Penn Street looking East toward what is presently 4th Street, Reading, Pennsylvania (circa 1900, public domain).

Following the death of her husband, James Henry Knerr, in April 1886, Sarah (Ritter) Knerr continued to reside in the city of Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Although she filed for a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension on 21 February 1889, it appears from the U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Card system (maintained by the U.S. National Archives) that she was not awarded pension support as the widow of a Civil War veteran, but ultimately did receive federal assistance from the federal government for her family through a U.S. Civil War Minor Child Pension. During her final years, she resided at the home of her son, James Robert Knerr, who was known to family and friends as “Robert,” and remained active enough to travel to Allentown to visit her mother, Henrietta, at her home on Law Street. Sadly, while she was on one of those trips during the summer of 1891, Sarah (Ritter) Knerr fell ill. By the time that she returned to the home of her son Robert in Reading in mid to late August, she was gravely ill. Diagnosed with cholera morbus, she died shortly thereafter. Following her passing at the age of fifty on 28 August 1891, she was buried next to her husband at the Charles Evans Cemetery in Reading. She was survived by her three sons, Harry Knerr, of Trenton, New Jersey, and Robert and Ralph Knerr of Reading, as well as by her siblings: Annie (Ritter) Wilson and Milton Ritter of Philadelphia; Maria (Ritter) Howard of Camden, New Jersey; and Allentown residents Alfred and Frank Ritter, Ellen (Ritter) Trexler, and Mary (Ritter) Bush.

Crystal Cave Hotel, Richmond Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, circa early 1900s (public domain; click to enlarge).

Following his marriage to Minnie J. Murray (1879-1927) in 1902, James H. Knerr’s son, Ralph Garfield Knerr, settled with her in Reading and welcomed the birth with her of James Edward Knerr (1906-1990), who was born on 5 June 1906 and would later wed Evelyn M. Hilbert (1920-2003). Employed by the Reading Transit and Light Company by at least the early 1900s, Ralph G. Knerr would go on to serve as the secretary of that company’s employee relief association. He was also an active member of his Presbyterian Church congregation and of the Modern Woodmen of America. Ailing with heart disease by the time he was in his early thirties, Ralph Garfield Knerr moved from his home at 263 South Seventeenth Street in Reading into the Crystal Cave Hotel in Richmond Township, Berks County in mid-July of 1915, hoping to improve his health. Sadly, he died there at that hotel just two weeks later. Following his passing at the age of thirty-five, his remains were returned to Reading for interment at the Charles Evans Cemetery.

A resident of Trenton, New Jersey at the time of the 1891 death of his mother, Sarah (Ritter) Knerr, according to her obituary, Harry Daniel Knerr returned to his hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania sometime before the federal census of 1900. A boarder at a hotel operated by James Esterly at 745 Penn Street, Harry was employed as a carriage painter and dresser at a carriagemaker’s shop. Following his marriage to Fleetwood, Berks County native Emma Ida Burkhart (1875-1939) in Berks County in 1910, Harry resided with her in Reading’s Eighth Ward and continued to work as a carriage maker, while his wife worked at a cigar factory, according to the 1900 federal census. By 1914, however, he was employed as a laborer in the packaging department at Luden’s candy factory. Admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Reading on 2 December 1922, he underwent surgery the next day. Although he survived the operation, he succumbed to surgical complications at his home at 141 Poplar Street in Reading later that same month (on 18 December). Fifty-four years old at the time of his passing, he was laid to rest at Aulenbach’s Cemetery in Mount Penn, Berks County. He and his wife had no children.

Unidentified group observing the construction of the Pagoda in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, circa 1906 (public domain).

Following his 1881 marriage to Amelia Jane Butler (1861-1955), who was known to family as friends as “Millie,” James H. Knerr’s son, James Robert Knerr, settled with her in the city of Reading, where they welcomed the birth of William Edward Knerr (1881-1962) on 18 November 1881. Known to family and friends as “J.Robert” or “Robert,” James R. Knerr was still residing with his wife and only child in Reading by 1900, and was living in that city’s Third Ward, according to that year’s federal census. Employed as a painter, his son worked as a cloth cutter.

One of the significant events that was certain to have attracted the attention of Knerrs of Berks County during their family’s long history was the construction of the Reading Pagoda during the early 1900s. Initially built to be a luxury resort high above the city, it was erected during a vibrant period for the city — and during the years when James R. Knerr was still in the prime of life. A major undertaking that significantly transformed the city’s landscape, the Pagoda went on to become Reading’s most iconic structure — and has remained so for more than a century.

