William McWilliams and Fannie Knauss were my maternal great-great-grandparents. William was the son and grandson of John and William McWilliams whose family histories are also posted here. William and Fannie spent most of their lives in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, but traveled west a few times. Their oldest son, Benjamin, wrote a memoir in his eighties and left behind many stories about his family and his imprisonment in Confederate prison camps, including Andersonville, during the Civil War.
(Note - Click on the photos to open them in a new larger window.)
.jpg)
The Enterprise Colliery Coal Breaker in 1874
SETBACKS AND SORROWS
After William’s father, John, died in the summer of 1849, William was documented in Chillisquaque Township in the 1850 census on September 7 as the head of household on John’s property. The McWilliams had four children at this enumeration and a fourteen-year-old neighbor girl also lived with them. William’s sister, Sarah, was listed as the head of household on the next line in the census and Williams’ younger siblings lived with her. It is almost certain that both houses were on John’s land. William’s real estate was valued at $8400 in the census, but he probably did not legally own the property because John’s estate had not yet been settled.
William bought his father’s land at public auction in 1852 but sold it to his brother-in-law and executor of John’s estate, William Follmer, the next day. Perhaps he financed the land with cash given to him by Mr. Follmer and then transferred the purchase back to him. William’s place of residence in the property deed was stated as Liberty Township in Montour County. His ill-fated trip to Iowa was made almost immediately after the sale.
On June 22, 1860, the federal census taker for Chillisquaque Township recorded William as a laborer with a personal estate valued at $300, but owning no real estate. The family may have fallen upon hard times. William was a farmer, and it was probably difficult to provide for the family without land of his own. In addition, they may have endured illness. Three McWilliams infants perished between April 1858 and May 1860. The older children were not marked as attending school. It is possible that William may have worked for the Follmer family, most likely for his sister Eleanor’s husband, William Follmer. At this time, the McWilliams had five living sons; Ben 17, John 14, Francis Marion 9, James 7, and William Jr. 5.
Ben, the McWilliams’ eldest son, enlisted in the Union Army in 1863. According to the memoirs he wrote late in his life, William opposed Ben going to war, even though he and almost everyone in their part of Pennsylvania were in favor of the downfall of slavery. William was a Republican and both his and Fannie’s families were old Whigs. It is likely that William and Fannie feared terribly for their oldest son’s safety in the brutal Civil War and had suffered greatly after the deaths of their other children. Fannie was quoted as lamenting to her father, Ben Knauss, “Poor Ben had gone to war and would be killed.” He replied, “Tut, tut, don’t come around here crying. I am glad I have a grandson in the war. My father fought in the Revolution and I in the War of 1812; and now I am glad Ben has gone.”
Fortunately for Fannie, Ben survived the Civil War but spent months in deplorable conditions in Confederate prisons. Waiting for word from him must have been unbearable for the whole family. They heard nothing from Ben for more than a year while he was confined. How Fannie and William must have rejoiced when their firstborn son reappeared at their threshold!
 |
Slate pickers at work in the late 1800s before child labor laws were instated. |
WORKIN’ IN THE COAL MINES
William moved to Shamokin in Coal Township sometime between 1863 and 1865, while Ben was away in the Union Army. He probably relocated to obtain work connected with the newly opened anthracite coal mines in the area. The family resided about one-half mile from the train station, and they lived close to the “meeting house” (the Excelsior Methodist Episcopal Church.) William and one of his sons worked for the railroad, and two other sons worked in the coal breakers. When Ben returned from service in the Civil War in 1865, he took a job as a rail car loader at the Enterprise Colliery four miles east of Shamokin.
William moved to another location in the Shamokin area in the spring of 1866 and was hired as a slate picker boss at the Enterprise Colliery where he was probably paid about $6.48 for working a sixty-hour week. The village occupied by the coal miners was divided by the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. The area north of the tracks was known as Excelsior and the settlement on the south side was Enterprise. The family lived in housing in Excelsior, a “patch town” owned by the colliery. The coal mining companies provided housing for their workers and entire little towns sprang up around the residences. There were company stores in the village that supplied the workers with essentials and often charged prices that took advantage of the families that labored for them.
 |
Enterprise Coal Company Patch Town circa 1960 |
William, age 60, and four of his sons were working in the coal mines when the 1870 census was taken in Coal Township (Post Office in Shamokin) on August 24. His oldest son, Ben, had bought land in Missouri and had settled there. Sons John 20, Francis Marion 18, James 17, and William Jr. 15 had joined their father as employees in the Enterprise Colliery. Wife Fannie, age 55, was “keeping house” and daughters Mary 10 and Margaret 5 were “at home.” None of the children were marked as “attended school” in the past year. The family lived among a sea of immigrants from European countries—primarily Ireland, Scotland, Germany, England, Deutschland, and Wales. Everyone who worked in the mines lived in company housing and almost none of the men were documented as owning personal property.
