His grandfather, founder of the family in Todd County, was William Edward Garth, a native of Virginia, who came west when the district beyond the Alleghenies was still new, and cleared up and developed a good farm in Todd County, living on it, near Trenton, until his death. He married Betsy Saffrons, who was born in Virginia in 1810 and died at the old homestead near Clinton in 1885.

Their son, G. E. Garth, Sr., was born near Trenton December 4, 1839, and died January 16, 1920, having spent all of his long and useful life in the one community. He became successful as a farmer and widely known as a breeder of Jersey cattle and saddle horses. He was a democratic in his political affiliations. G. E. Garth, Sr., married Miss Louise Ware, who was born near Trenton in 1842 and died on the homestead in 1917, at the age of seventy-five. She was the mother of six children : Nora, of Nashville, Tennessee, widow of N. K. Allensworth, who was a farmer near Guthrie, Kentucky; Ella, who became the wife of S. E. Steger, and both died at Trenton, where Mr. Steger was widely known as the founder of the Bank of Trenton and a farmer; William Edward, an attorney by education and profession, but now a traveling salesman with home at Bowling Green; G. E., Jr.; Bessie, wife of J. S. Snyder, a distinguished Baptist minister of Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Norton, who lives on the old homestead.

G. E. Garth was born on the Garth farm a mile north of Trenton, October 10, 1875, and while he grew up in a rural district he supplemented his advantages in the country schools by attending the public schools of Trenton and also Ogden College at Bowling Green and Bethel College at Russellville. He finished his education at the age of eighteen, but continued on the farm and helped in its management until he was twenty-one. On leaving home he spent two years in a tobacco factory at Saddlerville, Tennessee, then for three years bought and shipped wheat, with Trenton as his headquarters, and from 1901 to 1904 was one of the city's successful merchants, in the grocery and hardware business.

Mr. Garth joined the Bank of Trenton in 1904 in the role and duties he has today, cashier. This is the second oldest bank in Todd County and was founded in 1888 under a State charter by S. E. Steger, W. B. L. Cook and other leading citizens. The present officers are Russell Hogan, president; W. S. Waller, vice president; G. E. Garth, cashier, and W. M. Hershfeld, assistant cashier. The bank is on Main Street, and since the building was remodeled in 1910 it has every facility of a first class modern banking house. The bank has a capital of $25,000, surplus and profits of $13,500, and deposits averaging $125,000.

Mr. Garth both as a banker and as a patriotic citizen exerted himself to the limit in behalf of the various objects of the Government during the World war. He was represented on various teams and committees in securing the cooperation of Todd County citizens to buy Liberty Bonds, support the Red Cross and other organizations. Mr. Garth is a democrat, has served as town trustee of Trenton, is a trustee of the Baptist Church and secretary of its Sunday School and is affiliated with Bethel Lodge No. 204 A. F. and A. M. He and his family have one of the best homes of the city, a modern brick residence.

In 1902, at Nashville, Tennessee, he married Miss Cora Russell, daughter of Charles and Gilly (Atkins) Russell. Her parents were prosperous farming people near Elkton, Kentucky where her father died and where her mother is still living. Mrs. Garth completed her education in the Logan Female College of Russellville. They have two children: Gilly Louise, born in February, 1905, and Ephraim Russell, born in July, 1908.