Gravestone of Matilda (Hilyard) Knerr, widow of 47th Pennsylvania veteran Lafayette Knerr, Union-West End Cemetery, Allentown, Pennsylvania (photo used with permission, courtesy of Jerry Haas).

Five days after the 1905 death of her husband, Levinus Lafayette Knerr, Matilda (Hilyard) Knerr filed for a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension — an action that was often taken by widows as they completed paperwork for the burial of their Civil War veteran-husbands and resulting probate of their estates. Her application was subsequently approved after its review by federal officials, giving her important financial support that helped her to survive her husband by more than a decade.

Sadly, her end came when she suffered her own episode of apoplexy on 1 August 1919, which was then followed by a second stroke in November of that same year. In frail health for the remainder of her days, she died at the age of eighty-seven in Allentown on 31 January 1920, and was laid to rest beside her husband at the Union-West End Cemetery in Allentown.

Market Street in Akron, Ohio, viewed from the bridge, looking east, 1880s (public domain; click to enlarge).

Following his migration west to Ohio sometime before the federal census of June 1880, Lafayette Knerr’s son, “Walter P. Knerr,” settled in the city of Akron in Summit County, where he was employed as a laborer and resided at a boarding house operated by James and Elisabeth Fitzwilliams at 601 South Broadway. While in Akron, he met Lizzie Schwendermann (variants: “Lizzie Schwendemann” and “Lillian Swinman”) and asked her to marry him in early September of 1882. Together, they welcomed the births of: Walter E. Knerr (1883-1940), who was born on 29 October 1883 and would later wed Jessie Moore (1880-1925) and then be widowed by her after welcoming the births of: Raymond Walter Knerr (1902-1982), Vernon Russell Knerr (1905-1979) and Wayne Charles Knerr (1913-1989); and Mabel H. Knerr (1885-1962), who was born in December 1885 and would later wed Harry H. Horn (1881-1949) in 1904.

Settled with his wife and two teenaged children in the Eighteenth Ward of the city of Cleveland in Cuyahoga County, Ohio by June of 1900, Walter P. Knerr was employed as a diemaker with a wire factory. By 1910, however, his daughter, Mabel, was married and living in her own home. In addition, he was separated from his wife, Lillian, who had moved into Mabel’s home. (A decree of divorce was subsequently issued by Judge H. C. Spicer for Lillian Knerr, on 12 August 1922, based on “grounds of gross neglect” by Walter P. Knerr, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.) Four years after his divorce was official, Walter was gone, having passed away in his early seventies in Cuyahiga County on 9 July 1926. Following funeral services, his remains were returned to Summit County, Ohio for burial at the Glendale Cemetery in Akron.

Rooftop view from Diehl’s Furniture, 8th and Turner Streets, Allentown, Pennsylvania, looking west, 1910 (public domain; click to enlarge).

Following her marriage to Addison James Leaser (1864-1938) in Allentown on 7 November 1885, Lafayette Knerr’s daughter, Mary J. (Knerr) Leaser settled with him in that city and became the mother of: Addison James Leaser, Jr. (1886-1929), who was born on 1 April 1886 and would later wed Ethel May Voorhees (1891-1960), before being divorced from her prior to 1920 and later marrying Mary M. Deitrich (1893-1953); and Mary A. M. Leaser (1889-1890), who was born on 17 February 1889 but died in Allentown when she was just five months and seventeen days old. (Mary and Addison subsequently laid their little one to rest at the Union-West End Cemetery in Allentown.) By 1900, Mary (Knerr) Leaser and her husband, Addison Leaser, Sr., a thirty-five-year-old hotel porter, were living with their son, Addison Leaser, Jr., a fourteen-year-old cigar factory laborer, at the home of Mary’s parents at 529 Liberty Street in Allentown’s Tenth Ward. Also living with the Knerrs that year were two boarders, Marie S. Morris, a twenty-four-year-old silk mill weaver, and Elsie C. Kunkle, a seventeen-year-old silk mill winder.

Still residing at her parents’ address on Liberty Street after the death of her father in 1905 and through the time of the 1910 federal census, Mary (Knerr) Leaser was documented by a 1910 census enumerator as having given birth to two children, only one of whom was still alive. Also living with her was her unemployed husband, who was documented as the head of their household, which also included Mary’s seventy-eight-year-old mother, Matilda (Hilyard) Knerr, and Mary and Addison Leaser’s twenty-four-year-old son, Addison Jr., and his eighteen-year-old wife, Ethel May (Voorhees) Leaser (1891-1960), and their one-year-old daughter, Bernice Magdalena Leaser (1909-1982), who had been born in Allentown on 26 March 1909.