Coal miners faced constant danger as they toiled at tedious and mindless labors. William’s job as a slate picker boss required working ten-hour days during the week and eight hours on Saturday. He supervised the labors of the boys who separated slag rock from the coal. Older youths like William’s sons worked inside the mine shafts. All the boys in the patch town worked as slate pickers in the coal mines when they attained the age of about ten years old. Some as young as six to nine years old were identified as slate pickers in the 1870 census of Coal Township. The process of the cleaning of slate from the coal was described by William’s son Ben in his memoirs.
“The coal as it came from the mines, went through rollers and was broken up and run through screens which sorted it out into different sizes and dropped out into chutes which run down past the boy “Slatepickers,” who picked out the slate as the coal passed in front of them.”
.JPG) |
Slate pickers at work in the late 1800s before child labor laws were instated. |
Slate picking was dirty, hazardous work. The breakers were freezing cold in the winter and sweltering hot in the summer. The boys’ hands continually bled from cuts sustained on the sharp slate. Accidental falls into the machinery often resulted in or maiming, crushing, or death in the gears and rapidly moving conveyor belts, or in suffocation in a coal chute. Many suffered from asthma or black lung disease from the ever-present coal dust.
 |
William and Fannie in the Excelsior Methodist Church Records |
KEEPING THE SABBATH
The McWilliams family attended Excelsior Methodist Episcopal Church while they lived in the Enterprise Coal Company patch town. Fannie’s obituary states that she “was converted at Excelsior about 1869.” The Excelsior church was formed from a division of the Centralia Methodist Episcopal Church in Columbia County. Worship was held in the public school building in the village. William, Fannie and their younger children were listed from 1870 until 1881 on the Sunday school class rolls that met on “Sunday forenoon” in the church. Their residence was stated as Excelsior. The McWilliam’s children John, James and Mary were married in this church and at least four of their grandchildren were baptized there. Son John was listed as a leader, class leader and exhorter (lay speaker) in the church records.
 |
Wm McWilliams Born at Chillisquaque, Northumberland Co. Pa. March 17, 1821 Died at Verdella, Barton Co. Mo. Feb. 28, 1883 OUR FATHER
|
THE FINAL JOURNEY
Fannie visited their son Ben in Missouri for three weeks in 1870. She took along her two youngest daughters Mary and Margaret and her son James. James stayed with Ben for three years, helping him cut timber and dig coal that they sold in Lamar.
William went to visit his son Ben in Verdella, Missouri, for the summer in 1880. Life on the farm may have brought up pleasant memories from his youth and he enjoyed working with the livestock. He returned to Pennsylvania in the fall, but was dissatisfied and returned to Missouri where he remained until his death on February 28, 1883. Fannie joined him in Missouri in 1882. Ben planned to build a house for his parents on his property, but William died before construction began. He passed away less than one month short of his 62th birthday. William was buried in Barton City Cemetery near Liberal in Barton County, Missouri.
Fannie was stricken with paralysis before her death. She spent the last ten years of her life dividing her time living with her sons John, James, Francis Marion and Ben. In the 1900 census taken on June 25, she was enumerated in James’ household in Moundville Township in Vernon County, Missouri. She was 77 years old and notated as able to read and write. She had borne twelve children with six still living. She died two weeks later on July 8. Brother W. J. Wilson presided over her funeral service held in the Barton City School house. He quoted 1st Corinthians, 15th chapter, scripture for the message. She was buried next to William in Barton City Cemetery.
Her obituary states that Fannie “lived a consistent Christian life. Her Bible was her most constant companion. She was given to hospitality and did all in her power to alleviate the sufferings and wants of the poor and sick. She was loved by all, —to know her was to love her.”
A TRIBUTE published in the pages of YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER July 8 1900
FANNIE KNAUSS McWILLIAMS
Memorial Obituary
Entered Into Eternal Rest
Sunday, July 8, 1900
At Rest.
