Builder George Binkey was born on May 30, 1881 in rural Cook Township of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and by the early 1900s, was living in in Alma, Harlan County, Nebraska working as a carpenter. On December 23, 1907 Binkey and May Mason were married by county judge in Alma. He was 27, she was 21.

By 1908, the Binkeys were in Portland, living in a rented home near the corner of NE 28^th and Going. After arriving in Portland, George was listed in the city directory as a “cement worker.” The next year he started into the homebuilding business and the family moved into the modest two-bedroom house he built at 4728 NE 32nd Avenue. On October 12, 1909, George and May’s first daughter was born in the house, Twila May. The 1910 census shows the family living there, joined by May’s father A.C. Mason, age 60 who was working as a laborer. The family also had a boarder: Frank McDougal, age 57 from Kentucky, who was working as a bridgework foreman. These four adults and infant lived in the home without inside bathroom facilities. The following year, the Binkey’s second daughter was born: Marie Cora arrived on June 26, 1911.

During these years, Binkey built the Concordia neighborhood home where he and his family lived (4728 NE 32nd Avenue, 1908) and several nearby homes: 4627 NE 32nd Place (1907); 4705 NE 32nd Avenue (1908 but later demolished); 4620 NE 32nd Avenue (1908); 4720 NE 32nd Avenue (1909); and others in the vicinity.

By early 1913, the Binkeys had left Portland and moved to the Coos Bay area, where their third daughter, Alpha, was born on February 12, 1913. Fourth daughter Grace Beatrice arrived in 1915. George continued working as a carpenter and homebuilder and was involved in establishing a school in the Marshfield area. He died four years later of pneumonia on February 15, 1917 at age 36. May remarried but also died of pneumonia in May 1919 at age 33. It’s possible one or both George and May were victims of the 1918 pandemic.