George and Jane (Cox) Pickering
Notes from Bob Leathers
Life Story
1855: George Charles Pickering was born in England.
1857 October: Jane Cox was born to Richard and Elizabeth (Roberts) Cox in Netherton, Dudley, Worcestershire, England. Netherton was located in the area of England called the Black Country.
1861: Jane Cox, age 5, born about 1856 in Dudley, Worcestershire, England was living in Dudley with her mother Elizabeth, age 29, her brother Joseph, age 9 and a sister Mary, age 11 months. (1861 England Census)
1865: The American Civil War ended. It was time for the country to move West.
1866: Jane Cox immigrated from England with her parents and two brothers.
1868 June 30: The Union Pacific Railroad arrived at Carbon, Wyoming. Coal was now needed in great quantities to run the steam engines up and down the track. The great coal rush was on.
1877: Jane Cox married Richard Pickering in St. Claire, Pennsylvania. (Rock Springs Rocket, May 5, 1922)
1882: The George Pickering family moved from Pennsylvania to Carbon, Wyoming. (Bob: Carrie Pickering born 1882 in Pennsylvania and Mary Pickering born March 1883 in Wyoming. Nettie Pickering born December 1888 in Wyoming)
1882: Jane (Cox) and George Pickering along with her parents Elizabeth and Richard Cox and brother Robert Cox followed her older brother Joseph Cox to Carbon. Wyoming and were living in the coal camp at Carbon.
1880: Jane Pickering, age 24, a housekeeper, married, white, female, born in England, was living in Saint Clair, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania with her husband George, age 25, a laborer in the mine, and her daughter Millie, age 2. (1880 U.S. Census)
St. Clair is a borough in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania two miles north of Pottsville or the southern Coal Region. Extensive deposits of hard coal are present there.
St. Clair is a borough in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania two miles north of Pottsville or the southern Coal Region. Extensive deposits of hard coal are present there.
1885 September 2: In Rock Springs, Wyoming, a riot between Chinese immigrant coal miners and white immigrant coal miners over ongoing labor disputes broke out. It became known as the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre.
1886 Aug. 28: A SHOOTING. A shooting scrape occurred at Rock Springs Tuesday. A constable, George Pickering, undertook to arrest a man named Tassey, who was drunk and quarrelsome and finally had to shoot him in self-defense. A coroner's jury exonerated Pickering. (Laramie Weekly Sentinel, Laramie Wyoming, August 28, 1886)
1889: George Pickering arrested Calamity Jane in Rock Springs. Nicolas Kappes, who operated a "beer saloon" in Rock Springs remembered her (Calamity Jane) approach with the men. She would lean her elbow on the bar, blow smoke in their eyes and talk in confidential whispers to the strangers she flattered with her caressing words. "For some reason, Martha (Calamity Jane) took a liking to Kappes' establishment and "pre-empted it as home." Even though she was kind to the "gentle owner" he considered her a nuisance. "She would bring rough men into my place and make them spend their money freely, thinking that she was boosting my business," said Kappes. When she appropriated a cot Kappes kept in his back room for her daytime slumbers, he tossed it into the cellar. Martha (Calamity Jane) began cussing and finally became so obnoxious City Marshal George Pickering arrested her." Afterwards, she was severely reprimanded and ordered out of town. (Calamity Jane: The Woman and the Legend by James D. McLaird, p140.)
1889: Jane (Cox) Pickering's brother Joseph Cox was the mine foreman in charge of developing the first Union Pacific Coal Company mines in Hanna.
1890 June 19: A fierce fire broke out in Carbon and burned most of the business district to the ground. A few reports indicate the fire started in the Scranton House hotel where a guest knocked over a kerosene lamp. The fire fighters even tried dynamiting a few buildings in hopes of stopping the fire from spreading, but their efforts were not successful. Immediately after the fire, the people and businesses started rebuilding the town and new laws and ordinances were passed to help avoid such a thing from happening again.
1890: George Pickering helped out Butch Cassidy in Rock Springs. "Pete Parker, said that Butch Cassidy helped save his grandfather's life one day when a crowd of drunken Rock Springs miners threatened him with knives and broken whiskey bottles. According to Pete Parker, Butch, clutching a meat cleaver from the butcher shop, and a Union Pacific Railroad detective named George Pickering, who was fortunately armed with a rifle, managed to back down the troublemakers." (Butch Cassidy: a biography by Richard M. Patterson, p72)
1900: Jane Pickering, age 42, married for 23 years, married in 1877, born Oct. 1857 in England was living in Ogden Utah with her husband George Pickering, age 43, and her children: Carrie Pickering, age 19; Nettie Pickering, age 17; and Mary Pickering, age 17. (1900 U.S. Census)
1904 August 11: POSSE RETURNS HOME - MAN HUNTERS WHO WENT OUT TO INVESTIGATE HOLD-UP RETURNED HERE. The special Union Pacific posse and band of trained horses, which went to Ah Say station Monday morning to investigate the reported train wrecking attempt at that place, returned home on train No. 6 last night, and the posse will be held here for some time. In the party were Tim Keliher, head of the Union Pacific secret service for the Wyoming division; Deputy U.S. Marshal Joe Lefors, Si Funk and Hi Davis of this city; Thomas Meggeson and Wm. Van Sickle of Rawlins, Pat Lawson of Laramie and George Pickering of Rock Springs. (Wyoming Tribune, Cheyenne Wyoming, August 11, 1904)
1905 March 11: George Harris Jr., Sheriff, presented the name of George Pickering, as a deputy sheriff in and for Sweetwater county, said appointment was confirmed by the board with the understanding that no salary be paid by the county for said deputy sheriff's service. (Rock Springs Miner, Rock Springs, March 11, 1905, page 2) Note: George Harris Jr. was George Pickering's son-in law. George married Mary Pickering.
