George and his children always spelled their name Kisling.
George was the banker in the early days of the settlement that became Mechanicsburg in Henry Co., Indiana and was referred to as the "Honest Dutchman."
History of Mechanicsburg:
"In the summer of 1854 the first school-house was built in Mechanicsburg. The lot upon which it stood is now a gravel pit in the western edge of the town. The three trustees, Lewis Swain, James Wisehart and John Bonham, hired John F. Polk then a young man twenty-one years of age, to teach the first term beginning November 28, 1854. There were two months of public school followed by two months of private school with more than one hundred pupils enrolled. Mr. Polk boarded at George Keesling's, and
remembers that he paid for board and lodging $ 2.50 per month. Among the older pupils were John Hackney Swain, Rice and Amos Keesling, Ezra and Andrew Henshaw, Marcus Bonham, Calvin Keesling, George and Mary Hasty, Hugh and Elinor Murphy, Wm. and Henry Swain, Margaret Beck and Christena Keesling. At this time W. H. Keesling's education had its beginning. His father took him to the school house and placed him in the hands of the teacher. There was short-lived rebellion on the part of the new pupil when his father left the room."
"Previous to the building of this mill, George Keesling had built a water-power saw mill near his home. It was built about 1842, and was operated for several years when there was sufficient water, The dam, of which there are still traces, afforded fine skating for the boys during the winter."
