George Charles Hager was born November 17, 1871, at Kelso, Indiana, the son of Charles and Regina Hager. In 1888 he came to Valley City to work in the harvest fields and was hired by T. Luther Codding to operate the separator during the threshing season. He returned during the threshing for several more years. During the winters he worked at many jobs including that of a street car conductor in St. Louis, Missouri. He had the misfortune of getting a piece of chaff in his left eye which left him blind in one eye. He never let this bother him and learned to shoot right-handed, becoming an avid hunter of prairie chickens and later pheasants. His love for North Dakota prairies grew with each returning visit and soon found him making it his home. He worked as a machinery salesman for Emerson and Newton, working out of Fargo, North Dakota.
On February 14, 1904, George and Coral Mary Codding were married. They lived for a year in Fargo while he continued to sell machinery and then took over the Codding farm when T. Luther Codding moved to Valley City.
Coral Mary Codding was born in Union City, Michigan, July 6, 1877, the daughter of T. Luther Codding and Jennie Alice Pratt Codding. She came to Dakota Territory with her mother, sister Bessie, and her brother Harry, at the age of six years. Her father, a stone mason by trade, had come the year before to homestead south of Valley City. She attended grade school in a neighbor's barn and the rest in Valley City when the family moved here during the winters. Coral received her teaching certificate at the Valley City Normal School. She taught at Minnie Lake, District #40, King School, Gordon School, Clark City and others, before marrying George. They farmed the homestead known as the Homewood Farm for 44 years. Coral was a charter member of the Green Homemakers Club, member of the Pioneer Daughters and belonged to Eastern Star. She was a member of the Congregational Church.
George and Coral had five children: Clarice (Mrs. Paul Flagler); Harriett (Mrs. Leonard Holland); Evelyn (Mrs. Frank Metzgar); Florence (Mrs. Oscar Jacobson); and Richard who married Alma June Borg.
George passed away in May 1954 and Coral passed away August 13, 1965.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 89