George arrived in New York on 27 March 1856 via the ship Caravan. The ship roster indicates his age as 21 at the time of travel, but the overland company roster shows him as 24 years old. He initially began his journey to the Salt Lake Valley with the John A. Hunt Company in 1856. He was among the small group of men who remained behind at Devil's Gate until spring to guard the personal belongings of the emigrants who had been rescued.
George is listed as a butcher on the ship records and on the Hunt Company roster. We are unable to confirm that he ever completed the trip to the Valley. John Cooper states that "Geo. Watt, (butcher, was disaffected and went back east, having had a quarrel with Jones)" It is likely that Cooper misremembered the names and it was actually George Allen who returned to the East.