George Frederick Bollinger (1770–1842)Bollinger, Orenia, ''The Bollinger Connections'', 1984. McMinn Printing, Fredericktown, MO, USA. was an American pioneer. He was born in

Tryon County, North Carolina Tryon County is a former county which was located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It was formed in 1768 from the part of Mecklenburg County west of the Catawba River, although the legislative act that created it did not become effective unti ...

. Both

Bollinger County, Missouri Bollinger County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 10,567. The county seat, largest and only city, is Marble Hill. The largely rural county is suppor ...

and

Fredericktown, Missouri Fredericktown is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Missouri, United States, in the northeastern foothills of the St. Francois Mountains. The population was 4,429 at the 2020 census, up from 3,985 in 2010. The city is surrounded on ...

are named after him. He was the eleventh of the twelve children of Heinrich Bollinger. George Bollinger persuaded twenty other families to leave

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in the fall of 1799 and settle in a region immediately west of what is now

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, Cape Girardeau and Scott County, Missouri, Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the ...

. One of these families was the

Limbaugh family The Limbaugh family is a prominent political family from Missouri. Its members have served as attorneys, politicians, judges, and political commentators in Missouri and the United States. The most well-known member is former conservative talk radi ...

, of whom the most widely known descendant is

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

. To acquire the land, Bollinger first had to sign a document asserting that he and his fellow settlers were all

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. In reality, most of the group were members of the

German Reformed Church The Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) is a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. The present RCUS is a conservative, Reformed denomination. It affirms the principles of the Reformation: '' Sola scriptura'' (Script ...

, and none were Catholic. However, Don Louis Lorimier, the Spanish Land Commandant of

Cape Girardeau Cape Girardeau ( , ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540, making it the 17th-largest in the state. The city is one o ...

, had been impressed by Bollinger on an earlier visit and was willing to bend the rules for him and his fellow settlers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bollinger, George Frederick Immigrants to New Spain People from Cape Girardeau County, Missouri 1770 births 1842 deaths