal grandfather, Joseph Wood, was born in Newark, New Jersey, October 14, 1760, of English lineage. He was well educated, and taught school in different places in his native state, and also served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He married April 2, 1780, Joanna Tuttle, whose birth occurred June 12, 1762. He was a personal friend of George Washington, with whom he served as a soldier. Lewis Wood was born in Newark, New Jersey, April 10, 1794, and as a young man migrated to Richmond, Virginia, from there going to Huntsville, Alabama, where he resided until his death, in 1836. Lewis Wood married, in Huntsville, Alabama, February 27, 1822, Mary Ann Woods, who, though of the same name, was not a relative. Her father,Leighton Wood, third, was a native of Richmond, Virginia, a son of Leighton Wood, second, who was born in England, in the city of Bristol, where his father, Leighton Wood, first, was, as far as known, a life-long resident. Leighton Wood, second, immigrated to America, and settled in Virginia, where he fought with the colonists in their struggle for independence. Elected auditor of Hanover county, Virginia, in 1780, he served from May until November, of that year, when the Virginia assembly elected him solicitor general, an office which he filled most efficiently until 1791. In 1801 he returned to England, and there died in 1805. He married a daughter of Rev. Benjamin Franklin Blagrove, an Episcopalian rector, and chaplain of the Virginia assembly in 1781.

Leighton Wood, third, served in the War of 1812. He married Mary Younghusband, whose father, William Younghusband, a resident of Richmond, Virginia, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, while her grandfather, Isaac Younghusband, was captain of a company of soldiers in the same war. After his marriage, Leighton Wood, third, went with his wife to Kentucky, where his death occurred. His widow subsequently moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where she spent her remaining days. -

Mrs. Reuben Geise passed to the higher life September 3,1 885. To her and her husband five children were born and reared, namely: Owen Nelson, Mary Wood, Susie Bright, James Deshler, and Rushie Lee. Mary Wood is the wife of D.J. Ray, of Atlanta, Georgia. Susie Bright married Walter S. Dozier, of whom a brief sketch may be found else where in this biographical work. Rushie Lee is the widow of Charles Wood Gunnell, of whom a brief sketch also appears in this volume. Mrs. Walter S. Dozier is a genealogist, and to her the Geise and Dozier families are greatly indebted for their family histories, she having devoted much time in searching records, and in corresponding with members of the different branches of both families.