John Lewellyn Clouser loved his job. So much so, that he genuinely did not want to retire when his bosses at the Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR) told him, in no uncertain terms, that, at the age of sixty-seven, it was well past time for him to hang up his engineer’s cap. He tried to keep busy during those first days of his “Golden Years,” by farming land that he had purchased near a picturesque, Pennsylvania hamlet; but no matter how he tried, his mind just could not accept the dramatic change that had radically altered his usual weekly routine.

Riding the rails since his time as a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War, he had moved on to a life in which he kept his passengers, crewmen and cargo safe in West Virginia and the Great Keystone State, day in and day out, during a thirty-year-plus career that had begun, post-war, as a fireman with the B & O Railroad, but had ended with a broken heart.

Formative Years

Born in Perry County, Pennsylvania on 3 February 1847, John Lewallen Clouser was a son of Pennsylvania natives David Clouser (1816-1898), a carpenter, and Agnes Ann (Gantt) Clouser (1818-1883), who was known to family and friends as “Nancy.”

In 1850, he resided in Centre Township, Perry County with his parents and siblings: Jesse L. Clouser (1843-1916), who was born in 1843 and later wed Mary C. McCoy in 1886; Joseph W. Clouser (1844-1916), who was born in Perry County on 22 February 1844 and would later serve with the 133rd and 200th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the American Civil War before marrying Sarah E. Weaver (1847-1929); Michael Gantt Clouser (1845-1863), who was born in August 1845 but would not survive his teen years; and Mary E. Clouser (1848-1911), who was born on 26 October 1848 and remained single throughout her life. Also residing at the Clouser family home that year was John’s maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Gantt.

More Perry County-born siblings soon followed: Della Ann Clouser (1851-1921), who was born on 3 February 1851 and later wed Daniel Augustus Reynolds (1848-1904); Jennie Clouser (1853-1910), who was born on 7 July 1853 and later wed Theodore Jones (1851-1916); Tahpenes A. Clouser (1855-1925), who was born on 19 March 1855 and later wed William Jacob Kissinger (1855-1932); and David Lever Clouser (1858-1934), who was born in New Bloomfield on 2 April 1858 and later wed and was widowed by Ellen Danner (1860-1913) before marrying Anna A. (McCurdy) Wonner (1861-1944).

By 1860, John L. Clouser was residing in the New Bloomfield with his parents and siblings: Jesse, Joseph, Michael, Mary, Della, Jennie, Tahpenes, and David. Also still living with the Clouser family was John’s maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Gantt. His father supported their large family on his wages as a laborer.

* Note: While John Lewellyn Clouser’s life was just beginning in Centre Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania, his first cousin, Ephraim Clouser, was already enrolled in Perry County’s public school system. Born roughly a decade earlier in Perry County, on 14 October 1837, Ephraim was a son of William Clouser (1814-1856) and Elizabeth (Reisdorf) Clouser (born in 1814). Also raised in Centre Township, Ephraim would later go on to become a blacksmith in Bloomfield, Perry County during the spring of 1861, and would subsequently serve with both the 15th Pennsylvania and the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the American Civil War. Captured by Confederate troops and held as a prisoner of war (POW) in the spring of 1864, Ephraim would never fully recover from the trauma he experienced during his incarceration.

American Civil War Era

At the time that President Abraham Lincoln issued his call for seventy-five-thousand volunteers to defend the nation’s capital, as the United States moved from its secession crisis into full-blown civil war during the spring of 1861, John L. Clouser was still a teenager who was too young to respond to the president’s plea for help. But he was old enough to understand the implications of what he was seeing and hearing — cousins and neighbors marching off to war — and later, the whispered discussions between adults about members of their community who would never return.

In August 1862, he watched and worried as his own brother, Joseph W. Clouser, also headed off to war. Assigned to the 133rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Joe Clouser would go on to fight in the Battle of Fredericksburg just four months later.

Roughly a year after that battle was waged, tragedy struck when John Clouser’s eighteen-year-old brother, Michael G. Clouser, died fifteen days before Christmas (on 10 December 1863). He was buried at the Bloomfield Cemetery in New Bloomfield, Perry County.

* Note: Having honorably mustered out of the 133rd Pennsylvania Volunteers in May 1863, John L. Clouser’s older brother, Joseph W. Clouser, opted to re-enlist with the Union Army, and headed back to war in August 1864 — as a corporal with the 200th Pennsylvania Volunteers — an infantry regiment that would participate with other Union troops in the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox Campaign that would finally force the Confederate Army of General Robert E. Lee to surrender, effectively ending the American Civil War.