Unidentified residents of the Phoebe Home on Turner Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania, circa 1940s-1950s (public domain; click to enlarge).

Roughly a decade later, on 6 January 1920, a different federal census enumerator noted that Mary’s Liberty Street household included her husband (Addison Sr.), their divorced son (Addison Jr.), and Mary’s mother, who passed away later that same month (on 31 January 1920) and was buried at Allentown’s Union-West End Cemetery the following month, according to death records. Nine years later, Mary’s son, Addison James Leaser, Jr., died from lung cancer in Allentown on 20 March 1929. Just twelve days shy of his forty-third birthday, he was buried at Allentown’s Union-West End Cemetery.

Widowed by her husband in 1938, Mary J. (Knerr) Leaser moved into the Phoebe Home at 1903 Turner Street in Allentown on 14 January 1939, where she continued to reside for the remainder of her life. Still active with the Salem United Church of Christ but ailing with heart disease during her final years, she died at that home from pulmonary edema at the age of ninety-three on 13 July 1957. Following funeral services at the Phoebe Home, she was buried beside her husband at the Union-West End Cemetery in Allentown.

What Happened to the Stepchildren of Levinus Lafayette Knerr?

Headstone of Lafayette Knerr’s oldest stepson, John Thomas Ginkinger (1853-1897), Union-West End Cemetery, Allentown, Pennsylvania (used with permission, courtesy of Jerry Haas).

Following his marriage to Emma M. Hillegas (1858-1916) sometime during the mid to late 1870s, Lafayette Knerr’s stepson and tinsmith, John Thomas Ginkinger (1853-1897), settled with her in Allentown, where they welcomed the births of: John Thomas Ginkinger, Jr. (1878-1926), who was born in February 1878 and would later wed and be widowed by Mamie Mae Conrad (1877-1903), before marrying Katie Steck (1866-1949); Charles Walter Garfield Ginkinger (1881-1945), who was born on 5 April 1881 and would later wed Mary E. Whalen (1882-1941); Tilghman Ginkinger (1884-1886), who was born on 4 October 1884 but died in Allentown on 17 September 1886 — just weeks before his second birthday; and Ellie Ginkinger (1887-1930), who was born on 9 April 1887, would never marry and would die in Allentown at the age of forty-two on 16 February 1930.

Later employed as a tinsmith by Mager, Ritter & Co. and by H. E. Ginkinger, John T. Ginkinger, Sr. fell ill with consumption (tuberculosis) in 1894. Ultimately consumed by the disease, he was confined to his bed at his home in Allentown during the final six weeks of his life, and died there from tuberculosis-related complications at 1:30 a.m. on 12 February 1897. Following funeral services, his remains were subsequently interred at Allentown’s Union-West End Cemetery.

This simple stone marks the grave of Tilghman H. Ginkinger, a stepson of 47th Pennsylvania veteran Lafayette Knerr (Greenwood Cemetery, Allentown, Pennsylvania, public domain).

Following his marriage to Sarah A. Haines (1850-1932) sometime during the early 1870s, Lafayette Knerr’s stepson, Tilghman H. Ginkinger (1855-1926), welcomed the births with her in Allentown of: Harry Haines Ginkinger (1875-1956), who was born on 13 June 1875 and would later wed Annie L. Kratzer (1873-1928) and operate a candy store from their home at 434 North Tenth Street in Allentown; Anna M. Ginkinger (1877-1911), who was born on 20 April 1877, was known to family and friends as “Annie,” never married, and, sadly, suffered from spinal sclerosis until her death at the Samaritan Hospital in Philadelphia at the age of thirty-four on 7 June 1911; Margaret H. Ginkinger (1878-1963), who was born on 14 September 1878 and would later wed Harvey Eugene Kunkle (1878-1934); Lizzie Ginkinger (1881-1939), who was born on 21 June 1881 and would later wed George F. Miller (1879-1946); and Frederick T. Ginkinger (1886-1928), who was born on 25 January 1886 and would later wed Marion M. Lentz.

