From HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA (Bowen & Co., 1917), pages 982-984:

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GEORGE WASHINGTON LAKE

George Washington Lake, one of Fayette county's best-known retired farmers
and the proprietor of a fine farm in Jennings township, where he made his
home for thirty-five years, but who is now living in the pleasant village
of Everton, was born in that village on November 22, 1851. He is a son of
Phenas and Rebecca (Lambert) Lake, members of old families in this county and
the parents of eleven children, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in
this volume, together with a somewhat extended history of the Lake family,
going back for centuries in England and detailing the history of the life
of William Lake, father of Phenas Lake. William Lake came to Indiana from
New Jersey in 1815, settling in Dearborn county, whence, in 1835, he came
up the river to Fayette county and settled in the Everton neighborhood,
in Jackson township, where he spent the rest of his life and where his son,
Phenas Lake, also spent the rest of his life, a farmer and saw-mill owner,
justice of the peace and for years one of the most substantial and influential
residents of that part of the county.

It was on the home farm at Everton, in the house now occupied by his brother,
Ellis R. Lake, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this
volume, that George W. Lake grew to manhood. He received his schooling in
the Everton schools and from boyhood was a valued aid to his father in the
labors of developing and improving the home farm. After his marriage, he
then being twenty-six years of age, he established his home on his farm in
the southern part of Jennings township, and there resided for thirty-five
years or until his retirement from the farm in 1911 and removal to Everton,
where he is now living and where he and his family are very comfortably
situated. Mr. Lake is the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and
ninety acres in Jennings township, which, since his retirement from the
active labors of the farm, has been operated by his son, Frederick E. Lake,
who is now living on the farm.

On November 5, 1876, George W. Lake was united in marriage to Mary Caroline
Kerr, who was born on a pioneer farm south of Everton on July 10, 1850,
daughter of James and Margaret (Grist) Kerr, well-known and influential
residents of that community. James Kerr, who was one of the first school
teachers in the Fairfield neighborhood, was born in County Antrim, Ireland,
October 22, 1791, and was but eight years of age when the parents left Ireland
and came to this country. His father, a political refugee on account of his
participation in the Irish rebellion of 1798, left his native land with his
wife and two small sons, James and Henry, December 12, 1799, and arrived
at the port of Charleston, South Carolina, April 20, 1800. He established
his home in the Abbeville district of South Carolina and there James Kerr
grew to manhood. There, on March 7, 1815, James Kerr married Nancy McIlwain
and in the spring of 1822 he and his wife came West, arriving in Indiana on
May 21 of that year, settling in the Fairfield neighborhood, in Franklin
county. On July 27 of that same year Nancy Kerr died and on December 23,
1824, James Kerr married Margaret Grist, who was born in the Pendleton
district of South Carolina, January 9, 1809, and who came to Indiana with
her parents, Simon and Sarah Grist, in 1813, the family settling in Fayette
county. During the period of his residence in the Fairfield neighborhood
James Kerr taught school and he also taught for some time after moving to
the farm south of Everton in this county, where he spent the rest of his
life. On January 28, 1828, he and his family moved to that farm in Jackson
township and it was not long until James Kerr came to be recognized as one
of the strong and influential characters in that part of the county. He
took an active interest in the general civic affairs of the community and
for some time served as trustee of the township, in that capacity rendering
admirable service in behalf of the pioneer community. His last vote was cast
for Abraham Lincoln. He and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist
Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. There were
thirteen of these children, all of whom grew to maturity save one son, Hugh,
who died when two years of age. James Kerr died on September 16, 1873,
at the age of eighty-one years, and his widow survived until January 26,
1884, she being seventy-five years of age at the time of her death.

To George W. and Mary Caroline (Kerr) Lake three children have been born,
namely: Mamie G., who married Lafayette Moore, a biographical sketch of whom
is presented elsewhere in this volume, and has one child, a son, Daniel
George; Frederick Ellis, who is at home with his parents in Everton, and
Walter Arden Lake, now farming in the Bentley neighborhood, who married Eva
Pierce and has one child, a son, Arden Pierce, born on October 17, 1916. Mr.
Lake is a member of the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias and of the
Improved Order of Red Men and Mrs. Lake is a member of the Pythian Sisters
and of the Daughters of Rebekah, both taking a warm interest in the affairs
of these several organizations. Mr. Lake is a member of the Methodist church
and she and her husband have ever given their earnest attention to local good
works, helpful in promoting all measures having to do with the advancement of
the common welfare of the community in which they have lived all their lives.

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