1865 — 1866

Eligible to enlist in the Union Army and finally persuasive enough to convince his parents that he should also be allowed to join the fight to preserve the nation’s union, eighteen-year-old John L. Clouser enrolled for military service on 1 March 1865 and mustered in for duty in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania as a private with Company D of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Military records described him as a laborer residing in Perry County who was five feet, eight inches tall with brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

He subsequently connected with his regiment at its encampment outside of Washington, D.C., during the daytime of 14 April 1865. (The 47th Pennsylvania had previously been assigned to the Provisional Division of the 2nd Brigade of the Army of the Shenandoah in February and had been ordered to make camp near Fort Stevens around this same time.)

Later that same evening (14 April), President Abraham Lincoln was mortally wounded while attending a theatrical performance with his wife. The victim of an assassin’s bullet, he died at 7:22 a.m. the next day. Four days later, on 19 April 1865, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were actively engaged in defending the nation’s capital in the wake of President Lincoln’s murder. Sometime around this same time, they were ordered to move their headquarters to Camp Brightwood in the northwest section of Washington, D.C.

Letters sent to family and friends back home during this period, and post-war newspaper interviews of 47th Pennsylvania veterans, indicate that at least one 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer was given the high honor of guarding President Lincoln’s funeral train while others guarded the key Lincoln assassination conspirators during the early days of their imprisonment and trial, which began on 9 May 1865.

Attached to Dwight’s Division of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers also participated in the Union’s Grand Review of the National Armies on 23 May.

Reconstruction

Ordered to head for the nation’s Deep South after the Grand Review, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were stationed in Savannah, Georgia by early June. Attached again to Dwight’s Division, they were assigned to the 3rd Brigade, U.S. Department of the South.

Subsequently ordered to relieve the 165th New York Volunteers in mid-July, they were quartered in the former mansion of the Confederate Secretary of the Treasury. Duties throughout this phase were largely provost (military police) and Reconstruction-related (rebuilding railroads and other key areas of the shattered southern infrastructure).

Beginning on Christmas day in 1865, the majority of 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers (including Private John L. Clouser) began to muster out for the final time in Charleston — a process that continued through early January.

Following a stormy voyage home by ship, the weary 47th Pennsylvanians disembarked in New York City, and were then transported to Philadelphia by train where, at Camp Cadwalader on 9 January 1866, they were officially given their official discharge papers.

Return to Civilian Life

Following his honorable discharge from the military, John L. Clouser returned home to Perry County, where he initially found work as a laborer. He then married Elizabeth Thrush (1846-1936), a native of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania who was a daughter of John and Leah Thrush. Their wedding was held in New Kingston, Middlesex Township, Cumberland County on 16 August 1868. Two years later, they were documented by a federal census enumerator as residents of New Kingston, where John was employed as a boot and shoemaker.

In 1874, he migrated south with his wife to Martinsburg, West Virginia, where he began a ten-year career with the B & O Railroad in which he worked his way up the career ladder from fireman to engineer. While in Martinsburg, he and his wife welcomed the births of: Maggie P. Clouser, who was born circa 1877 but died sometime before July of 1884; John David Clouser (1879-1961), who was born on 14 December 1879 and would later wed Sarah Elizabeth Fry; and Edna C. Clouser, who also appears to have died sometime before July 1884. By the summer of 1880, his Martinsburg household also included his brother, David L. Clouser, who was employed as a laborer.

During the late spring or early summer of 1884, John L. Clouser’s railroad career took him back to Pennsylvania with his pregnant wife and son, John. After getting them settled in at their new home in Greene County, he began work on 3 July as an engineer with the Waynesburg and Washington Railroad (W&W RR), a narrow gauge operator that had been providing passenger service between the governmental seats of Greene and Washington counties since the company’s 1875 incorporation.

Later that same summer (in August 1884), John and his wife, “Lizzie,” welcomed the birth of another daughter, Laura J. Clouser. The next year, his employer (W&W RR) was bought by the much-larger Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR), a corporation that would continue to employ him as the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth.

Active with the Grand Army of the Republic throughout his life, he served as commander of the Col. J. F. McCullough Post (No. 367) in Waynesburg, Greene County, Pennsylvania during the 1890s.

The 1900s

As the new century progressed, John L. Clouser was still employed by the PRR as a railroad engineer and still resided in Franklin Township, Greene County with his wife and children, John and Laura, the latter of whom passed away sometime before the federal census of 1910.

