George Alexander Aberle (1908 - 1995)

Born 15 Apr 1908 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Died 4 Mar 1995 at age 86 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

George Aberle is Notable.

George Alexander Aberle, better known as eden ahbez (April 15, 1908 – March 4, 1995), was an American songwriter and recording artist of the 1940s to 1960s, whose lifestyle in California was influential in the hippie movement. He was known to friends simply as Ahbe.

Ahbez was inspired by an early hippie named William Pester and wrote a song about him. Ahbez composed the song Nature Boy, which became a No. 1 hit for eight weeks in 1948 for Nat "King" Cole. Living a bucolic life from at least the 1940s, he traveled in sandals and wore shoulder-length hair and beard, and white robes. He camped out below the first 'L' in the Hollywood sign above Los Angeles and studied Oriental mysticism. He slept outdoors with his family and ate vegetables, fruits, and nuts. He claimed to live on three dollars per week.^[1]

Ahbez was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish father and a Scottish-English mother, and spent his early years in the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York. He was then adopted from the orphan train in 1917 by a family in Chanute, Kansas, and given the name George McGrew.

He had a twin sister, Editha, who was also adopted by the McGrews. She kept the name McGrew. He married Anna Jacobson in Los Angeles in 1948.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97245181/that-strange-little-man-who-wrote-nature/

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M57P-YWF : accessed 26 February 2022), George A Aberle in household of George P Aberle, Brooklyn Ward 11, Kings, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 222, sheet 6A, family 94, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 959; FHL microfilm 1,374,972.

• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFXJ-BNR : 1 February 2021), George McGrew in entry for William McGrew, 1920.

• "California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8K2-CZK : 9 March 2021), Eden Ahbez and Anna Jacobson, 09 Jan 1948; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,116,126.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/223100108/eden-ahbez : accessed 9 March 2022), memorial page for Eden Ahbez (15 Apr 1908–4 Mar 1995), Find a Grave Memorial ID 223100108, citing Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, Riverside County, California, USA ; Maintained by Obit101 (contributor 47425157) .

See Also:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_ahbez

• https://www.iowasource.com/2020/12/02/eden-ahbez/

• Nature Boy sung by Nat King Cole on YouTube

• The Life of Eden Ahbez on YouTube