BIOS: The KNEPPER Family, Somerset County, PA

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History of Bedford & Somerset Counties, PA; v.3; Bedford County by E.
Howard Blackburn; Somerset County by William H. Welfley; Lewis Pub. Co.,
NY/Chicago 1906; ppg. 42-46

Knepper Family.

Three brothers of the Knepper family in Wurtemberg, Germany, came to
America in 1750.  One settled in Virginia, one in Berks county,
Pennsylvania, and the other farther to the west.  From the last named
descended all the generations of this same in Somerset county, Pennsylvania. 
(I) John Knepper, born 1763, died August 1, 1817, in Brothers Valley
township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania.  He married Anna M. Glessner, born
1765, died 1847.  She was the daughter of Christian and Elizabeth (Fisher)
Wertz.  The former was born June 12, 1772, and the latter May 24, 1776. 
John Knepper and wife, Anna M., had the following children: Elizabeth,
born February 23, 1789, died aged eighty-six years; Catharine, born June
10, 1790; William, born at Berlin, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1792; he was a
soldier in the war of 1813-14; A. M. (known as "Polly"), born November 2,
1793, died aged fifty-nine years; John, born October 13, 1795; Jacob, born
September 4, 1797; Lewis, born December 26, 1799, died at the age of
eighty-eight years; Peter, born March 4, 1802, a marble cutter by trade;
Judge Jonathan, born July 20, 1804, became sheriff and associate judge of
Somerset county, Pennsylvania; George, born December 12, 1806; Simon, born
May 3, 1809, of whom later; Rev. Henry, born August 25, 1812, died aged
sixty-six years; Rev. Benjamin, born September 10, 1816, of whom later. 
(II) Simon Knepper, son of John (I) and Anna M. (Glessner) Knepper, born
May 3, 1809, died aged fifty-three years.  He was a carpenter by trade.  He
married Nancy, daughter of Christian and Nancy (Fisher) Wertz, January 15,
1834.  Their children were: Amanda, born May 20, 1835, married Joseph
Pritts, deceased; Oliver, born June 5, 1837, of whom later; Lieutenant
Henry F., born April 19, 1839, of whom later; Amos W., born April 14, 1841,
of whom later; William P., born July 25, 1843, served in the civil war, was
killed at New Market, and was buried on Southern soil; he was a member of
Company B, Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania Regiment; Ellen, born December 31,
1845; married William Weigle; Emeline, born May 28, 1848, married Samuel
Deitz; David, born September 7, 1850, deceased; Cyrus, born August 26,
1852, married Annie E. Pile; Annie born October 6, 1854, married Elwood
Rice; Elizabeth, born April 19, 1857, married Edward Horner, of Johnstown,
Pennsylvania. 
(II) Rev. Benjamin Knepper, youngest child of John (I) and Anna M.
(Glessner) Knepper, born September 10, 1816, died October 3, 1905, aged
eighty-nine years.  He died at his daughter's house in Connellsville,
Pennsylvania.  He was the youngest of thirteen children in his parents'
family.  He received his education in the common schools of Somerset
county, Pennsylvania, and subsequently took a theological course under the
instruction of Rev. William Conrad, of Hagerstown, Maryland, who was pastor
of the Reformed church at Berlin, Pennsylvania.  He entered the ministry
when he was twenty-eight years of age, being associated with the Reformed
church.  For a time he was pastor at Wellersburg, Pennsylvania, then went
to Illinois, where he remained eighteen months, but was called back by his
people in Somerset county to again become pastor at Wellersburg,
Pennsylvania, which he faithfully served for fifty-five years, without
intermission.  For many years he was the only pastor of his denomination in
Somerset county, hence was in great demand in both this and Bedford
counties. 
At that early day much of the preaching was in country districts, and
many long trips were made to officiate at funerals and weddings.  During
his ministry, "Father Knepper" baptized over two thousand persons and
officiated at more marriages and funerals than any other man in Somerset
county.
In 1839 Rev. Knepper was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Hay, of
Berlin, Pennsylvania.  Two children were born of this union: Sophia,
deceased, and Mrs. Ann Heller, now living at Connellsville, Pennsylvania.
In 1889 he celebrated his golden wedding anniversary.  He was buried at
Berlin, Pennsylvania.  His wife survived him.  Among the remarkable and
heroic characters of the nineteenth century among the clergy of Pennsylvania, 
Father Knepper will ever be referred to as among the "bright and shining 
lights."
(III) Oliver Knepper, son of Simon (2) and Nancy (Wertz) Knepper, born
June 5, 1837, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania; died in 1899.  He was by
trade a carpenter.  He served his county as sheriff, and at his death was
holding the office of justice of the peace.  He was an exceptionally
prominent man, and great was the sorrow in the community at his death.  He
was orderly sergeant in Company H, Two Hundred and Eleventh Pennsylvania
Volunteers, during the Civil war.  He married Mary Pugh, in 1858; she was
born in 1836.  The children by this union were: Laura, born May, 1860;
Chester M., born 1862; Ada and Cora (twins); Edith, Orlo S., Florence. 
(III) Lieutenant Henry F. Knepper, son of Simon (2) and Nancy (Wertz)
Knepper, was born April 14, 1839, at what is now called Rockwood, Somerset
county, Pennsylvania.  He was a school teacher and treasurer of Somerset
county.  In politics, a radical Republican.  In religious faith and
profession a United Brethren.  He served in the Union army during the civil
war, enlisting as a member of Company E, Once Hundred and Thirty-third
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and after nine months re-enlisted in the Fifth
Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, and served until the end of the war,
receiving a commission as lieutenant, having been first sergeant.  After he
had served one term as county treasurer of his county, Mr. Knepper was made
deputy for another term and had full charge of the office.  He was one of
four brothers who followed teaching many terms.  He was the one of the four
who served in the Union cause in the days of the rebellion.
He married February 14, 1860, Margaret Spangler, born November 10, 1837.
Their five children are: Wilson J., born November 26, 1860, now a merchant
of Indiana; Norman E., born September 27, 1862, married Emma Weimar, of
Somerset; Almira, born July 22, 1864, married Mahlon Schrock; Edward K.,
born June 4, 1866, now a merchant of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, married Emma
Wright, of Bedford county, Pennsylvania; Winnie Grace, born November 7,
1878, a teacher of long service in the schools of Pittsburgh and Johnstown,
Pennsylvania--a teacher of rare attainments.
(III) Amos W. Knepper, son of Simon (2) and Nancy (Wertz) Knepper, was
born April 14, 1841, at Berlin, Pennsylvania, in "an old red house still
standing."  He was schooled in the Somerset county schools and when twenty
years of age enlisted in the Union cause, August 14, 1862, as a member of
Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. 
He was in Captain George F. Baer's famous company and was a corporal.  He
cast his first vote while on the battlefield of Antietam, voting for
Abraham Lincoln, for his second term.  He served nine months and was
honorable discharged at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1863.  He
participated in the engagements so famous in the history of the civil
war--the second battle of Bull run, Antietam, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, etc.  After his return he engaged in merchandising at
Somerset, continuing about twenty-five years.  Since 1904 he has been
actively engaged in the real estate business at Somerset.  He is now
vice-president of the Somerset Electricity plant and a large real estate
owner.
Politically, like all the family, Mr. Knepper is a staunch Republican,
and was a candidate for the state legislature in 1902, and was only
defeated by a small majority in a three-cornered contest.  In the spring of
1906, nominated by Republicans for legislator, which is equivalent to
election in the county of Somerset.  He is a member of the Grand Army of
the Republic, Post No. 210; Knights of the Golden Eagle, Junior Order of
American Mechanics, Farmers' Alliance and Grange, and Maccabees. 
He married, January 16, 1868, at New Centerville, Pennsylvania, Sabinie
E., daughter of Joseph and Deliah (Boyd) Smith, of Somerset county,
Pennsylvania.  Mrs. Knepper was one of a family of five children, two of
whom only survived.  By this union two sons were born: William, November
10, 1868, died when between five and six years of age; Rev. George W.,
April 3, 1876, and educated in the common and high schools of Somerset, and
graduated from the Indianapolis University of Butler, with the class of
1899.  After leaving college, he was state secretary and traveling lecturer
for the State of Indiana for the Young Men's Christian Association for
about two years.  He was called home by the death of his mother, March 12,
1900, soon after which said event he took up the work of the ministry,
becoming pastor by a unanimous call of the Christian church at
Somerset--his native borough--which charge he still holds in a most devout
and truly creditable manner.  His pastorate dates from the spring of 1904.
(IV) Chester M. Knepper, son of Oliver (3) and Mary (Pugh) Knepper, born
in 1862, entered the naval school at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1880, and
graduated therefrom in 1884.  He is still in the United States navy.  He
was commander of the torpedo boat "McKay" at the time of the
Spanish-American war, and was delegated to bring back the remains of Paul
Jones from France, in July, 1905, being on the flag ship "Brooklyn".  He
was married in 1897.
(IV) Orlo S. Knepper, son of Oliver (3) and Mary (Pugh) Knepper, entered
the United States Naval Academy in 1891, and graduated in 1895.  He was
with the Dewey fleet as signal recorder for the boat "Concord", and was one
of two to go aboard the captured Spanish ships at Manila Bay to take the
side arms from the crew.  He resigned as lieutenant from the "West
Virginia", September, 1905, and is now a business man in New York city.  He
was married in June, 1905.  It might be added that he was with the "Maine"
three years, and was only transferred from her a short time before her
awful destruction.
(V) Robert O. Bosh, son of P. A. and Larha (Knepper) Bosh, when aged
nineteen years, in 1904, also became a cadet in the United States navy. 
(IV) Norman E. Knepper, son of Lieutenant Henry F. (3) and Margaret
(Spangler) Knepper, was born in the borough of Somerset, Pennsylvania,
September 27, 1862.  He received a good common school education, and early
in his life became a salesman in a store at Somerset, Pennsylvania, and from
that steadily rose to be one of the proprietors, and has for many years
been one of the leading dry goods and clothing men of the borough, and is
now of the firm of Knepper & Good.  Aside from his mercantile business, he
has other financial interests and has been successful as an investor in
coal lands in his native county.  Polically Mr. Knepper is a Republican. 
August 28, 1891, he maried Emma Weimer, daughter of John H. and Annie
(Roberts) Weimer, of Somerset, Pennsylvania.  By this union two children
were born: Elizabeth, born November 23, 1893; Henry, Jr., February 22,
1899.