Born into a time when horses, wagons and stagecoaches moved people “from point A to point B,” he ultimately became a living witness in a city that bustled with the far faster transit of trolleys and automobiles. By 1920, he was employed as a salesman — work he continued to perform well into his seventies. By 1940, he was still employed as a salesman at a department store, according to a federal census enumerator who interviewed him. (Sometime before that census was taken, he and his wife had moved from Reading into their own home at 113 5th Avenue in West Reading, Berks County.) Retired by 1950, James Robert Knerr was a healthy, strong man for much of his life. Finally felled by apoplexy at the age of ninety-two, he died in Bern Township, Berks County on 13 July 1953 and was subsequently interred at the Memorial Mausoleum in Wyomissing, Berks County.

Sources: 

1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
2. “Death of a Former Allentown Lady” (obituary of Sarah (Ritter) Knerr, the widow of James Henry Knerr). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 2 September 1891.
3. Esterly, James (hotel operator), Clara H., William, and James M.; Knerr, Harry B. [sic, “Harry Daniel Knerr”] (a coach painter and son of James Henry Knerr); and thirty other boarders, in U.S. Census (Reading, Eighth Ward, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
4. Harry D. Knerr (groom and a son of James Henry Knerr) and James and Sarah Knerr (parents of the groom); and Ida Burkart (bride) and Jacob Burkhart (father of the bride), in Marriage Records (Berks County, Pennsylvania, vol. 26, no.: 1436). Reading, Pennsylvania: Clerk of the Orphans’ Court of Berks County, Pennsylvania.
5. Harry D. Knerr (a son of James Henry Knerr), in Death Certificates (file no.: 117941, registered no.: 850, date of death: 18 December 1922). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
6. James R. Knerr (a son of James Henry Knerr), in Death Certificates (file no.: 59782, registered no.: 1227, date of death: 14 July 1953). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
7. “Knerr” (obituary of James Henry Knerr’s son, Harry Daniel Knerr). Reading, Pennsylvania: The Reading News-Times, 20 December 1922.
8. Knerr, Harry (a son of James Henry Knerr) and Emma, in U.S. Census (Reading, Eighth Ward, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
9. Knerr, Harry Daniel (infant) and James and Sarah Knerr (parents), in Birth and Baptismal Records (Methodist Church, Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, date of birth: 8 February 1868, baptism: 24 February 1868). Reading, Pennsylvania: Central Methodist Church.
10. Knerr, J. Robert (a son of James Henry Knerr), Minnie and William E., in U.S. Census (Reading, Third Ward, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
11. Knerr, J. Robert (a son of James Henry Knerr) and Minnie, in U.S. Census (Reading, Third Ward, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
12. Knerr, James H., in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
13. Knerr, James H., in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
14. Knerr, James H., in Records of Burial Places of Veterans (Charles Evans Cemetery, Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, date of death: 5 April 1886). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Military Affairs.
15. Knerr, James, Sarah, Robert, and Harry, in U.S. Census (Reading, Second Ward, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
16. Knerr, James H., Sarah H. (widow) and James R. (guardian), in U.S. Civil War Pension (widow’s application no.: 389392, filed from Pennsylvania by the veteran’s widow, 21 February 1889; application by guardian on behalf of veteran’s minor child: 530471, minor child’s certificate no.: 326902, filed by the minor child’s guardian, 27 October 1891).
17. Knerr, Nathan, Judith, John, Levina [sic, “Levinus Lafayette Knerr”], Daniel, Charles, James, Angelina, and Elizabeth, in U.S. Census (East Allentown, Northampton Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
18. Knerr, Robert J. [sic, “James Robert Knerr”] (a son of James Henry Knerr) and Amelia, in U.S. Census (West Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1940, 1950). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
19. “Obituary: Ralph G. Knerr” (a son of James Henry Knerr). Reading, Pennsylvania: The Reading News-Times, 30 July 1915.
20. Oettinger, Judith (infant and the future mother of Lafayette and James Henry Knerr), and Christian and Margaretha (parents of Judith), in Birth and Baptismal Records (Zion Lehigh Evangelical Lutheran Church, Alburtis, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, birth date: 10 December 1806, baptism date: 9 May 1907). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
21. “Roster of the 47th P. V. Inf.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 26 October 1930.
22. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.