# George Redmon Pate (1870-1944) ## Early Life and Family Background (1870–1898) George Redmon Pate was born on 14 October 1870 in Springfield, Conway County, Arkansas. He was the son of Henry Clay Pate and Sarah Adeline Engelbright, members of an established Arkansas family whose roots were firmly planted in Faulkner and Conway counties. By 1880, George was living with his parents in Union City, Faulkner County, where he was recorded in the federal census as a ten-year-old son in the household. His childhood and young adulthood were spent in this rural Arkansas community, where farming and family labor shaped daily life. ## Marriage and Establishing a Household (1898–1910) On 2 January 1898, George married Hattie Elizabeth Holt in Wooster, Faulkner County, Arkansas. Their marriage marked the beginning of a long partnership that would produce a large family. George and Hattie settled in Union City, where census records place them in both 1900 and 1910. During these years, George worked to support a rapidly growing household while remaining closely tied to the same community in which he had been raised. ## Raising a Large Family George and Hattie were the parents of eleven known children, reflecting both the expectations and realities of rural family life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their children were: • Hazel Leona Pate • Redmon Roma Pate • Infant Pate • Henry French Pate • Charles “Z” Ezekiel Pate • Ray Andrew Pate • Montine Adeline Pate • Rupert Harlan Pate • Francis Pate • Annie Josephine Pate • Georgie Lou Pate The size of the family suggests a household centered on cooperation, shared labor, and strong kinship bonds, especially during the years the family remained in Arkansas. ## Migration to New Mexico (1910s–1920s) Sometime after 1910, George and his family joined the broader movement westward and southwestward in search of land and opportunity. By 1920, George was living in Otis, Eddy County, New Mexico. Shortly thereafter, the family settled in Lake Arthur, Chaves County. This move represented a significant transition—from the established communities of Arkansas to the developing agricultural regions of southeastern New Mexico. ## Later Years in Lake Arthur (1921–1944) From about 1921 until his death, George made Lake Arthur his permanent home. Census records from 1930 and 1940 place him there consistently, indicating long-term stability in the community. These later years were likely spent watching his children establish their own lives while he and Hattie remained anchors of the extended family. George Redmon Pate died on 14 November 1944 in Lake Arthur, Chaves County, New Mexico. His life spanned a period of major change, from post–Civil War Arkansas through westward migration and settlement in New Mexico. Through marriage, migration, and the raising of a large family, he left a lasting legacy carried forward by his many descendants.