Note: I think this election as deputy sheriff was done to allow George to be an official law officer of Sweetwater County along with being a Special Agent of the Union Pacific Railroad. The U.P. would still take care of his pay. (BL)
Note: I think this election as deputy sheriff was done to allow George to be an official law officer of Sweetwater County along with being a Special Agent of the Union Pacific Railroad. The U.P. would still take care of his pay. (BL)
1914: George Pickering, one of the old timers of Sweetwater county, met his death by being struck by a switch engine at Rock Springs last Saturday, and was laid to rest in the Rock Springs cemetery Wednesday. (Green River Star, Jan. 9, 1914)
1914 Jan. 4, TRAIN KILLS PICKERING, U.P. OFFICER
(Special to the State Leader.) Rock Springs, Wyo. Jan. 3 -- George Pickering, one of the best-known citizens here, met a frightful death this afternoon when he was run down by a switch engine and his body horribly mangled. Pickering, who has been a special agent in the employ of the Union Pacific for more than 30 years, was walking along the railroad track and did not hear an approaching locomotive, which was "coasting" with the wind. Pickering was bundled up, with his coat collar turned high over his ears and the engine was upon him before he either saw or heard it and the crew did not see him. One arm was severed near the shoulder and his body mangled. Death was instantaneous. Mrs. Pickering, who has been seriously ill for several weeks, is now in a critical condition, and may not recover from the shock. (Cheyenne State Leader, Cheyenne Wyoming, January 4, 1914)
KILLED BY A SWITCH ENGINE
1914 Jan. 3: George Pickering, one of the old timers of Sweetwater county, met his death by being struck by a switch engine at Rock Springs last Saturday, and was laid to rest in the Rock Springs cemetery Wednesday. (Green River Star, Jan. 9, 1914)
1916 February 12: Mrs. George Pickering has returned to Rock Springs from a visit with her daughter, Mrs. George Harris, in Green River. (Rock Springs Miner, Rock Springs, Feb. 12, 1916)
1918 June 7: Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Young and Mrs. George Pickering have returned to Rock Springs and are again occupying their home on B Street after spending the winter in California. (Rock Springs Miner, June 7, 1918)
1920: Jane Pickering, age 63, was living in Rock Springs with her daughter Carey, age 37, and son-in-law A. E. Young, age 54. (1920 U.S. Census)
1921 January 27: Mrs. Jane Pickering of Rock Springs is visiting her brother and sister-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cox and attending the funeral for James While. (Hanna Notes, Rawlins Republican, Jan. 27, 1921)
1922 April: Jane (Cox) Pickering died in Rock Springs and was buried in the Rock Springs Cemetery with her husband George Pickering.
1922 May 5: Mr. and Mrs. John While, Mrs. Eliza While and Mr. Robert Cox went to Rock Springs Saturday in response to a telegram announcing the death of Mrs. Jane Pickering in that city. Mrs. Pickering is an old-time resident of Carbon County, having moved to Carbon, Wyoming in the early days. She leaves to mourn her death, three daughters, Mrs. Bert Young of Rock Springs, Mrs. Harris of Green River, Mrs. Ben Westlund of Oregon and two brothers, Joe Cox of Denver and Bob Cox of Hanna. (Hanna Notes, Rawlins Republican May 5, 1922, Day 11, Page 11)
1922 May 5, Obituary: OLD TIME RESIDENT OF THIS SECTION DIES
Another of the pioneers has joined the ranks of the departed. Yesterday morning Mrs. Jane Pickering passed away at the Wyoming General hospital following an illness of about a month. For the past thirty-six years, Mrs. Pickering has been a resident of Rock Springs, coming here when it was but a cluster of dwellings and a few business houses and has been a part of its life ever since. Her life was spent in doing kind deeds for her friends, many of whom have proceeded her to the great beyond.
Jane Cox was born in England in 1859, where her girlhood was spent, coming to America when eighteen years of age. In 1877 at St. Clair, Penn., she was united in marriage to Richard Pickering, who departed this life eight years ago. Thirty-six years ago, they moved to Rock Springs which has been their home ever since. Left to mourn her death are four daughters, Mrs. Bert Young and Mrs. James Hanson of Rock Springs, Mrs. George Harris of Green River and Mrs. Ben Westlund of Montesano, Washington.
Funeral services will be held from the Episcopal church on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock, conducted by the Rev. Franklin Smith and interment made in the Mountainview cemetery. (Rock Springs Rocket, Rock Springs Wyoming, May 5,1922)
Jane (Cox) and George Pickering had three children together:
- Carrie Pickering. born February 1882 in Pennsylvania. In 1900 she was age 19 and single. She could read, write and speak English. She married Hugh Frank Palmer November 1903 in Rock Springs, Wyoming. She later married A. E. Young September 20, 1915, in Ogden, Utah. In 1920 she was living in Rock Springs, Wyoming. She died in 1926 in Rock Springs, Wyoming and is buried in the Rock Springs cemetery next to her parents George and Jane Pickering. A. E. Young was born in 1862 and died in 1934. He was buried in the Rock Springs cemetery.
- Mary Pickering. born March 1883 in Wyoming. In 1900 she was age 17, single and could read, write and speak English.
- Nettie Pickering. born December 1888 in Wyoming. In 1900 she was age 12, single, attending school and could read, write and speak English. Nettie married B. C. Westlund. She died February 25, 1934, in King, Washington.
Rock Springs Cemetery Records
George Pickering (Image by Bob Leathers)
George Pickering (Image by Bob Leathers)
Jane (Cox) Pickering (Image by Bob Leathers)