Monday, June 16, 2014

Henry Knapp family of Powellsville, Ohio


Heinrich Knapp was born on Christmas Day in 1805 in Germany.  About 1846, he brought his family to America, settling in southern Ohio.  Heinrich, or Henry as he became in America, worked in the ore digging and mining industry.   By 1850 he was in Vernon Township, Scioto County, and by 1860 in Elizabeth Township, Lawrence County where his family remained for many years.  He died January 15, 1892 at age 86 in Powellsville, Ohio and is buried in St John's Lutheran Church Cemetery.  This short paragraph ran in the Portsmouth Daily Times on January 23, 1892.  Ancestry has several years of the Portsmouth Daily Times, but not for the year 1892.  The Portsmouth Public Library emailed me the page this was on, but they didn't find an obituary or death notice for Caroline. 



Caroline Schukky was born December 17, 1813 in Hanover, Germany.  She was the mother of 8 children.  She died on September 4, 1895 at age 81, and is buried beside her husband.

Heinrich and Caroline were married March 8, 1839 in Germany.  Their children were:

Friedrich Knapp was born on January 1, 1837 in Germany.  Friedrich married Elizabeth (last name unknown).  They had seven children:  George, Anna, Caroline, William, John, Henry and Mary.  Friedrich died at only 44 years old on November 20, 1881 in Ohio.  

Louis Knapp was born in Hanover, Germany on September 8, 1840.  Louis followed his father into the Ore business.  There is a nice biography of him in "The History of Scioto County" written by Nelson Evans.  On January 25, 1865, he married Mary Fitzsimmons, at Empire Furnace, Ohio.  They were the parents of seven children:  Lizzie, May, Anna, Joseph, Charles, Ruby and James.  In August, 1882 he married Hannah Fitzer and they had 2 sons, John and Oliver.  Louis died in Cook County, Illinois on May 7, 1923 at age 82. 

Elizabeth "Eliza" Knapp, my Great Great Grandmother, came into this world on May 15, 1841 in Wurttemberg, Germany.   She married Henry Menke on January 13, 1865 in Scioto County, Ohio.  She was the mother of 11 children:  Caroline, John, Mary, Matilde, Katherina, Eliza, Rosa, Edward, Nettie, Charles and Lewis.  Eliza lived to be 102 years old, dying in Lincoln, Nebraska on February 2, 1944.  She was survived by 30 grandchildren, 23 great grandchildren and one great great grandchild. 

Henry Ernst Christian Knapp was born on September 22, 1845 in Hanover, Germany.  His first marriage was to Catherine Elizabeth Hobstettler with whom he had 10 children.  Catherine died in 1894 and Henry married Mrs. Elizabeth Mehl in 1896.  Henry's children were:  Adam, Fred, Henry, Callie, Charles, John, Jacob, George and 2 more whose names I can't read because of a smudge in the newspaper with his obituary.  There is a nice family photo on Henry's findagrave memorial here. 

Mary Knapp shared a birthday with her brother Henry on September 22, born three years later in 1848.  She was the first child in the family born in the United States.  She was married to John W. Boggs on October 17, 1871 in Ohio.  They moved to Nebraska sometime before 1881.  Nine children were born to them:  Charles, George, Albert, Caroline, Rosa, Elizabeth, Walter, Jennie and Emma.  Mary died in Tobias, Nebraska on March 28, 1930 having reached 81 years old.  She was survived by 27 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. 

Hannah Charlotte Knapp was born March 23, 1849 in Clinton Furnace, Scioto County. She married Conrad Smith on February 6, 1869 in Lawrence County.  About 1893 they moved to Nebraska, joining her two sisters already there.  Their 11 children were:  Caroline, Frederick, Henry, Anna, John, Mary, Elizabeth, William, George, Carl and Viola.  Hannah died on September 5, 1928 in Garden County, Nebraska at age 79.  She was survived by 53 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.  

August Knapp was born March 21, 1852 in Ohio and was deceased by 1921.  

George D. Knapp was born August 28, 1857 in Ohio.  George was married to Elizabeth Schmidt.   He died on December 20, 1921 in Empire Furnace, Ohio.  He was 64 years old.

I want to find the German marriage record for Henry & Caroline, and birth records for their children.  Also any immigration record for the family.  I would like to get to Portsmouth, Ohio someday to do some work there and see the area where Henry Knapp's family once lived.

A few years ago I corresponded with a granddaughter of Hannah Smith and shared information with her.  It would be great to hear from another descendant of Henry & Caroline Knapp.

2 comments:

  1. I am a great granddaughter of Mathilda Menke Daubendiek, and recently connected with Robert Burke. Thank you for this interesting article.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Stephany, I'm happy to share what I learn here. It's nice to "meet" you!

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