Pellman World Genealogy -- George Frederick Pellman

George Frederick Pellman

Vital Statistics
Birth Date	Birthplace	Comments
April 18, 1868	Aurora, IN	possibly born Georg Friedrich Pellman
Date(s) of Marriage(s)	Spouse(s)	Place(s) of Marriage(s)	Comments
March 5, 1889	Mary Victoria (Schimmel) Pellman	Unknown**	**probably Farley, MO
Date of Death	Place of Death	Burial Site	Cause of Death/Comments
December 22, 1943	Leavenworth, KS	Leavenworth, KS

Father	Spouse(s)	Children	Birth Date
William Henry Pellman	Mary Victoria Pellman	Henry Frederick ("Fritz") Pellman	December 22, 1889
		John Guss Pellman	August 15, 1891
Mother		Mary Elizabeth ("Lizze") Pellman	September 12, 1893
Elise Meier		Helena Adeline ("Lena") Pellman	March 29, 1899
		Clara Beatrice Pellman	December 19, 1899
		Otto Edward ("Ed") Pellman	July 25, 1902
		Margaret Lillian Pellman	September 28, 1904
		Violet Louise Pellman	January 11, 1907
		Elmer Francis ("Dutch") Pellman	September 9, 1909
Biographical Information
A great deal of family folklore surrounds George Frederick Pellman. His youngest son, Dutch, was was wonderful story-teller who loved describing the heroic exploits of his father. Among other things, George was a frontier lawman in Kaw City, Kay County, in the Oklahoma Territory. Oklahoma did not gain statehood until 1907. George was the sheriff (marshall?) in Kaw City from around 1903 to 1906, during the latter years of the last great chief of the Kaw Nation, Washungah. At least one of his children, Margaret Lillian was born in Kaw City while he was living there. According to George's son John, George spoke fluent German but forbid his children to speak it. Instead, he wanted them to speak only English, so they would be fully "American." In 1889 he married Mary Victoria Schimmel. He was living in Farley, MO at the time -- a town that for over 100 years has been known as "Schimmel Town," so it is likely that it was the town in which he and Mary were married. It is also likely that his early years were spent as a share-cropper with his father, but when the new federal penitentiary was opened in Leavenworth, just across the Missouri River from Farley by the bridge completed in the late 1880s, in 1895, George found work there as a prison guard. George's father, William Henry, died in 1901 in Ponca City, OK. It was probably shortly after the birth of Otto Edward Pellman, that George moved his family to Kaw City, OK. Whether this move was occasioned by the opportunity to be the Sheriff of Kay County, or to assist his brothers John and Guss following the death of their father, is not known. Kay County was originally mapped as "K" County for the Cherokee Strip Land Run in 1893, and the name was later expanded to "Kay." The family moved back to Leavenworth, KS either shortly before or after the birth of daughter, Violet Louise. By the time Oklahoma gained statehood on November 16, 1907 George was again a prison guard at Leavenworth Penitentiary. Although neither was an eye-witness to the events, both John and Dutch independently related the same story about George's service at the penitentiary. At the time of the incident, one of George's relatives (possibly a Springer) was the prison barber. During an escape attempt a convict who was getting a shave in the prison barber shop grabbed some straight-razors used them to kill the unarmed barber. Enraged by the murder of his kinfolk, George was the first to encounter the killer. He struck the murderer so hard with his standard-issue hickory-stick that it cracked down the center from the blow. To ensure there would not be a repeat offense, George then grabbed the unconscious (and probably already dead) killer and hurled his body down into the yard from the second level where the barber shop was located, breaking most of the bones in his body. George's nightstick is still a treasured family heirloom and the crack left by the blow is evident in the close-up photo below. If the incident happened today, George might well have faced charges for use of excessive force. But, since it occurred in saner times, he received the commendation his heroism and decisive action rightly deserved. George retired from a life of public service, and passed away in 1943.