A private assigned to Company B of the 4th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Tilghman H. Ginkinger subsequently served with his regiment in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War. He then returned home to his wife and children in Allentown, where he resumed work as a cigarmaker. By 1900, Tilghman H. Ginkinger was living in Allentown’s Tenth Ward with his wife and their children, Annie, Margaret and Frederick. Sadly, Tilghman H. Ginkinger subsequently died at the age of seventy-one from acute indigestion while visiting relatives in Allentown on 17 January 1926. Following funeral services, he was laid to rest at the Greenwood Cemetery in Allentown.

Unfortunately, researchers for 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story have not yet been able to confirm what happened to Lafayette Knerr’s other two stepchildren: George Ginkinger and Mary Ginkinger. Born circa 1857 and 1859, respectively, according to the 1860 federal census, they may have died in childhood or as teenagers because they were not listed as members of Lafayette Knerr’s household on the 1870 census. What is known for certain is that both George and Mary were deceased sometime before the death of their older brother, John Thomas Ginkinger on 12 February 1897, according to John’s 13 February 1897 obituary in Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper.

Sources:

1. Addison Leaser (groom) and Miss Mary J. Knerr (bride and a daughter of Lafayette Knerr), in Marriage Records (Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 7 November 1885). Allentown, Pennsylvania: Clerk of the Orphans’ Court of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.
2. Addison J. Leaser, Jr. (a grandson of Lafayette Knerr and a son of Mary J. (Knerr) Leaser), in Death Certificates (file no.: 36945, registered no.: 446, date of death: 20 March 1929). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
3. Anna Ginkinger (a step-grandaughter of Lafayette Knerr and a daughter of Tilghman H. Ginkinger), in Death Certificates (file no.: 59841, registered no.: 14379, date of death: 7 June 1911). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
4. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
5. “Decree Is Entered” (notice of the divorce of Levinus Lafayette Knerr’s son, Walter P. Knerr). Akron, Ohio: Akron Beacon Journal, 12 August 1922.
6. Fitzwilliams, James (head of household, laborer and boarding house operator), Elisabeth, Margaret, John, Elisabeth, Mary, and Catherine; Emory, Charles and Frank (boarders and moulders); and Knerr, Walter (a laborer and boarder who was a son of Lafayette Knerr), et. al. (six other boarders, several of whom were iron moulders), in U.S. Census (Akron, Summit County, Ohio, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
7. Ginkinger, Tilghman (a stepson of Lafayette Knerr), Sallie, Annie, Margaret, and Frederick, in U.S. Census (Allentown, Tenth Ward, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
8. “Her Eighty-Third Birthday” (eighty-third birthday celebration for Matilda (Hilyard Ginkinger) Knerr, the widow of Lafayette Knerr and a sister of Reuben Andrew Hilyard and William H. Hilyard). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 23 October 1915.
9. Knerr, Lafayette, in Ferris Bros.’ Allentown City and Lehigh County Directory for 1885, p. 130. Wilmington, Delaware: Ferris Brothers Printers and Binders, 1885.
10. Knerr, Lafayette, in Records of Burial Places of Veterans (Union-West End Cemetery, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Military Affairs.
11. Knerr, Lafayette (alias “Knerr, Levi”) and Knerr, Matilda, in U.S. Civil War Pension General Index Cards (veteran’s application no.: 745751, veteran’s certificate no.: 644080, filed by the veteran from Pennsylvania, 27 December 1889; widow’s application no.: 822362, widow’s certificate no.: 592375, filed by the veteran’s widow from Pennsylvania, 20 February 1905). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
12. Knerr, Lafayette, Matilda and Mary, in U.S. Census (Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
13. Knerr, Lafayette and Matilda; and Leaser, Addison J. (senior), Mary J. (a daughter of Lafayette Knerr) and Addison J. (junior); Morris, Marie S. (boarder); and Kunkle, Elsie C. (boarder), in U.S. Census (Allentown, Tenth Ward, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
14. Knerr, Lafinus [sic, “Lavinus Lafayette Knerr”] and Matilda, and Gingkinger [sic, “Ginkinger”], John, Tilghman, George, and Mary (all of whom were listed on page 29 of that group of census records; the Ginkingers were children from Matilda’s first marriage to Thomas/Tilghman Ginkinger); and Hilliard [sic, “Hilyard”], John, Sarah, William, and Emma (the parents and siblings of Matilda (Hilliard) Knerr, and Knerr, James (a brother of Lafayette Knerr), and Burcaw, Harry, aged six (all of whom were listed on page 30 of that group of census records), in U.S. Census (Allentown, Fourth Ward, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
