THE FREDERICKS MOVE WEST
In 1880, at age 2, George was living with his single mother, Maggie, and his grandfather, William. Boyd, apparently his brother, likely was on the same farm the next year. Neither of them have a father listed – not in (for George) the 1880 census nor (for Boyd) the 1900 census.
After their grandfather passed away some time after 1884, George and Ben remained with their mother, Maggie. Later, Maggie’s cousin Marshel, married into the McDonald family. Marshel’s relatives, Joseph and Cynthia McDonald, childless themselves, took the boys to a new homestead in Washington County, Arkansas. (Several of George’s aunts and uncles left Appalachia for the northwest Arkansas hills in the years after the Civil War, although the McDonald’s appear to have been the first to go.) The McDonald homestead, with George and Ben, was about four miles south of the Phillips farm. A cemetery near Onda has the McDonald name on it.
Since there is no record of Boyd prior to 1900 when he is with the McDonalds, it is not entirely clear that George and Boyd were, in fact, biological brothers. Nor is it clear that they were together when they left Appalachia. Indeed, the McDonalds seemed to have taken in many children from Appalachia. Nonetheless, George and Boyd were always considered brothers. Boyd later married Jake’s 11-years-older sister, Sarah “Sallie” Elizabeth Phillips. Jake married Boyd’s niece, Eva.)