George W. Harwood is one of the oldest business men still in active service in the city of Champaign. He came to Champaign County soon after the Civil War, in which he had fought gallantly as a Union soldier, and during the greater part of his residence here has been in the real estate and insurance business. There is no man better informed on the changing values of real estate and with a more authoritative knowledge of realty conditions.
Mr. Harwood is of New England birth and ancestry, and was born at North Brookfield, Worcester County, Massachusetts, September 18, 1841. His parents, George and Angeline (Allen) Harwood, were also natives of Massachusetts, spent their lives there, and his father was a farmer in moderate circumstances. There were three children: Anna, deceased; George W.; and Ethan A., who still lives on the old home place at North Brookfield.
George W. Harwood had the training of the typical New England boy, grew up to habits of industry, learned the lessons of the district schools, and at the age of twenty enlisted in Company E of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Infantry. He saw three years of hard service. He was in some of the greatest campaigns of the war. At Jackson, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign, he was wounded, and again was wounded at Campbell’s Station in Tennessee. He went in as private and came out as first lieutenant. He was mustered out at Reedville, Massachusetts.
The first year after his army service he was an employee in a Massachusetts shoe factory. In 1866 Mr. Harwood came out to Champaign County, and for five years was a practical farmer in Newcomb Township. He then removed to Champaign and ever since has been engaged in the real estate and insurance business. He has handled many large and important transactions in local realty and has also represented some of the standard insurance companies. Mr. Harwood is now secretary of the Champaign Loan and Banking Association. His offices are located at 21 Main Street. His citizenship has always been straightforward and public spirited. He is a Republican, an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and belongs to the military order of the Loyal Legion. He and his family are members of the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Harwood married in November, 1866, Miss Mary N. Harwood, a distant relative and a native of Kentucky.