Driver, George Hibbert Smith, 1842-1920.

Stephen Driver (1797-1868) was a prosperous shoe manufacturer in Salem, Massachusetts. He married twice and had six children who survived to adulthood. His first wife was Mary Berford (born c.1798), by whom he had three children: Mary B. Driver (born c.1822); Helen Elizabeth Driver (born 1828); and Stephen P. Driver (born c.1830). The second wife of Stephen Driver, Sr., was Susanna Payson Smith (born c.1805) whom he married in 1835, and with whom he had three additional children: Susan S. Driver (born October 1, 1839); George Hibbert Smith Driver (born February 4, 1842); and Samuel Driver (born August 29, 1844). By 1860, the family had moved from Salem to live in Danvers, Massachusetts, but the shoe manufacturing business continued to operate out of Salem, with Stephen Driver, Sr., traveling back and forth as his business required. Two of his sons, George H.S. Driver and Stephen P. Driver, served in the Civil War in the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, Co. F. George H.S. Driver enlisted as a private on October 7, 1861, at the age of 19. His 31-year-old half brother Stephen P. Driver enlisted the next day as a quartermaster sergeant.

George H.S. Driver was part of General Burnside's Floating Coast Division, and after some time in Annapolis, he worked as a supply officer on board the Highlander in Annapolis and off the coast of Roanoke Island, North Carolina, before becoming ill and receiving a disability discharge on September 28, 1862, in New Bern, North Carolina. Stephen P. Driver was discharged on Jan. 1, 1863, also in New Bern. Both men returned to the Danvers/Salem area. George married Lucretia Larkin in 1868, and worked in the family shoe manufacturing trade for a number of years, but by 1897, he had become a real estate and insurance agent with his own company in Boston. He died in Wakefield, Massachusetts, on September 7, 1920.

Stephen P. Driver, George's older half brother, was born 1829, and died c.1891. In 1860 he, his wife Mary Goodhue, and their two young children, were living in Salem with his sister Helen [Driver] Brooks and her family. Stephen was employed in his father's shoe manufacturing business in Salem until he joined the army in 1861. After the war he continued to work in the shoe business in Salem, until sometime in the 1870's, when he moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, and became an agent for Scribners.

Helen Elizabeth Driver, George's older half sister, was born c.1828, and in the early 1850's married David Brainard Brooks, a publisher and bookseller in Salem, Massachusetts; they had two children, Stephen (born c.1853) and Helen (born c.1857).

Susan Smith Driver (b. October 1, 1838), older sister of George H.S. Driver, attended Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary for two years (1865-1867) and taught there in 1867 and 1868. After that she worked as a teacher and tutor in Salem and Danvers, Massachusetts. She never married. She died on April 9, 1920.

Samuel P. Driver, George's younger brother, and the youngest child of Stephen and Susanna Driver, was born August 29, 1844. He married Laura Putnam c.1866; they had two sons. Samuel followed the family tradition of working in the shoe manufacturing business, first in Salem, and later in Bradford and Lynn, Massachusetts.

From the guide to the George Driver family papers, Driver, George family papers, 1861-1875, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)