HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes,
Lewis Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, Vol. III,
pp. 1316-17.  Lewis County.

GEORGE T. WILLIM.  As president of the Citizens' Bank at Vanceburg,
George T. Willim is a potent force in the financial world in Lewis county,
Kentucky.  In addition to his varied banking interests he is treasurer of
Lewis county at the present time, in 1911, and in that important position
he is giving a most able administration of the fiscal affairs of the
county.
     The Citizens' Bank of Vanceburg was organized in October, 1903, with
a capital stock of fifteen thousand dollars.  The first officers and
directors instrumental in organizing the same were as follows: Edward
Willim, president; George T. Willim, cashier; W. W. Willim, John P.
Willim and W. C. Halbert, directors.  Through uniform growth and
development the bank has reached its present financial status and today
it holds prestige as one of the leading monetary institutions in eastern
Kentucky.  On the 7th of November, 1907, Edward Willim retired from the
presidency of the bank and at that time George T. Willim, of this review,
was elected president, with George M. Thomas Jr., as cashier to fill his
vacancy.  The deposits of the bank amount to one hundred and forty-one
thousand dollars and the surplus and undivided profits amount to four
thousand and seven hundred and fifty dollars.  A three per cent dividend
is declared semi-annually and the loans and discounts amount to eighty
thousand dollars.
     Mr. George T. Willim was born on a farm near Vanceburg, on the 4th
of October, 1874, and he is a son of Thomas H. and Melissa R. (McKellep)
Willim, both of whom were born and reared in Lewis county, Kentucky.
Harry Willim, grandfather of him to whom this sketch is dedicated, was
a native of England, whence he emigrated to the United States as a young
man.  He brought with him a large stock of queensware from England,
intending to engage in business in New York city, but the ship on which
he took passage was wrecked and everything on board was lost, the
passengers being compelled to swim ashore.  Traveling overland to
Virginia, Harry Willim went down the Ohio river on a boat to Kentucky
and it was on this trip that he met his future wife.  Subsequently he
settled in Lewis county, at the old county seat of Clarksburg, where he
operated a tannery for several years.  Later he disposed of that business
and purchased a tract of timber land, where he erected and operated a
saw mill for many years.  He died on his farm near Clarksburg in August,
1867.  He and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Wallace Bishop,
became the parents of six children--four boys and two girls--of whom
Thomas H., father of George T., was the fifth in order of birth.  Thomas
H. Willim was reared to adult age on the home farm, which, he later
inherited and on which he continued to reside during the residue of his
life, his death having occurred in 1895.  He married Melissa R. McKellep,
who survives her honored husband and who now maintains her home at Valley,
Kentucky, and to this union were born nine children, seven of whom are
living in 1911.
     Seventh in order of birth of his parents' nine children, George T.
Willim grew up on the old paternal homestead and he received his
preliminary educational training in the district schools, later
supplementing that discipline by a course of study in Riverside Seminary,
at Vanceburg, Kentucky, and by a commercial course at Nelson's Business
college at Cincinnati, Ohio.
     When twenty years of age he secured a position as bookkeeper in the
Deposit Bank at Vanceburg and he continued incumbent of that position
until the organization of the Citizens' Bank, in 1903, since which time
he has been connected with the same, first as cashier and since 1907 as
president, as previously noted.  In politics Mr. Willim is aligned as a
stalwart supporter of the principles of the Republican party.  He is a
former member of the Vanceburg city council and in 1909 he was honored by
the fiscal court with election to the office of treasurer of Lewis county.
He is acquitting himself most creditably in discharging the duties incident
to his present office and he is also trustee of the jury fund.  Mr. Willim
is a man of fine intelligence and extraordinary executive and financial
ability and in all his business and personal transactions he is widely
known as a man of honorable and straightforward conduct.  He is affiliated
with various fraternal and social organizations of representative character
and his religious faith is in harmony with the teachings of the Methodist
Episcopal church, while his wife is a devout member of the Christian
church.
     In July, 1898, Mr. Willim was united in marriage to Miss Emma Jones,
who is a native of Lewis county and who is a daughter of Rufus N. and
Sallie (Voiers) Jones, the former of whom was long a prominent business
man at Vanceburg.  No children has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Willim.

Willim Halbert Thomas McKellep Bishop Jones Voiers
=
VA OH England

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