George Charles

George Charles was born about 1767. He was the son of immigrant butcher William and Mary Hogan Charles. He grew up a part of a small South End family. George lost his father during the 1780s.

In 1790, he was accounted for under the first ward household of his widowed mother. In 1792, George and his mother were granted letters of administration on William Charles's estate. A few months later, they sponsored an extensive inventory of the Charles property and obligations. By that time, George had taken over and had diversified the family business.

By 1796, he had married one Mary Price. Over the next eighteen years, the marriage had produced at least seven children who were christened at the Albany Dutch church.

His tannery and lot probably located on the flats of the lower Beaverkill) and personal property were valued on the first ward assessment roll in 1799. In 1800, his budding family was configured on the first ward census. Subsequent censuses documented the growth of his family.

Beginning in 1800, he further augmented his South End holdings by purchasing lots along Liberty Street. In 1841, an assessment roll noted he still owned at least five properties on the south side of South Pearl Street.

By 1813, he was being listed in the city directory as a tanner at 144 Washington (later South Pearl Street). By 1816, the directory also was listing him as "inspector of leather" at 146 South Pearl Street. His tannery was a South End landmark.

George Charles died at the end of October 1848. He had lived eighty-one years. His will passed probate in April 1850.

Sources: The life of George Charles is CAP biography number 7588. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.