THE GEATER FAMILY OF BERKSHIRE

The Geaters of Berkshire first appear in the village of Kintbury (near Reading). In the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin five headstones are found all lined up together:

• Richard Geater born 1620 died 1692, married to Ann, died 1692
• Roger Geater (possibly son of the above), born 1672, died 1751, married (1695 or 1693) to Mary (Herret), born 1661 and died 1731.
• John Geater (possibly son of Roger), born 1709, died 1751.

Church of St Mary the Virgin in Kintbury

Roger (born 1672) and Mary had the following children (in church records they are listed as GATTER but the headstones in the cemetery say GEATER:

The five Geater headstones in Kintbury dated 1692-1751

Transcription of the headstone texts by Raymond Edwin Geater in 1984

Casey Stafford wites about this line:

"John Geater was born 1789/1790, possibly the John Geater who was christened 31 Oct 1790 in Kintbury, Berkshire, England, the son and one of eight children born to John & Mary Geater. His wife's name is unknown, but he married about 1809, and they had at least four children:

• Frederick Geater, born 1810; married Elizabeth Chivers, 1832, Kintbury; seven children: Matilda, Job, Hannah, Mark, Charlotte, and Elizabeth; died after 1880, probably Benton County, Iowa, USA.
• Henry Geater, born 1812; married Hannah Culley, 1832, Kintbury; five children: George, Noah, Ellen, Alfred, and Josiah; Hannah died in the 1850s, and Henry remarried a woman named Elizabeth; died June 1884, Reading, Berkshire, England
• Charles Geater, born 1817; married Rachel Culley, 1837, Kintbury; four children: Charles, Kerenhappuch, Emily, and Israel
• William Geater, born 1819; married Hannah about 1842; three children: George, Emma, and Hannah Maria, possibly also Mary Jane; died 1899, Calumet County, Wisconsin, USA

About 1847, John Geater and son William left England for America, settling in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. He married his second wife, Elizabeth, a native of Maine, in 1850. About 1855, John returned to England and brought back to America his son Frederick, Frederick's son Mark, and two other grandsons, George & Noah, sons of Henry. They sailed aboard the 'Southampton', arriving in New York 24 September 1855. They settled in Lake County, Indiana, where John & Frederick are recorded in the 1860 Census.

Mark was living in Cook County, Illinois, and he joined the Illinois Infantry in 1862, serving the duration of the Civil War. George Geater served in the Iowa Infantry, enlisting in 1861 at Vinton, Benton County; he was captured at Shiloh in 1862, subsequently released; he married Sarah about 1864 in Iowa, and reenlisted in 1864, serving until 1866.

Noah married Sarah Ann Bayles in 1866, Porter County, Indiana, where they were still living in 1870; Mark married Carrie Ann Stewart in 1871, Porter County, Indiana. They both moved to Benton County, Iowa, shortly thereafter, and were also joined by Mark's father Frederick, who was living with George Geater in 1880.

Henry Geater's son Josiah, younger brother to George and Noah, came to America in 1870, and joined his brothers in Iowa. Frederick's son Job and brother to Mark, came to America in 1886, and his family came in 1888, all settling in Benton County, Iowa.

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