Bios: Knorr Family: Centre Twp, Columbia County, PA

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Knorr Family
Historical and Biographical Annuals of Columbia and Montour Counties, PA
J. H. Beer and Co., 1915

Smauel M. Knorr, a farmer of Briarcreek township, was born Sept. 27, 1861, in Centre
township, Columbia Co., Pa., a son of Henry Jackson Knorr, and a descendant of
Leonard Knorr, a pioneer of this State.

Leonard Knorr, the pioneer of this family, came from Germany in the year 1782 and
located in Centre township, where he cleared land and established the old homestead.

Henry Knorr, son of Leonard, was also a farmer, a member of the Reformed Church and
prominent in the affairs of his native county.  He married Margaret Dietrich.  His
brother John also had a large family, one of his descendants being Mrs. Ann Hess, of
Fishing Creek.

Henry D. Knorr, grandfather of Samuel M. Knorr, was a tanner by trade, but later in
life devoted himeself exclusively to farming.  He married Sarah Kelchner, and they
had seven children:  Henry Jackson (deceased), Samuel (deceased), Eli M., Francis
(deceased), Wesley (deceased), Mary and Margaret.

Henry Jackson Knorr was a farmer by occupation and lived to the age of seventy-six
years.  He married Rebecca Herring, and they are buried at the Brick Church in
Briarcreek township.  They were the parents of ten children:  Margaret was killed in
infancy, in 1853, by a runaway horse; James M., a builder of Berwick, married
Elizabeth Hagenbuch and had one child, Frank, deceased; John, a shoemaker, deceased,
married Mary Peeler, and had four children; Clara is living in Centre township;
Samuel M.; Harvey E., a farmer of Centre township, married Elizabeth Burket, and has
four children living (one is deceased); Emma resides at Wilkes-Barre; George, who is
employed by the American Car & Foundry Company at Berwick; married Maude
Strowbridge, and has two children; Henry T. was next in the family; Elizabeth, wife
of Joseph Sitler, a farmer of Centre township, has two children living (one is
deceased.)

Samuel M. Knorr was educated in the public schools of Centre township and took up
the vocation of farming.  On Feb. 14, 1893, he was married to Gertrude Rittenhouse,
who was born July 28, 1865, daughter of Morris M. Rittenhouse, a farmer of
Briarcreek township, and granddaughter of Henry and Rachel (Hutton) Rittenhouse, who
are buried at Berwick.  Mr. Rittenhouse married Effie Brittain, whose
great-grandparents settled in Germantown, Pa., later moving to this section, where
they cultivated the farm now owned by Boyd Freas, which was in the Brittain family
for several generations.  She was the daughter of Col. William A.J. Brittain (son of
Henry Brittain), who owned a farm, but worked as collector on the old canal for many
years; he and his wife are buried at Berwick.  Mrs. Morris M. Rittenhouse is buried
at the Brick Church in Briarcreek township.  She was the mother of four children,
one dying in infancy; Henry, a farmer of Briarcreek township, married Nora Davis and
they had eight children, two of whom are deceased; Gertrude is the wife of Samuel M.
Knorr; Mary married Milton Freas, and both are deceased (they had one son, Morris).

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Knorr:  Ernest H., Feb. 12,
1894; Margaret C., April 9, 1895; Charles J., Feb. 13, 1897 (died May 6, 1907).  The
parents are members of the Zwingli Reformed Church at Berwick, in which Mr. Knorr has
been a prominent worker, having held the office of deacon six years and served seven
years as trustee.  He is a Democrat in political sentiment.