15. Knerr, Levi and Hilyard, Reuben A., in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company B, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
16. Knerr, Levi and Hilyard, Reuben A., in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company B, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
17. Knerr, Levi [sic, “Levinus Lafayette Knerr”], Matilda, Walter, and Mary; and Ginkinger, John and Tilghman (Matilda’s sons from her first marriage), in U.S. Census (Allentown, Fifth Ward, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
18. 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.
19. Knerr, Walter P. (a son of Lafayette Knerr), Lillian, Walter E., and Mabel, in U.S. Census (Cleveland, Eighteenth Ward, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
20. Lafayette Knerr (birth and death dates), in Death Records (Salem United Church of Christ, Allentown, Pennsylvania, date of death: 15 February 1905). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
21. “Lafayette Knerr” (obituary). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 17 February 1905.
22. Leaser, Addison J. (head of household), Mary J. (a daughter of Lafayette Knerr), Addison J. Jr. (son), Ethel (Addison Jr.’s wife), and Bernice (Addison Jr.’s daughter); and Knerr, Matilda (the mother of Mary J. (Knerr) Leaser and the widow of Lafayette Knerr), in U.S. Census (Allentown, Tenth Ward, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
23. Leaser, Addison J. (head of household), Mary J. (a daughter of Lafayette Knerr), Addison J. Jr. (son), and Knerr, Matilda (the mother of Mary J. (Knerr) Leaser and the widow of Lafayette Knerr), in U.S. Census (Allentown, Tenth Ward, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
24. Leaser, Addison J. (head of household) and Mary J. (a daughter of Lafayette Knerr), in U.S. Census (Allentown, Tenth Ward, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1930). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
25. “Long Suffering Ended by Death” (obituary of Miss Annie M. Ginkinger, a step-grandaughter of Lafayette Knerr and a daughter of Tilghman H. Ginkinger). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 8 June 1911.
26. Mary J. Leaser (a daughter of Lafayette Knerr), in Death Certificates (file no.: 63785, registered no.: 1056, date of death: 13 July 1957). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
27. Matilda Knerr (an older sister of Reuben Andrew Hilyard and the widow of Lafayette Knerr), in Death Certificates (file no.: 3857, registered no.: 9, date of death: 31 January 1920). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
28. Mrs. Ethel May Leaser Voorhees (the former wife of Addison James Leaser, Jr., who was a son of Lafayette Knerr’s daughter, Mary J. (Knerr) Leaser), in Death Certificates (file no.: 104763-60, local reg. no.:1802, date of death: 16 November 1960). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
29. “Mrs. Mary J. Leaser” (obituary of a daughter of Lafayette Knerr). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 14 July 1957.
30. “Mrs. Matilda Knerr” (obituary of an older sister of Reuben Andrew Hilyard and William H. Hilyard and the widow of Lafayette Knerr). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 2 February 1920.
31. “Obituary: John T. Ginkinger” (obituary of Lafayette Knerr’s oldest stepson). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 13 February 1897.
32. 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.
33. “Regional Deaths: Mrs. Ethel May Voorhees” (obituary of the former wife of Addison James Leaser, Jr., who was a son of Lafayette Knerr’s daughter, Mary J. (Knerr) Leaser). Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania: Jim Thorpe Times, 17 November 1960.
34. “Roster of the 47th P. V. Inf.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 26 October 1930.
35. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.
36. “Tilghman H. Ginkinger” (obituary of a stepson of Lafayette Knerr). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 19 January 1926.
37. “Veterans’ Reunion: Heroes of the 47th Assembled at the Duck Farm: Their Old Commander Present: Large Gathering of Old Soldiers in Whom Martial Spirit Is Still Strong.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 22 October 1902.
38. Walter E. Knerr (a grandson of Lafayette Knerr and a son of Walter P. Knerr), in Death Certificates (file no.: 22834, registered no.: 109, date of death: 11 April 1940). Columbus, Ohio: State of Ohio, Department of Health.
39. Walter P. Knerr (groom and a son of Lafayette Knerr) and Lizzie Schwendemann (bride), in “Marriage Licenses.” Akron, Ohio: The Summit County Beacon, 6 September 1882.
40. Walter P. Knerr (a son of Lafayette Knerr), in Death Records (Cuyahoga County, Ohio, date of death: 9 July 1926). Columbus, Ohio: State of Ohio, Department of Health.