Fannie McWilliams was born in Northumberland Co., Penn., on Dec. 12, 1822, and passed away July 8, 1900, being 77 years, 6 months and 26 days of age.
She came to Barton Co., Mo., in 1883, at which place she has since resided most of the time. She was the mother of twelve children. Six have passed on before and six survive her. B.C., John, F.M., J.A., W.H., and Mrs. Maggie Vickrey.
Sister McWilliams was converted at Excelsior, Northumberland Co., Penn., about 1869. She lived a consistent Christian life. Her Bible was her most constant companion. She was given to hospitality, and did all in her power to alleviate the sufferings and wants of the poor and sick. She was loved by all, to know her was but to love her.
She was stricken by paralysis. She bore her sufferings with Christian patience and endurance; was never heard to murmur. During her last illness kind and loving hands did all in their power to cheer and help her, but Father saw fit to call her home. She would often ask her friends and children to pray and sit with her, and she seemed to wonderfully enjoy this, and would frequently raise her hand heavenward and say she could hear angels singing. She always attended meetings when she was able, and never failed to testify to the saving power of God, and rejoiced in His salvation, and of being ready to go when called. “How precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”
The funeral was preached at Barton City school house to a large concourse of sorrowing neighbors, friends and relatives, which showed the esteem and great respect they held for her. The funeral services were conducted by Bro. W.J. Wilson from 1 Cor. 15th chapter, after which the remains were interred in the Barton City Cemetery.
 |
| William and Fannie's Headstone in Barton City Cemetery Barton County, Missouri |
Sources:
1850 U.S. census, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chillisquaque Township, population schedule, page 101B, William McWilliams; NARA microfilm publication M432, roll M432-804; accessed www.ancestry.com, image 30
Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Recorder of Deeds, Deed Book Volume JJ 1829-1853, p. 440, William McWilliams (1853), Land Deed, March 5, 1853, Register and Recorder’s Office, Northumberland County Courthouse, Sunbury; accessed www.familysearch.org, Deeds 1772-1914, Deed Book, vol. JJ, 1829-1853, p. 440, microfilm 961211, DGS 8086003, image248
1860 U.S. census, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chillisquaque Township, population schedule, p. 165, William McWilliams; NARA microfilm publication M653-1149, roll 1149, image 169, Family History Library Film 805149; accessed www.ancestry.com, image 33
McWilliams,
Benjamin Cruiser, B.C. McWilliams Prison
Diary, Copied from the original by
Georgia Mathews Wood and Walter H. Wood, Son of Lena Query Wood, Granddaughter
of B.C. McWilliams, Distributed at the Annual Reunion at the Buck Run
Community Center, Ft. Scott, Bourbon County, Kansas, August 1995, War History,
page 2-3; accessed copy owned by Cynthia L. Cruz
McWilliams, page 24
Wolfgang, Thomas A. Jr., Northumberland County and Shamokin Region 1615-2000, Northumberland County Historical Society, Sunbury, PA, page 107; accessed Northumberland Genealogical Society, Sunbury, PA
Bell, Herbert C., History of Northumberland County..., Chicago, IL., Brown, Runk & Co., Chicago, 1891, page 750, Villages, Enterprise and Excelsior, page 750; accessed https://play.google.com/books
1870 U.S. census, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Coal Township, population schedule, p. 81A, William McWilliams; NARA microfilm publication M593-1384, roll 1384, Family History Library Film 552883; accessed www.ancestry.com, image 55
Library of Congress, Boys picking slate in coal breaker at anthracite mine in Pennsylvania, 1913; explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-1796
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell, Kids on Strike, Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1999, no page noted, Wyoming Historical and Geological Society photo, The breaker boss often found it difficult to manage the spirited breaker boys, Archaeolibris Blog; accessed: archaeolibris.blogspot.com/2009/04/kids-on-strike.html
McWilliams, The Spring, page 25
Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Methodist Church Records, Valley Forge PA, Eastern Pennsylvania United Methodist Church Commission on Archives and History; Ancestry.com, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1669-2013, Columbia County, Centralia Methodist Episcopal Church; accessed www.ancestry.com, images 14, 15, 21, 27, 32, 37, 54, 79, 80, 81, 112, 163
McWilliams, front material, Fannie McWilliams Obituary
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment