Col. George Newcom was born in Ireland in approximately 1771 and came to America with his parents in 1775, where they lived for a short while in Delaware, before eventually migrating to Ohio. Newcom was one of the first settlers of Dayton, Ohio, and was the first sheriff and jailer in Montgomery County.

In 1815, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, and he later became president of Dayton’s first bank. George was a veteran of General Anthony Wayne’s campaign against the Indians, and he also served in the War of 1812. He was granted the name “Colonel” out of respect, not because of his services during the war. There are many interesting stories of his bravery during this time.

George built a house known as The Newcom Tavern in 1798, in Dayton, Ohio. It was an inn for travelers as well as a “courthouse” and a jail. The tavern was for several years, the showplace between Cincinnati and Dayton. It was also where he and his wife Mary had their daughter Jane, who is known as one of the first white children born in Dayton.

The tavern has been excellently preserved on the riverbank just opposite of the old Steele High School. This site is about a block from where the tavern stood when it was originally built, at Main and Water Street.

George died in 1853 and is buried at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio