Alternate Surname Spellings: Dankle, Dankel

 

A soldier wounded in the leg while serving with a Union cavalry unit during the second year of the American Civil War, Charles H. Dankel refused to allow his injury to interfere with his journey in life. One of the most significant steps that he took, after his recovery, was to marry, and forge a new path with, Anna E. Rhoads (1841-1916) — the twin sister of a future 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry comrade.

Formative Years

Born in what is now the Borough of Macungie in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania on 1 June 1838, Charles H. Dankel was a son of Peter Dankel (1798-1864) and Anna C. (Diefenderfer) Dankel (1800-1895). He was initially raised Macungie Township with his siblings: Mary Ann Dankel (1820-1899), who had been born there on 10 January 1820 and would later wed Macungie native Allen Benjamin Hiskey (1821-1884); Thomas Dankel (1832-1850), who had been born in Lehigh County on 13 March 1832 but would later die at the age of eighteen, on 27 April 1850, and be buried at what is now known as Solomons United Church of Christ Cemetery; Ellemanda Dankel (1835-1888), who had been born in Lehigh County in 1835 and would later wed Tilghman V. Cavanaugh; and Adeline Dankel (1844-1923), who would be born on 24 November 1844 (six years after Charles’ birth) — and would later wed George C. Quier (1837-1884).

In 1850, a federal census enumerator confirmed that Charles Dankel was living with his parents and siblings in Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County, where his father, Peter Dankel, Sr., and brothers, Samuel and Peter Dankel, Jr., were all employed as tailors. Also residing with the family was Charles Dankel’s paternal grandmother, Magdalena Dankel. The other Dankel siblings still at home were: Ellemanda, who, like Charles, was enrolled in a local school, and Adeline.

By 1860, Charles Dankel was forging his own path in life. Supporting himself on the wages of a day laborer, he resided at an inn operated by Charles Hill in Millerstown, Lehigh County (now known as the Borough of Macungie).

* Note: According to the obituary of Charles H. Dankel he and his family moved to the Borough of Allentown in Lehigh County while he was still a child.

American Civil War — 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry

On 6 August 1861, twenty-three-year-old Charles H. Dankel became one of the early responders to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to end America’s secession crisis and growing civil war, when he enrolled for military service in the city of Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania. He then officially mustered in for duty in Reading on 8 August 1861 as a private with Company G of the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry (“Rush’s Lancers”), which was commanded by Captain George Clymer and Colonel Richard H. Rush. According to the 14 March 1911 edition of Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper, Private Charles H. Dankel and his fellow 6th Pennsylvania Cavalrymen were “on prevost duty in the defences of Washington D.C. until May, 1862,” when they were reassigned to the U.S. Army of the Potomac’s cavalry division “and moved to the Virginia peninsula in May of that year.”

He was in the engagement at Hanover, May 27, 1862, took part in the operations against Stuart’s Cavalry June 13-15. He participated in the engagement at Garlock’s landing, June 13, and in the seven days’ battle before Richmond, June 25 to July 1, Oak Grove, June 25; Beaver Dam, June 27; Games Mill [sic, “Gaines Mill”], June 27, where he was wounded in the left leg below the knee. After being in the hospital for four months he was honorably discharged, Nov. 7, 1862 at Finley hospital, Philadelphia.

Following his honorable discharge, Charles H. Dankel traveled by train from Philadelphia to Allentown, where he continued to recover from his battle wound. But he would soon be called upon to resume life as a soldier, as America’s disastrous civil war came closer and closer to the doorsteps of average Pennsylvanians.

American Civil War — 27th Pennsylvania Militia

On 17 June 1863, Charles H. Dankel re-enrolled for military service in Allentown. He then officially re-mustered for duty at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County as a quartermaster sergeant with Company H of the 27th Pennsylvania Militia, which was commanded by Colonel Jacob G. Frick. A temporary regiment formed during the Emergency of 1863, in response to the coming invasion of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by Confederate troops, the 27th Pennsylvania Militia “rendered efficient service in the department of the Susquehanna, engaged at Wrightsville, June 28, and burned the bridge crossing the Susquehanna at Columbia,” according to the 14 March 1911 edition of Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper. He was then honorably discharged on 1 August 1863 when his militia unit was disbanded after the emergency was over.

Once again, Charles Dankel returned home to the Lehigh Valley, where he resumed life with his aging parents, Peter and Anna (Diefenderfer) Dankel, who were now in their mid sixties, as well as with his siblings and friends. He also resumed work as a clerk in Allentown. According to a federal ledger that was prepared for the potential draft of Lehigh County residents into the Union Army, Charles was still single that year.

That status changed on 16 February 1864 when Charles H. Dankel embarked on a new road in life by marrying Anna E. (Rhoads) Dankel (1841-1916). Known to family and friends as “Annie,” she was the twin sister of Allen P. Rhoads, who was serving with his brother, George W. Rhoads, in the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in America’s Deep South.

Roughly eight months later, Charles Dankel’s father — Peter Dankel — was gone. Following his passing at the age of sixty-six in Macungie Township, on 18 November 1864, the Dankel family’s stalwart patriarch was subsequently laid to rest at what is now Solomons United Church of Christ Cemetery in Macungie.

American Civil War — 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

On 26 January 1865, Charles H. Dankel enrolled for a one-year term of service in the city of Easton in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. He then officially re-mustered for duty there that same day as a private with Company I of the battle-hardened 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Military records at the time described him as a twenty-six-year-old clerk and resident of Lehigh County who was nearly five feet, nine inches tall with dark hair, gray eyes and a dark complexion. Transported south from Easton by train, he ultimately arrived in West Virginia on 10 February 1865 where he then connected with his new comrades in Company I at Camp Fairview near Charlestown. (By the time that he reached his regiment, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were already attached to the Provisional Division of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Army of the Shenandoah. They had been quartered at Camp Fairview since late December 1864, and would remain there through early April 1865, assigned by Major-General Sheridan to prevent Confederate guerrilla raids on Union troops and key supply and railroad lines in the region.)

By 19 April, however, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were back in Washington, D.C., ordered there to defend the nation’s capital in the wake of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. While serving in the 2nd Brigade of the Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps (Dwight’s Division), the 47th also participated in the Union’s Grand Review of the Armies on 23-24 May. During that phase of duty, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were headquartered at Camp Brightwood in Washington, D.C. Letters sent home by 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers during that period in 1865, as well as interviews that were conducted in later years with veteran members of the regiment, confirm that at least one member of the 47th was given the honor of guarding President Lincoln’s funeral train while still others were assigned to guard duties at the prison where the key Lincoln assassination conspirators were held during the early days of their imprisonment and trial.

Reconstruction

Subsequently ordered to head to the nation’s Deep South, Private Charles H. Dankel, the Rhoads brothers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvanians served in Savannah, Georgia from 31 May to 4 June as part of the U.S. Department of the South’s 3rd Brigade (Dwight’s Division) and in Charleston, South Carolina beginning in June. Duties during that time were provost (military police) and Reconstruction-related, including rebuilding railroads and other key aspects of the region’s infrastructure that had been damaged or destroyed during the long war.

On 11 July 1865, Private Charles H. Dankel was promoted to the rank of corporal, as the 47th Pennsylvanians continued to perform their peacekeeping mission in South Carolina. Finally, on Christmas Day in 1865, Corporal Dankel, the Rhoads brothers, and the majority of their fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers began the process of mustering out for the final time and packing up to head home. Boarding yet another ship for yet another stormy sea voyage, they sailed north to New York City, disembarked at the harbor there, marched to the railroad station, and boarded yet another train, which transported them to Philadelphia. Marched to Camp Cadwalader in that city, the now very experienced and very weary 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers received their final discharge papers there between 9-11 January 1866, and were then finally allowed to return home to the arms of their loved ones and neighbors.

Return to Civilian Life

Following their respective honorable discharges from the military in early January of 1866, Charles H. Dankel and the Rhoads brothers all returned home to Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where Charles resumed life with his wife, Annie (Rhoads) Dankel, while Allen Rhoads resumed work as a newspaper printer and welcomed the birth with his wife, Sarah, of: Henry Jacob Rhoads (1866-unknown), who was born in Allentown on 30 June 1866.

Sadly, Charles Dankel’s fellow 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer and Allen Rhoads’ older brother, George W. Rhoads, died roughly seventeen months later — on 11 June 1867 — and was laid to rest at the Allentown Cemetery. The following lengthy, loving tribute to him was published by the managers and staff of his hometown newspaper, Der Lecha Caunty Patriot, in its 18 June 1867 edition:

Gestorben: Am letzten Dienstag Morgen in dieser Stadt, ganz plötzlich, an Schlagfluss, Herr George W. Rhoads, Bruder des herausgebers, des Vormannes und eines der Setzer dieses Blattes, in seinem 37sten Lebehsjahre. — Hr. Rhoads war einer der ersten — ja allersten Soldaten, welche zur Rettung unseres Capitoliums und unserer Union und gegen die vordenbornen Rebellen in Waschington anlangten — war während der ganzen Dauer des Krieges im Felde und fam, als einer der letzten Soldaten, nachdem der Rebellen Gen. Lee, an den Union General Grant, die Siegesfrone überricht hatte, wieder nach hause. — Er war stets ein getreuer und tapferer Soldat, dem niemals Feigheit in dem Sinn fam, und war beliebt by allen seinen Mitsoldaten. — Während seiner Dienstzeit war er in 10 treffen nämlich:

Saint Johns Bluff, Florida,
Pocotalico, Süd Carolina,
Mansfield, Louisiana,
Pleasant Hill, Louisiana,
Cane River, Louisiana,
Mansure, Louisiana,
Berryville, Virginien,
Winchester, Virginien,
Fischer’s Hill, Virginien,
Cedar Creek, Virginien,

und bei alle denselben war er flets so glücklich, gänzlich von den Kugeln und den geschleuterten Schells der Feinden der Union verschont zu bleiben, und der Allesregierende liess es zu, ihn nach Hause kommen zu letzten und dann allhier einen natürlichen Tod zu sterben. — Am letzten Donnerstag Nachmittag wurden dessen irrdischen Uerberreste unter militärischen Ehrenbezeugungen dem Schoos der fühlen Erde übergeben, bei welcher Gelegenheit der Chrw. Hr. Strassburger eine passende und geschicte Leichenrede hielt.– Sanft ruhe dessen Aiche!

Ich ging zum Todesader,
Fand dort ein off’nes Grab,
Ich fragt’ den Totengräber:
Wen legt man da hinab?

Der heute hier wird schlassen,
Der war ein braver Mann,
Der seinen Menschenbrüdern,
Manch’ Gutes hat geihan.

Drum wird er sanft auch schlummern,
Im stillen Grabgemach,
Und tausend Segenswünsche,
Die folgen ihm ja nach.

Ich ging vom Gottesader,
Mein Aug’ wir Thränen schwer,
Ich wusst wen man begrabet
Den Freund seh ich nicht mehr!

Roughly translated, it says:

Died, last Tuesday morning in this city, quite suddenly, of a stroke, Mr. George W. Rhoads, brother of the publisher, editor, and one of the typesetters of this paper, in his 37th year. — Mr. Rhoads was one of the first — indeed, the very first — soldiers who arrived in Washington to save our Capitol and our Union against the forward-born Rebels. He served in the field throughout the entire war and was one of the last soldiers to return home after the Rebel General Lee had presented the victory to the Union General Grant. — He was always a faithful and brave soldier, never one of those who were cowardly, and was beloved by all his fellow soldiers. — During his service, he was in 10 engagements, namely:

Saint John’s Bluff, Florida,
Pocotaligo, South Carolina,
Mansfield, Louisiana,
Pleasant Hill, Louisiana,
Mansura, Louisiana,
Berryville, Virginia,
Winchester, Virginia,
Fisher’s Hill, Virginia,
Cedar Creek, Virginia,

and throughout it all, he was so fortunate as  to remain entirely unscathed by the bullets and hurled shells of the Union’s enemies; and the All-Ruling Providence permitted him to return home and, here, to die a natural death. — Last Thursday afternoon, his earthly remains were committed to the bosom of the nurturing earth with full military honors, on which occasion the Rev. Mr. Strassburger delivered a fitting and eloquent funeral oration. May he rest in peace!

I went to the grave,
Found there an open grave,
I asked the gravedigger:
Whom do you lay down there?

He who died here today,
He was a good man,
Who gave his fellow men,
Many a good thing.

Therefore he will slumber peacefully,
In the quiet burial chamber,
And a thousand blessings,
That follow him.

I left the grave,
My eyes heavy with tears,
I know the one who is being buried,
I will see my friend no more!

By the summer of 1868, Charles Dankel and his wife, Annie, were residing in the city of Philadelphia, where, on the Fourth of July, they welcomed the birth of Catherine I. Dankel (1868-1956), who became known to family and friends as “Katie” and would later wed painter Henry W. Bartholomew (1871-1928). It appears that Charles and Annie then separated briefly because the 1870 federal census noted that Annie (Rhoads) Dankel was living at the home of her her twin brother, Allen, and his family in Allentown — but without her husband or daughter. Upon closer examination of the federal census records for Lehigh County that year, researchers have discovered that Charles Dankel was a laborer residing at home of teamster and fellow 47th Pennsylvania veteran William J. Reinsmith in the Borough of Emaus (now spelled as “Emmaus”). Also residing at that home were Reinsmith’s wife, Leah, and their one-year-old son, John, and “Elovina Rothrock,” a twenty-year-old cigarmaker.

The Dankels were clearly back together by 1874 or early 1875, however, because, in 1875, their daughter, Mary Maria Dankel (1875-1955), was born in Alburtis, Lehigh County on 19 December 1875. (Subsequently baptized at the Salem Reformed Church in that county on 9 March 1878, Mary Maria Dankel became known to family and friends as “Mamie” and would later become the wife of Harry L. Heist.) That birth was then followed by another on 22 May 1880, when the daughter of Charles and Anna (Rhoads) Dankel — Anna May Dankel (1880-1952) — opened her eyes for the first time. Later known to family and friends as “Annie,” Anna May would later wed John D. Cope (1890-1956). When the federal census was conducted in Allentown in June of that same year (1880), all four members of the Dankel household were confirmed as residents of the home of farming agent Charles Dankel on North Twelfth Street.

Three days after Christmas in 1895, Charles Dankel’s mother — Anna C. (Diefenderfer) Dankel — died at the age of ninety-six, at the home of her grandson, Charles W. Cavanaugh, at 438 Willow Street in Allentown, and was then laid to rest at Allentown’s Union-West End Cemetery. Known as “Annie” to her family and friends, she was described by Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper as “the oldest resident of Allentown,” had been “born on April 19, 1800, between Wescoesville and Trexlertown,” and was “a daughter of Jacob and Margaret Diefenderfer.”

Until eleven years ago Mrs. Dankel was hale and hearty. Since then she has been bedfast because her limbs failed to support her. She was possessed of a wonderful memory and enjoyed all her faculties. She was a pensioner of the civil war.

The year of 1897 also brought heartbreaking moments when Charles Dankel’s wife, Annie, was attacked on 31 May by Robert Xander, who was subsequently charged with assault and battery during a hearing before Alderman Jones in which Charles gave testimony on behalf of Annie on 1 June 1897. Fortunately, Annie subsequently recovered from her ordeal and went on to live another eighteen years.

Later that same year (1897), Charles Dankel was elected as the secretary of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers’ “alumni association,” and helped to plan the regiment’s annual reunion.

In late February or early March of 1900, Charles Dankel and his wife, Annie, moved with their two children from 509 North Tenth Street in Allentown to 424 North Sixth Street. That year, Charles Dankel was employed as a slate roofer, while his daughters, Katie and Annie, were both working as cigarmakers. An active member of the Grand Army of the Republic’s E. B. Young Post, (No. 87), he regularly participated in the planning of annual Memorial Day programs and also served as a pallbearer at the funerals of his G.A.R. comrades. But his health began to decline, forcing him to retire in 1901.

Roughly five years later, his brother-in-law and fellow 47th Pennsylvania veteran, Allen P. Rhoads, became seriously ill. Ailing with pancreatitis and “recurrent gastrointestinal catarrh,” according to records from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Health, Allen died from acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis and cardiac paralysis at the age of sixty-four, on 14 February 1906 (alternate death date: 15 February), at a boarding house at 506 North Lumber Street in Allentown. Following funeral services there, he was laid to rest beside his wife, Sarah, at the Union-West End Cemetery, and was then eulogized by The Morning Call, as follows:

Allen P. Rhoads, the well-known war veteran, died yesterday of a heart affection at his home, No. 506 North Lumber street. Deceased was an enthusiastic Grand Army man and an attendant at many veterans’ affairs. He was born in Allentown and was 64 years of age. He became a printer in early life, serving his apprenticeship on the Allentown Democrat. He remained there for a number of years when he left to enter the employ of the Lehigh Patriot, a German weekly that was published in Allentown. On August 30, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Forty-seventh Regiment, and fought through three years with that command. He was mustered out on Christmas Day, 1865. Disabilities received in the service forced him to retire a few years after the close of the war. The only surviving relative is Mrs. Charles Dankel, of this city, who is a sister. The funeral will be held on Sunday [18 February 1906].

By 1910, Charles Dankel and his wife were residing in Allentown’s Second Ward with their daughters, Mamie (Mary) and Katie, the latter of whom was the only member of the Dankel family who was working at the time of that year’s federal census. Still single, Katie was employed as a laundress. That year was also noteworthy for an entirely different reason — the Dankel family now included Charles H. Malcolm (1902-1918), who had been born on 16 February 1902, and Grace Malcolm (1905-1974), who had been born on 5 October 1905. According to the federal census enumerator who had interviewed the Dankels in 1910, the Malcolm children had been adopted by Charles and Annie (Rhoads) Dankel; however, that data appears to have been incorrect. Per Grace’s 1956 obituary in Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper, Grace’s birth parents were “William and Anna Dancho.” In addition, a subsequent report by that same newspaper (on 23 October 1918) documented that Charles H. Malcolm was the grandson of Charles and Annie Dankel — which indicated that he had actually been the son of one of the Dankels’ daughters. That article also presented important details about Charles Malcolm’s life and death, including that he was later adopted as an infant by Mary (Dankel) Heist, further narrowing the possible identities of Charles’ birth mother to Catherine or Anna May Dankel:

Private Charles H. Malcolm, of 31 South College street, a member of Co. D, 110th Infantry, 28th Division, A. E. F., one of the youngest soldiers that ever left this city, has been slain on the battlefields of France, word to this effect being received early yesterday morning by Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Heist, of the above address. Private Malcolm was killed in action on September 6 [1918].

Scarcely sixteen years of age when he presented his five feet eleven inches to the recruiting officer at 5th and Hamilton streets, on April 19, 1918, he easily deceived the officer and a day later was on his way to Columbus, O. Reaching Harrisburg, the party of recruits was intercepted by a telegram and along with several other rookies, Private Malcolm was transferred to the engineer corps leaving an embarkation point May 1, and with very little preliminary training he was sent across.

Adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Heist in early infancy, he soon became like a son to the couple…. He [Charles H. Malcolm] was born in this city and was a confirmed member of Grace Episcopal church where he was also a soprano soloist on the choir.

Private Malcolm can best be judged by his near relatives. He comes from a family of patriotic citizens. His grandfather, Charles Dankel, who died seven years ago at the age of 73, was a Civil War veteran. He served as a Pennsylvania volunteer throughout the four years of warfare. He was an active member of E. B. Young Post, G.A.R., at the time of his death and there were few if any who displayed more patriotic fervor than this loved old veteran. Then there is the uncle, Mr. Heist. He was a Spanish-American war veteran…. Personally Private Malcolm was one of the most likeable young men in the city and word of his supreme sacrifice, while showing the true American spirit of which he was made, will be received with regret. He was born Feb. 31, 1902 [sic, “16 February 1902”], and was sixteen years of age last February.

* Note: A funeral notice that was subsequently published in The Morning Call on 12 June 1921 finally clarified the confusing lineage when it reported that the funeral of Charles H. Malcolm would be held at “the residence of his mother, Mrs. Annie Cope, No. 966 Union Street, on Saturday afternoon, June 18, at 1:30 o’clock.” Mrs. Annie Cope was the married name of Anna May Dankel, the youngest daughter of Charles H. Dankel.

Death and Interment

Charles H. Dankel never knew that his grandson had gone on to become a soldier in World War I because he (Charles H. Dankel) fell ill with pneumonia in early March 1911 and then succumbed to complications from that disease at his home at 239 South Fifth Street in Allentown, at ten p.m., on 13 March — just over two months away from celebrating his seventy-fourth birthday. According to a subsequent report in Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper, a brief funeral service was held at his home at 239 South Fifth Street on Sunday afternoon, 19 March, “after which the funeral cortege, headed by Company E and the Second Regiment Band, proceeded to Zion Reformed Church, where regular services were conducted by Rev. Simon Sipple.” He was then laid to rest in a private ceremony at the Fairview Cemetery in Allentown, leaving Annie (Rhoads) Dankel to soldier on as a widow and mother, and as the grandmother of Charles and Grace Malcolm. The pallbearers were members of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.).

What Happened to Charles Dankel’s Widow?

Ailing with heart disease and chronic bronchitis, Charles Dankel’s widow, Annie (Rhoads) Dankel, died from aortic regurgitation at the age of seventy-four in Allentown, on 7 January 1916, and was laid to rest beside her husband at that city’s Fairview Cemetery. She was survived by “her three daughters, Mrs. Katie Bartholomew, Mrs. Harry Heist, Mrs. Annie Cope and two grandchildren, Charles and Grace, all of Allentown.”

What Happened to Charles Dankel’s Children?

Having apparently given birth in Allentown to two children, Charles H. Malcolm (1902-1918) and Grace R. Malcolm (1905-1974) on 16 February 1902 and 5 October 1905, respectively, Charles Dankel’s daughter, Anna May Dankel (1880-1952), relinquished her parental rights — either willingly or due to pressure from her family or Lehigh County’s legal system — because those two children were documented by a 1910 federal census enumerator as the “adopted” children of Anna May’s parents, Charles and Annie (Rhoads) Dankel (and were then later documented in subsequent newspaper articles and federal census records as the “adopted” children of Anna May’s older, married sisters, Mamie and Catherine). Although the adoption status of the Malcolms remains shrouded by the mists of time, what is known for certain is that their mother, Anna May Dankel:

1. Was not listed as a member of her parents’ household on the 1910 federal census — even though her two children were;
2. Described herself as the daughter of Charles and Anna Dankel when she applied for a marriage license in Lehigh County on 23 November 1912; and
3. Stated that she had never been widowed by or divorced from anyone when she applied for her 1912 marriage license — a legal attestation that appears to indicate that her children, Charles and Grace Malcolm, had been born out of wedlock (and had been fathered by a man whose surname was “Malcolm”).

Known to family and friends as “Annie,” Anna May Dankel wed construction worker John D. Cope (1890-1956) in Allentown on 23 November 1912. Roughly six years later, she received word that her son, Charles H. Malcolm, had been killed in action in France on 6 September 1918 while serving with the Allied Expeditionary Forces’ 110th Infantry, 28th Division. By 1920, Anna May and her husband were renting a home on Union Street in Allentown’s Third Ward. The next year, a funeral notice in the 12 June 1921 edition of The Morning Call newspaper reported that Charles Malcolm’s funeral would be held at “the residence of his mother, Mrs. Annie Cope, No. 966 Union Street, on Saturday afternoon, June 18, at 1:30 o’clock.” Private Malcom was then interred with military honors at Allentown’s Fairview Cemetery.

Sadly, Annie’s marriage to John Cope then became a deeply troubled and increasingly dangerous one. On 9 March 1925, he was jailed for assaulting her, according to Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper. Still Third Ward renters as of 1930 (but living at 136 South Fourth Street), Anna May (Dankel) Cope and her husband made ends meet on the wages that he brought home as a motor works laborer.

But they remained childless. By 1940, they were living as renters at 118 North Seventh Street in Allentown’s Fourth Ward.

But the instability and danger continued for Annie as her husband was warned by police about, and then jailed twice, for drunk driving. A decade later, they were back on Fourth Street, living and working as the managers of an apartment building at 49 South Fourth.

A Horrific End

Two years later, Anna May (Dankel) Cope was murdered by her husband. According to the 5 November 1952 edition of Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper:

A state police guard has been placed on the hospital room of John Cope, 77, who was found in a dazed condition lying next to his wife’s body in the couple’s S. Pike Street home.

The death of his wife, Mrs. Anna M. Cope, 72, has been attributed to a broken neck by Coroner Clayton O. P. Werley. An autopsy was performed on the woman yesterday.

Sgt. John I. Swann, who is conducting an investigation into the death for the state police, refused last night to implicate Cope in the death of his wife.

He said simply that “Naturally we are interested in questioning him” in light of the circumstances under which the dead woman was found.

Cope was unable to answer questions of the state police who broke into the one-room cabin after being called by the owner who became alarmed when he didn’t see his tenants around the premises on Sunday and Monday. 

Sgt. Swann said he was able to talk to Cope for a short while yesterday but was not able to get all the information he desired. 

He said that as soon as Cope’s condition improves he intends to question him further.

Police originally thought that the latter malady might have been the cause of his wife’s death.

To Trace Movements

Swann said that the investigation now hopes to trace Mrs. Cope’s movements during the latter part of last week.

The coroner said yesterday’s autopsy showed that the woman had been dead since Sunday. She was discovered around 6 p.m. on Monday by state police.

Mrs. Cope was the former Anna May Dankel, a daughter of the late Charles and Anna (Rhoads) Dankel. She is survived by a daughter, Grace, Allentown; and two sisters, Mrs. Catherine Bartholomew, Allentown, and Mamie, Philadelphia.

As the state police investigation continued, The Morning Call corrected its coverage of the tragedy to reflect that police had initially believed that malnutrition had caused Anna May (Dankel) Cope’s death (and was not the medical condition of John Cope, as was first reported). The newspaper also noted that “Sgt. Swann ordered a police guard [to be] placed on Cope’s hospital room” after receiving the coroner’s report which indicated that Anna May’s death had been caused by a broken neck, but also added “there was no evidence that a scuffle had ensued” at the cabin.

On 16 November 1952, The Morning Call published a photograph with a caption describing the arraignment of John Cope “on a charge of killing his wife.” Less than two weeks later, Cope was declared mentally incompetent and unable to proceed to trial, and was moved from the Lehigh County Prison to the Allentown State Hospital, where he was expected to remain for the “forseeable future.”

Following funeral services, Anna May (Dankel) Cope was laid to rest at the same cemetery where her parents had previously been interred — Allentown’s Fairview Cemetery.

*Note: If you or someone you know is at risk of domestic violence, please reach out for advice and help from the National Domestic Violence Hotline: (800) 799-SAFE (7233).

“Mamie”

Following her marriage to electrician Harry Lapierre Heist (1875-1951) in Allentown on Christmas Eve in December 1898, Charles Dankel’s daughter, Mary Maria Dankel (1875-1955), who was known to family and friends as “Mamie,” settled with her husband in Allentown’s Second Ward, where her husband worked as a day laborer. By 1910, she and her husband were members of her parents’ Second Ward household, which also included her unmarried sister, Katie, and two young children — Charles H. Malcolm (1902-1918) and Grace R. Malcolm (1905-1974) — who were documented by that year’s federal census enumerator as the “adopted” children of Mamie’s parents, Charles and Annie (Rhoads) Dankel (and were then later documented in subsequent newspaper articles and federal census records as the “adopted” children of Anna May’s older, married sisters, Mamie and Catherine).

In reality, the Malcolms were the natural-born children of Mamie’s sister, Anna May Dankel (1880-1952), and would subsequently be raised by Mamie after she married. According to Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper, Charles Malcolm had been “[a]dopted by Mr. and Mrs. Heist in early infancy,” and “soon became like a son to the couple. He was born in this city and was a confirmed member of Grace Episcopal church,” where he became a church choir soloist. At the age of sixteen, he walked into the U.S. Army’s recruiting office at 5th and Hamilton Streets in Allentown, lied about his age to a recruiter, was enrolled for World War I military service, and transported to Columbus, Ohio for basic training. Once there, his true age was discovered and he was transferred to the U.S. Army’s Corps of Engineers. Eventually shipped overseas, he was killed in action in France on 6 September 1918, while serving as a private with Company D of the 110th Infantry, 28th Division of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. His adoptive parents, Harry L. and Mamie (Dankel) Heist were notified of his death by telegram, which was delivered to them at their rented home at 31 South College Street in Allentown’s Second Ward, where they continued to reside into the 1920s.

A funeral was finally held for Charles H. Malcolm on 18 June 1921 at the home of Anna May (Dankel) Cope (Mamie’s younger sister and Charles’ birth mother), prior to his burial at Allentown’s Fairview Cemetery. In 1930, Mamie and her electrician-husband were documented by a federal census enumerator as renters at 28 South Penn Street in the Second Ward. By 1940, they were the owners of that home, and her husband was employed as a meter factory machinist. A resident of Allentown until the final six months of her husband’s life, she and her husband moved into the Hotel Chancellor Hall in Philadelphia to enable him to receive the most advanced medical care possible for his heart and lung ailments. Widowed by him when he died at the age of seventy-six from pulmonary edema at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, on 2 September 1951, she arranged for his remains to be returned to the Lehigh Valley for interment at the Greenwood Cemetery in Allentown. Mamie then settled in Allentown at 612 Chew Street. After a full life, she died at the age of seventy-nine at her home, on 2 January 1955, and was buried next to her husband at Allentown’s Greenwood Cemetery.

“Katie”

Following her marriage to painter Henry W. Bartholomew (1871-1928) on 23 October 1915, Charles Dankel’s daughter, Catherine I. (Dankel) Bartholomew (1868-1956), who was known to family and friends as “Katie,” settled with him in Allentown. Residing with the Bartholomews at their home in that city’s Second District when the 1920 federal census was enumerated there on 14 January, was “Grace Danro,” a fourteen-year-old girl who had been listed on the 1910 federal census as “Grace R. Malcolm,” the adopted child of Catherine’s parents, Charles and Anna (Rhoads) Dankel. She would subsequently begin using the “Bartholomew” surname, following her adoption by Katie and Henry.

Sadly, during the fall of 1928, tragedy struck the Bartholomew family when patriarch Henry Bartholomew “fell sixty feet from the ground of the third story of the Heinz building” on 21 November, during which time he sustained a scull fracture, dislocated shoulder, fractured right arm, and “gash in the back of the neck, as well as other severe injuries,” according to Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper. Transported to the Allentown Hospital, he remained unconscious until his death there at the age of fifty-seven, on 24 November 1928, and was subsequently laid to rest at Allentown’s Fairview Cemetery.

Bartholomew is a well known painter and was nearing the end of his day’s work, painting the rear of the Heinz store, when the board on which he was standing, suspended by slings from the roof, broke it is claimed, and sent him hurtling to the ground. He dropped among electric wires halfway to the ground, but could not retain a hold and tumbled from them to the pavement.…

Bartholomew had been out of work since early last spring, having gone out on strike with fellow members of the painters’ local. He returned to work a little over a week ago.

At the bedside of the injured man, tending to his wants and relieving his sufferings as much as possible, is Grace Bartholomew, an adopted daughter, who is a trained nurse.

Following her husband’s death, Catherine I. (Dankel) Bartholomew continued to soldier on. A member of Zion’s Evangelical and Reformed Church in Allentown, she was active with the church’s Ladies’ Aid Society. Ailing during the final years of her life, she died at the age of eighty-seven years, eight months and nine days, at her home at 612 Chew Street in Allentown, on 13 March 1956, and was subsequently interred beside her husband at Allentown’s Fairview Cemetery. She was survived by her adopted daughter, Grace Bartholomew, who had

was later laid to rest at Fairview in 1974.

*Note: Catherine I. (Dankel) Bartholomew was survived by her adopted daughter, Grace R. Bartholomew, who had given birth to a son, Wellington Guyler (1925-1995) on 6 May 1925. He would go on to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II, before becoming a technician for Western Union, while she continued to make live more bearable for countless patients during her work as a practical nurse. After a challenging life, Grace Bartholomew died at the age of sixty-eight at the Allentown Hospital, on 2 June 1974, and was also laid to eternal rest at Allentown’s Fairview Cemetery.

What Happened to Charles H. Dankel’s Siblings?

Following her marriage to Tilghman V. Cavanaugh sometime during the late 1850s, Charles Dankel’s sister, Ellemanda Dankel (1835-1888), settled with him in East Texas, Lehigh County, where they welcomed the births of: George E. Cavanaugh (1860-1946), who was born on 18 March 1860 and would later become a member of Allentown’s common council and the husband of Tevilla Werley (1864-1929); and Charles Walter Cavanaugh (1862-1937), who was born on 8 May 1862 and would later become an information clerk at Mack Motor Company and the husband of Mary Jane Leibensperger (1860-1932). Widowed sometime prior to the federal census of 1870, Ellemanda Dankel resumed the use of her maiden name after her husband’s death and lived alone with her mother at her mother’s house in Allentown’s Second Ward, while working as a seamstress. Still employed as a seamstress in June 1880, she resided with her sons, George and Charles (employees of a shoe factory and bakery), and her mother, Anna (Diefenderfer) Dankel, in Allentown’s Second Ward. Also known to family and friends as “Ellen,” Ellemanda Dankel died in Allentown on 15 April 1889. Fifty-three years old at the time of her passing, she was buried beside her mother at the Union-West End Cemetery in Allentown.

Following her marriage to fellow Macungie native Allen Benjamin Hiskey (1821-1884) during the late 1830s, Charles Dankel’s sister, Mary Ann (Dankel) Hiskey (1820-1899), settled with him in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, where they welcomed the births of: Emma Linda Hiskey (1840-1890), who was born on 24 June 1840 and would, in 1863, wed Richard Alexander Baird (1833-1882), a native of Marion, Perry County, Alabama, and settle with him in Salt Lake City Utah, before being divorced from him and then marrying Carrollton, Greene County, Illinois native William Coon (1837-1907) in 1871; and William Frederick Hiskey (1842-1909), who was born in East Texas, Lehigh County on 29 May 1842. Sometime during the mid to late 1840s, Mary Ann (Dankel) Hiskey relocated with her husband and children to Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, where more children soon followed: twins Thomas Alfred Hiskey (1847-1875) and Peter Michael Hiskey (1849-1918), who were born on 3 December 1847 — the latter of whom would later wed Isabelle Josephine Harrison (1860-1939); Clarissa Jane Hiskey (1856-1937), who was born on 29 January 1856 and would later wed Charles Ernest Warr (1849-1911), a native of Somerset, England, and settle with him in Erda, Tooele County, Utah; and Celia Augusta Hiskey (1859-1932), who was born on 24 February 1859 and would later wed George Henry Tate (1855-1936) on 28 November 1878 and settle with him in Erda, Tooele County, Utah.

Those Utah lives were the direct result of a radical decision made by Mary Ann (Dankel) Hiskey and her husband in 1862 — to migrate west in search of a better life. After reaching Utah, they settled in Salt Lake County. It was there, in Salt Lake City, that Mary Ann’s youngest son, John Seaman Hiskey (1864-1949), was born on 22 May 1864. He would later go on to marry Bicknell, Utah native Mary Lyman (1884-1985) in 1902. Ailing during the final months of her life, Mary Ann (Dankel) Hiskey died in Tooele at the age of seventy-nine, on 27 January 1899, and was laid to rest at the Tooele City Cemetery.

Following her marriage to George C. Quier (1837-1884) during the early to mid-1860s, Charles Dankel’s sister, Adeline (Dankel) Quier (1844-1923), settled with her husband in Lehigh County. Together, they welcomed the births of Allen S. Quier (1866-1942), who was born in Alburtis on 25 October 1868 and would later travel to Great Britain and Africa as a salesman for Bethlehem Steel and become the husband of Sarah I. Allam (1870-1951), also known as “Sallie”; Harvey F. Quier (1871-1919), who was born on 17 January 1871 and would later wed Minnie Irene Bachman (1872-1928) in 1891; Harry James Quier (1873-1874), who was born on 22 July 1873 but died at the age of six months, on 3 February 1874, and was buried at what is now Solomons United Church of Christ Cemetery in Macungie; Iva O. Quier (1876-1965), who was born in Allentown on 12 September 1876 and would later wed Charles Houck (1877-1952); and Frederick Edward Quier (1880-1950), who was born in Lower Saucon Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania on 7 January 1880 and would later wed Jennie T. Lagleter (1883-1962) and also work for Bethlehem Steel. Ailing with heart disease during her final years, Adeline (Dankel) Quier died at the age of seventy-eight in Bethlehem, Lehigh County, on 20 June 1923, and was laid to rest at the Fairview Cemetery in Bethlehem, Northampton County.

 

Sources:

1. Adeline Quier (a sister of Charles H. Dankel), in Death Certificates (file no.: 67742, registered no.: 183, date of death: 20 June 1923). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
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17. “Committed to Jail” (announcement of the arrest and detention of John D. Cope for assaulting Anna May (Dankel) Cope, the youngest daughter of Charles H. Dankel). Allentown, Pennnsylvania: The Morning Call, 11 March 1925.
18. “Cope Arraignment” (photograph with caption describing the arraignment of John Cope on the charge of murdering Anna May (Dankel) Cope, who was the youngest daughter of Charles H. Dankel). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 16 November 1952.
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81. Sheridan, Philip Henry. Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army in Two Volumes. New York, New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1888.
82. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.
83. “To Attend the Reunion” (election of Charles H. Dankel as secretary of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers’ Association). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 13 October 1897.
84. “Two Cases Settled” (brief report on the assault and battery of Charles H. Dankel’s wife, Anna (Rhoads) Dankel, by Robert Xander). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 1 June 1897.
85. “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.
86. “Well Known Veteran Claimed by Death: Charles H. Dankel Dies Following Attack of Pneumonia.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 14 March 1911.
87. Wharton, Henry D. “Letters from the Sunbury Guards.” Sunbury, Pennsylvania: The Sunbury American, 1861-1864.
88. “Woman’s Death in Cabin Caused by Broken Neck; Husband Is Under Guard (report on the alleged murder of Anna May (Dankel) Cope, who was the youngest daughter of Charles H. Dankel). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 5 November 1952.