in 1857 george's father wiley white married mary anna spaulding, a young local woman of mixed race and the granddaughter of benjamin spaulding. born into slavery as the son of a slave mother and a white plantation owner, benjamin had been freed by his father as a young man. as a free man of color, spaulding worked to acquire more than 2300 acres of pine woods, which he apportioned to his own large family.