Still employed as a railroad engineer with the PRR in mid-April 1910, when a federal census enumerator arrived at his home, he and his wife of forty-six years, Elizabeth, were documented as residents of Washington Township in Greene County. The enumerator who interviewed them also noted that they were residing alone and that only one of their four children was still living at that time.

The couple’s lives were then thrown off balance again in 1914, when John L. Clouser was required to accept the terms of mandatory retirement that were issued to him by his longtime employer, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Accident, Death and Interment

Tragically, the Clousers’ time together would be all too short. According to The Devils Lake World-Inter Ocean newspaper, “After working, without an accident, for 45 years as a railroad engineer, John Clouser, 68, stepped from the cab of his engine on a Pennsylvania line, was thrown under the wheels and was crushed to death” in Waynesboro [sic, Waynesburg], Pennsylvania. Following his passing on 30 November 1915, he was interred at the Oakmont Cemetery in Waynesburg, Greene County, Pennsylvania on 3 December 1915.

* Note: The Pennsylvania Veteran’s Burial Index Card that was created for John Lewellyn Clouser by the Pennsylvania Department of Military Affairs noted that his card’s data was taken from the 15 December 1915 burial application for “John L. Clouser.”

According to his lengthy obituary in The Waynesburg Republican, he had been retired from the railroad at the time of the accident and had been living on the farm he owned with his wife near Reese’s Mill.

John L. Clouser, for thirty years an engineer on the Waynesburg and Washington railroad, and who was retired upon a pension, last year, by the company, was almost instantly killed at Reese’s Mill, Tuesday evening, as the result of leaping from a moving train.

Mr. Clouser had for several years owned a farm near Reese’s Mill. On Tuesday afternoon he boarded the locomotive of the passenger train which leaves Waynesburg at 5:12, to ride to Reese’s Mill. Engineer D. W. Wonsettler was in charge, with W. E. Cox, as fireman. J. L. Shull is conductor of this train. It had been Mr. Clouser’s custom to ride to and from his farm on one of the trains.

As the train neared Reese’s Mill, Engineer Wonsettler said to Mr. Clouser that he would stop the train for him to get off and that he must not attempt to get off until the train had stopped. To this Mr. Clouser entered protest, saying that it was unnecessary to stop the train, Reese’s being a flag station, he could easily step off while the train was running. Engineer Wonsettler repeated to him that he intended to stop the train and that he must remain on the engine until the train stopped, as he would get hurt sometime in jumping from a moving train. The engineer carried out his intention and drew the throttle for a stop. Just before the locomotive had reached the platform at Reese’s, however, Mr. Clouser swung from the step. As he placed his foot upon the ground he slipped and fell forward, his head and part of his body going between the platform and the track. It is believed that the journal box of one of the cars struck him on the head, near the temple.

The train came to a stop and the crew rushed to his assistance. He was lifted up unconscious, and placed in the baggage car, but as his injuries were found to be serious, he was carried into the home of Mrs. John Reese. Information of the accident was telephoned to Railroad Superintendent W. D. Shull, who immediately called the company’s physician, Dr. R. W. Norris, and an ambulance to go to the scene. 

Dr. Norris responded quickly, in his automobile, but Mr. Clouser died shortly after he arrived, without regaining consciousness. He had received no other injury excepting on his head, his skull being fractured. The body was brought to Carter’s undertaking establishment and later removed to his home, West Main street.

John L. Clouser was born Feb. 3, 1847, near New Bloomfield, Pa. He had 10 years’ service on the B. & O. railroad as fireman and engineer and began service with the Waynesburg and Washington railroad July 3, 1884, as a locomotive engineer. He remained in this capacity until Nov. 1, 1914, during a continuous period of more than thirty years. He was known as a sober and most capable employe [sic, employee], trusty and loyal in his service, and had never had an accident with his train. A number of men had received instruction under him, in the engineer’s cab, among others being D. W. Wonsettler.

Mr. Clouser possessed a friendly disposition and was well liked by every employe [sic, employee] of the road, to whom his death has brought much sadness. On Nov. 1, 1914, under the rules of the company he was retired on a life pension of more than $30 per month. He was granted every courtesy by the employes [sic, employees], but was frequently warned not to attempt to leave or board a moving train. Only a few days ago he had entered the baggage car of the 3 p.m. train, here, and leaped off the car after the train started. He was noticed by Superintendent W. D. Shull, who warned him not to take such risks, as he would meet with injury sometime. Mr. Clouser pleasantly remarked, “Oh! I have been jumping on and off moving trains for forty years and I am just as active now as I ever was.” He remarked that he “did not like to stop the train at Reese’s Mill, when going to and from his farm,” but Mr. Shull stated to him that they were pleased to accommodate him, and he must observe the rules of the company by waiting until a train stopped before getting on or off; if he did not do so they would have to enforce the rules against him. Like every man who is familiar with danger, however, he failed to comprehend that he was taking any risk.

Mr. Clouser was a member of the Baptist church and was very highly esteemed by everyone. He is survived by his wife and one son, the latter, John D. Clouser, residing at Teegarden, O. [Ohio].

The funeral will be held from his home, West Main street, Friday [1 December 1915], at 10 a.m.

During the forty years in which the W. & W. railroad has been operated no regular passenger has ever been killed or seriously injured, which is a remarkable record.

According to an earlier report by The Canonsburg Daily Notes:

After suffering for an hour from injuries received when he fell in jumping from the engine cab of a Waynesburg and Washington railroad train about 5:18 o’clock last evening at the Reese’s Mills station a short distance from Waynesburg, John L. Clouser, aged about 70 years, and for 30 years engineer on the W. & W. branch of the P. R. R. [the Pennsylvania Railroad Company], died at the home of Mrs. John Reese where he had been taken following the accident. 

Mr. Clouser resided in Waynesburg but owned a large farm near Reese’s Mills. Yesterday he went to his farm to do some butchering. He had not felt well all day and in the afternoon went to Waynesburg to get some medicine and supplies.

Before the 5:12 pulled out of Waynesburg en route for Washington, Mr. Clouser talked with Engineer David Wonsetler and told him he thought he would ride up to Reese’s Mill in the cab where he has spent so many years of his active life. He boarded the engine and seemed in good spirits. When the train approached Reese’s Mills he told Mr. Wonsetler not to stop — that he would jump off when he was near the station.

Mr. Wonsetler twice told him not to get off until the train stopped, but Mr. Clouser descended the steps of the engine cab and just when the engine was approaching the end of the station platform, he jumped. As his foot left the step, the aged man was seen to lurch forward. He fell on the gravel of the platform and rolled back, unable to stop himself, between the platform and the moving train. He was struck, it is believed by the steps of the first coach. His skull was fractured.

At the time Mr. Clouser jumped the train was moving not faster than three miles an hour, it is thought. The engine was quickly brought to a stop, and the injured man placed in the baggage car. The wheels of the train had not touched his body, the only injury being the wound on the head. He was later taken to the Reese home, where he died.

What Happened to John L. Clouser’s Wife and Children?

Stunned by her husband’s shocking death and the ensuing investigations by his former employer and county coroner, John L. Clouser’s widow, Elizabeth (Thrush) Clouser, learned from coroner A. J. Adamson that her husband’s death had been “Accidental — from stepping off moving train and thrown under,” and that his official cause of death was a “fracture of skull.” After working with her brother, J. D. Thrush, to plan her husband’s funeral and burial in December of 1915, she then sought help from county officials in late January of 1916 to resolve her husband’s estate.

She then went on to survive her husband by more than two decades, and spent her final years at the home of her son, John D. Clouser, in Hughesville, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Following her death there at the age of eighty-nine, on 2 January 1936, she was laid to rest at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Hughesville.

Very little is presently known about the lives and deaths of three of the four children she shared with John L. Clouser, With respect to their son, John D. Clouser, his marriage license documented that he was a twenty-two-year-old farmer living in Franklin Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania when he wed Sarah Elizabeth Fry, a daughter of Harvey and Elizabeth Fry of Swarts, Washington Township, Greene County, in Swarts on 18 May 1902.

Together, John D. and Sarah Clouser then welcomed the births of: Helen E. Clouser (1903-1999), who was born in Pennsylvania on 31 May 1903, grew up to marry Frank Tritt and later settled with him in Youngstown, Ohio in 1936; Bessie Pearl Clouser (1908-1991), who was born in Swarts on 21 September 1908, grew up to marry Ralph Sanner and later settled with him in Hughesville, Pennsylvania before migrating south with him to make a new home in Zephyrhills, Pasco County, Florida circa 1976; and James Lewellyn Clouser 1910-1959; alternate spellings of middle name: “Lewallen” and “Leuallen”), who was born in Maine Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania on 3 June 1910, later wed Pearl Gladys Feathers (1913-1986) and was a resident of Hughesville in 1936.

A farmer who worked the land in Washington Township, Greene County in 1910, John David Clouser was employed as a drayman by a railroad company in 1920. That year, he resided in Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio with his wife and children, Helen, Bessie and James. Also residing withhis family that year was his mother-in-law, Elizabeth Fry. Employed as a road foreman by 1930, John D. Clouser lived in Muncy Creek, Lycoming County with his wife and two of their children, Bessie (Clouser) Sanner and James L. Clouser, and their respective spouses, Ralph Sanner and Pearl  (Feathers) Clouser, as well as granddaughter Dorothy Tritt, who had been born to Frank Tritt and Helen (Clouser) Tritt, in Columbiana County, Ohio on 11 December 1924, according to Columbiana County birth records.

Sometime during the mid-1930s, he relocated with his wife to Hughesville in Lycoming County. It was around this same time that he brought his mother into his home to live out her final years. Following his mother’s death in 1936, he and his wife were “empty nesters” in Hughesville. By 1940, he was employed there as a truck driver for a trucking company. A decade later, he was residing with his wife in Hepburn, Township, Lycoming County, where he was employed as a lumberman. Diagnosed with cancer of the neck and left jaw in 1957, John David Clouser died at the age of eighty-one in Loyalsock Township, Lycoming County on 1 November 1961, and was laid to rest at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Hughesville.

What Happened to John L. Clouser’s Siblings?

Following his marriage to Mary C. McCoy in the Borough of Huntingdon in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania on 24 June 1886, John L. Clouser’s brother, Jesse Clouser, settled with his wife in Huntingdon, where he worked as a carpenter and she was employed as a teacher in the borough’s public schools. Childless after fourteen years of marriage, they still resided in Huntingdon after the turn of the century. Residing with them that year was their six-year-old grand niece, Madeline Sharer. In his early seventies when he passed away on 28 January 1916, he was laid to rest at the Bloomfield Cemetery in New Bloomfield, Perry County.

Following his marriage to Sarah E. Weaver in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania circa 1866, John L. Clouser’s brother, Joseph W. Clouser settled with her in New Kingstown, Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, where he farmed the land. In February 1868, they welcomed the birth of son William A. Clouser (1868-1934) at their Middlesex Township home, followed by daughter Gertrude Elizabeth Clouser (1872-1947), who was born on 10 May 1872 and would later wed George Sadler Rupp (1872-1945). By 1880, the quartet were residents of Silver Spring Township, where Joseph was farming the land. By the turn of the century, he and his wife were residing in the Borough of Shiremanstown in Cumberland County without their children, but with the help of live-in farm laborer Grover Flickinger. Still living in Shiremanstown as of 1910, Flickinger had moved on, leaving the couple as true “empty nesters.” Ailing with heart and bladder disease, Joseph W. Clouser died in Shiremanstown at the age of seventy-two on 21 April 1916, and was laid to rest at the Trindle Springs Lutheran Cemetery in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County.

John L. Clouser’s younger sister, Mary E. Clouser, never married. Employed as a dressmaker in 1880, she resided at the home of her married sister, Jennie (Clouser) Jones, in the City of Harrisburg, Dauphin County. By 1910, she was living at the Harrisburg home of her younger sister, Della (Clouser) Reynolds. Following her death at the age of sixty-two at the Harrisburg home of her sister, Della, on 10 January 1911, her remains were returned to Perry County for burial at the Bloomfield Cemetery in New Bloomfield.

Following her marriage to carpenter Daniel Augustus Reynolds during the early 1870s, John L. Clouser’s younger sister, Della Ann (Clouser) Reynolds, settled with her husband in Harrisburg and welcomed the births of: Herbert Reynolds, who was born circa 1871; Alva Reynolds, who was born circa 1873; David Reynolds, who was born circa 1874; John Reynolds, who was born circa 1876; Alice E. Reynolds (1879-1925), who was born on 30 September 1879 and later wed Eugene E. McNally (1882-1936) in 1905; Jennie E. Reynolds (1880-1959), who was born on 18 April 1880 and later wed and was widowed by George Clair Flickinger (1879-1947), before marrying Oscar Allen Meadath (1878-1954); Arthur Gantt Reynolds (1882-1963), who was born on 6 June 1882 and later wed Mabel Ann Garverich (1882-1956); and Mary Viola Reynolds (1889-1964), who was born on 12 May 1889 and later wed and was widowed by Jeremiah McCarthy (1889-1933), before marrying Edward Riley (1870-1958). Widowed by her husband in 1904, Della (Clouser) Reynolds continued to reside in Harrisburg with her children. By April of 1910, most of her children, except for two daughters, had moved out to begin their own lives. Also residing with her was her unmarried sister, Mary E. Clouser, who died at Della’s home roughly nine months later. Surviving her sister by a decade, Della Ann (Clouser) Reynolds died in Harrisburg on 12 December 1921 and was laid to rest at that city’s East Harrisburg Cemetery .

Following her marriage to Theodore Jones, John F. Clouser’s younger sister, Jennie B. (Clouser) Jones settled with him in Cumberland County, where they welcomed the births of: Minnie Florence Jones (1874-1947), who was born on 15 February 1874 and later wed Harry Davis Kreitzer (1872-1932); and Robert B. Jones (1878-1936), who was born in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County in 1878. By 1880, she had relocated with her husband and children to Harrisburg, where her husband was employed as a cabinetmaker. Residing with her family that year was her older sister, Mary E. Clouser.

Residing with her husband and son Robert in the Borough of Shiremanstown, Cumberland County shortly after the turn of the century, her husband was still making cabinets while her son was employed as a china ware packer. Back in Harrisburg by April 1910, a federal census enunerator noted that her husband was a cabinetmaker for the W. O. Hickock Mamufacturing Company, while her son was employed as a machinist’s helper at a railroad shop. Ailing during the last several months of her life, Jennie B. (Clouser) Jones died from liver cancer at the age of fifty-seven, at her home at 626 Hamilton Street in Harrisburg, on 15 October 1910. Following initial funeral services at the family’s home, her remains were transported by undertaker C. H. Mauk to Shiremanstown, where a second funeral was held prior to her interment at the St. John’s Church Cemetery.

Following her marriage to William Jacob Kissinger, John L. Clouser’s youngest sister, Tahpenes A. (Clouser) Kissinger settled with her husband in West Pennsboro Township, where he was employed as a house painter. By 1920, a federal census enumerator noted that she and her husband were residents of Greeson Village in West Pennsboro Township. Ailing with kidney disease during the final months of her life, Tahpenes (Clouser) Kissinger was admitted to the Carlisle Hospital for a surgical procedure in March 1925. Although her condition improved briefly, she succumbed to complications from her disease in Greeson on 19 October 1925, and was then laid to rest at the Newville Cemetery in Newville, Cumberland County.

John L. Clouser’s youngest brother, David Lever Clouser (1858-1934), who had resided at his [John’s] home in Martinsburg, West Virginia in 1880, and had married Ellen Danner in Berkeley County, West Virginia on 23 September 1880, also subsequently returned to Pennsylvania. By the early 1880s, he and his wife had settled in the city of Harrisburg, where they welcomed the births of: Nellie E. Clouser (1884-1957), who was born on 10 September 1884 and later wed Eugene C. Miller; Richard J. Clouser (1886-1949), who was born on 22 August 1886 and later wed Iva Bodmer; Paul Russell Clouser (1897-1974), who was born on 19 January 1897 and later became a Lutheran minister and the husband of Vivian Louise Okerbloom; and Claude L. Clouser.

In 1897, David L. Clouser was hired as a cabinetmaker by the W. O. Hickock Manufacturing Company in Harrisburg (the same company that would employ his brother-in-law, Theodore Jones, in 1910). He would remain in that job with the same employer until his retirement in 1926.

Widowed by his first wife in 1913, he subsequently married Anna A. (McCurdy) Wonner (1861-1944). In 1920, he and Anna were residing alone in the southern precinct of Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County. By 1930, they had purchased their own home at 1915 Briggs Street in Harrisburg’s Fifteenth Ward. Following his death there on 31 March 1934, he was interred at the East Harrisburg Cemetery in Harrisburg.

 

Sources:

1. “6 Railroad Workers of the Past and Present,” in “Back to RailLines.” Ronks, Pennsylvania: Strasburg Rail Road, 18 July 2023.
2. “A Perry County Sensation.” Altoona, Pennsylvania: Altoona Tribune, 18 February 1896.
3. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
4. “Bessie B. Sanner” (obituary of a granddaughter of John L. Clouser and a daughter of John D. Clouser), in “Obituaries.” Tampa, Florida: The Tampa Tribune, 29 August 1991.
5. Clouser, Ephraim and John D. [sic, middle initial was “L”], in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company D, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
6. Clouser, David, Agnes A., Jesse, Joseph W., Michael G., John L., and Mary E.; and Gantt, Elizabeth, in U.S. Census (Centre Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
7. Clouser, David, Nancy A., Jesse L., Joseph W., Michael G., John L., Mary E., Odella A., Nancy J., and Tahpenes; and Clouser [sic, Gantt], Elizabeth, in U.S. Census (Centre Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
8. Clouser, David L. (the youngest brother of John L. Clouser) and Danner, Ellen, in Marriage Records (Berkeley County, West Virginia, 23 September 1880). Martinsburg, West Virginia: Office of the County Clerk, Berkeley County, West Virginia.
9. Clouser, David L. (the youngest brother of John L. Clouser), Ellen, Nellie, Richard J., and Paul R., in U.S. Census (Harrisburg, Ninth Ward, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1900, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
10. Clouser, David L. (the youngest brother of John L. Clouser) and Anna (his second wife), in U.S. Census (Susquehanna Township, Southern Precinct, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
11. Clouser, David L. (the youngest brother of John L. Clouser) and Anna (his second wife), in U.S. Census (Harrisburg, Fifteenth Ward, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1930). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
12. Clouser, Ephraim and John D. [sic, middle initial was ” L”], in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company D, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
13. Clouser, Jesse (the oldest brother of John L. Clouser) and McCoy, Mary C., in Marriage Records (Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, 24 June 1886). Huntingdon, Pennsylvania: Clerk of the Orphans’ Court of Huntingdon County.
14. Clouser, Jesse (the oldest brother of John L. Clouser) and Mary; and Sharer, Madeline, in U.S. Census (Borough of Huntingdon, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
15. Clouser, John (a son of John L. Clouser), Sarah, Helen, Bessie, and James; and Fry, Elizabeth (Sarah (Fry) Clouser’s mother), in U.S. Census (Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio, 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
16. Clouser, John L., in Records of Burial Places of Veterans (Oakmont Cemetery, Franklin Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, date of death: 15 November 1915; burial application date: 15 December 1915). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Military Affairs.
17. Clouser, John L., Elizabeth (wife), Maggie P. (daughter), John D. (son), and David L. (brother), in U.S. Census (Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
18. Clouser, Jno. and Elizabeth, in U.S. Census (New Kingston, Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
19. Clouser, John and Elisabeth [sic, Elizabeth], in U.S. Census (Washington Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
20. Clouser, John and Elizabeth, in Wills and Probate Records (Greene County, Pennsylvania, 31 January 1916). Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: Office of the Clerk of the Orphans’ Court of Greene County.
21. Clouser, John (father), Lizzie (wife), John (son), and Laura J. (daughter); and Stewart, Mary E. (servant), in U.S. Census (Franklin Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
22. Clouser, John (a son of John L. Clouser) and Sarah; Sanner, Ralph and Bessie (a granddaughter of John L. Clouser and a daughter of John D. Clouser); Clouser, James (a grandson of John L. Clouser and a son of John D. Clouser) and Pearl (James Clouser’s wife); and Tritt, Dorothy (a great-granddaughter of John L. Clouser, a niece of John D. Clouser and a daughter of Helen (Clousetr) Tritt), in U.S. Census (Muncy Creek, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 1930). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
23. Clouser, John (a son of John L. Clouser) and Sarah, in U.S. Census (Hughesville, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 1940). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
24. Clouser, John D. (a son of John L. Clouser) and Sarah E., in U.S. Census (Hepburn Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, 1950).
25. Clouser, John D. (a son of John L. Clouser), Sarah E., Helen E., and Bessie P., in U.S. Census (Washington Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, 1910).
26. Clouser, Joseph W. (a brother of John L. Clouser), in Death Certificates (file no.: 11, registered no.: 44859, date of death: 21 April 1916). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
27. Clouser, Jos. W. (a brother of John L. Clouser), Sarah and William, in U.S. Census (New Kingston, Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1870). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
28. Clouser, Joseph (a brother of John L. Clouser), Sarah, William and Gertrude, in U.S. Census (Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
29. Clouser, Joseph (a brother of John L. Clouser) and Sarah; and Flickinger, Grover, in U.S. Census (Borough of Shiremanstown, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
30. Clouser, Joseph (a brother of John L. Clouser) and Sarah, in U.S. Census (Borough of Shiremanstown, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
31. “David L. Clouser” (the youngest brother of John L. Clouser), in “Obituary.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Evening News, 2 April 1934.
32. Grodzins, Dean and David Moss. “The U.S. Secession Crisis as a Breakdown of Democracy,” in When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day (chapter three). New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2024.
33. Hain, Harry Harrison. History of Perry County, Pennsylvania. Including Descriptions of Indians and Pioneer Life from the Time of Earliest Settlement. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Hain-Moore Company, 1922.
34. James Lewellyn Clouser (a grandson of John L. Clouser and a son of John D. Clouser), in Birth Certificates (file no.: 124961, registered no.: 133; date of birth: 3 June 1910, place of birth: Maine Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
35. Jennie B. Jones (a sister of John L. Clouser), in Death Certificates (file no.: 100668, registered no.: 955, date of death: 15 October 1910). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
36. John Clouser (notice of his fatal railroad accident), in “News Items of Interest.” Devils Lake, North Dakota: The Devils Lake World-Inter Ocean, 23 December 1915.
37. John D. Clouser (a son of John L. Clouser) and Eliza S. Fry in Marriage Records (Greene County, Pennsylvania, 18 May 1902). Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: Clerk of the Orphans’ Court of Greene County, Pennsylvania.
38. John David Clouser (a son of John L. Clouser), in Death Certificates (local reg. no.: 793, primary dist no.: 41926-398, date of death: 1 November 1961). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
39. “John L. Clouser Killed: Met Fatal Injury in Jumping from Moving Train at Reese’s Mill.” Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: The Waynesburg Republican, 2 December 1915.
40. John Lewallen Clouser [sic, “Lewellyn”], in Death Certificates (file no.: 109021, registered no.: 145, date of death: 30 November 1916). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
41. Jones, Theodore, Jennie (a younger sister of John L. Clouser), Minnie F., and Robert B.; and Clouser, Mary E. (a sister of Jennie (Clouser) Jones and John L. Clouser), in U.S. Census (Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
42. Jones, Theodore, Jane [sic, “Jennie] (a sister of John L. Clouser), in U.S. Census (Borough of Shiremanstown, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
43. Jones, Theodore, Jane [sic, “Jennie] (a sister of John L. Clouser), in U.S. Census (Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
44. “Jumps from Cab; Fatally Injured” (early report regarding the fatal railroad accident of John L. Clouser). Canonsburg, Pennsylvania: The Canonsburg Daily Notes, 1 December 1915.
45. Kissinger, William J. and Tahpenes, in U.S. Census (Greeson Village, West Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1910, 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
46. Lawrence, Allyn. “This Day in History: Chartering of the B & O Railroad.” Baltimore, Maryland: Preservation Maryland, 28 February 2022.
47. “Memorial Day Program” (Memorial Day program instructions to Grand Army of the Republic members by John L. Clouser, commander of the Col. J. F. McCullough Post, No. 367). Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: The Waynesburg Republican, 25 May 1893.
48. “Miss Mary Clouser” (obituary of a younger sister of John L. Clouser). Bloomfield, Pennsylvania: The Perry County Democrat, 18 January 1911.
49. “Mrs. Jennie B. Jones” (a sister of John L. Jones), in “Deaths and Funerals.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Star-Independent, 17 October 1910.
50. “Mrs. John L. Clouser” (obituary of Elizabeth (Thrush) Clouser), in “Deaths.” Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: The Waynesburg Republican, 16 January 1936.
51. “Mrs. William Kissinger” (John L. Clouser’s sister, Tahpenes), in “Greason.” Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Sentinel, 24 March 1925.
52. Nellie E. Miller (a niece of John L. Clouser and a daughter of David L. Clouser), in Death Certificates (file no.: 110833, registered no.: 3150, date of death: 17 December 1957). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
53. Reynolds, Daniel, Dellia A. [sic, Della Ann] (a younger sister of John L. Clouser), Herbert, Alva, David, John, Allice, and Jennie (Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
54. Reynolds, Della (a younger sister of John L. Clouser) and Fanny (Della’s daughter); Fox, Della E. (Della’s daughter); and Clouser, Mary E. (a sister of Della (Clouser) Reynolds and John L. Clouser). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
55. Richard L. Clouser (a nephew of John L. Clouser and a son of David L. Clouser), in Death Certificates (file no.: 50561, registered no.: 933, date of death: 16 June 1949). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
56. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
57. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.
58. “The Railroad in Pennsylvania,” in “Stories from PA.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2025.
59. “W&W Railroad History.” Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: Greene County Museum, retrieved online 15 July 2025.