He was a
carpenter. He was a Union soldier. He was a shoe and boot salesman. He was a
sheriff. He lived in Pennsylvania. He lived in Nebraska. He is my
daughter-in-law’s, Melissa Murphy Oliver, cousin.
Oliver Knepper
(1837-1899), except for the hiatus of serving in the Civil War and living in
Nebraska, spent his life in in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. In between times,
he fought as part of the 211th Pennsylvania Infantry in the Civil War, lived in
Nebraska, and finally came back home to Pennsylvania.
Oliver was no
different from any other man during that time period. However, what stands out
for me is that he was at Appomattox at the end of the Civil War when General
Robert E. Lee surrendered.
On September 9,
1864, Knepper enlisted as a sergeant in Company H, 211th Regiment, Pennsylvania
Volunteers. The members of Company H all enlisted in Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania; they organized in Pittsburgh on September 16, 1864; and they were
sent to Virginia to be part of the Army of the James and then the Army of the Potomac.
1
Confederate defenses at Petersburg |
After the end of
the Civil War, Oliver returned home to Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Oliver
and his wife, Mary Pugh (1836-1917), had seven children. Their last child,
Florence Agatha Knepper, was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania in 1878.
Sometime between 1878 and the 1880 U.S. census, the Knepper family moved to
Lincoln, Nebraska.
Under the Homestead Act of 1862, Civil War veterans were given 160 acres in a
variety of western states; Nebraska was one of these. However, I do not think
Oliver Knepper took advantage of this. The reason for this thinking is that in
1880, he had a shoe and boot store with members of his family working as clerks
in the store. To take advantage of the Homestead Act, the land had to be
developed; in other words, the settlers had to be farmers: Knepper was a
shopkeeper.
Lincoln, Nebraska, at this time was a booming town. The railroads
were using Lincoln as a westward stop, and the Lincoln Telephone Exchange had
been established. The population was rapidly growing: In 1868 the population
was about 500 people; 12 years later in 1880, it was over 13,000 people – a
phenomenal growth.
Shoes/boots from 1880: (L to R) - cowboy boots, men's boots, women's boots |
Lincoln, Neb., railroad depot, circa 1880 (Google Image) |
I have not been
able to find at what point in time, Oliver, his wife, and some of his children
returned to Somerset, Pennsylvania. Some children remained in Nebraska. At the
time of his death, he was serving as the Sheriff of Somerset County.
Oliver Knepper
is Melissa’s 1st cousin 5 times removed. Oliver is buried in Union Cemetery, Somerset, Pennsylvania.
Posted on Findagrave.com by Linda Marker |
1 – Dyer, Frederick H.
“Civil War Archive, Union Regimental Histories – Pennsylvania,” Civil War Archive, American Civil War
Archive, 2016, www.civilwararchive.com
2 – Ibid.
3 – “Land
Hunter’s and Settlers’ Special Low Rates.” Railroads
and the Making of Modern America, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2017,
railroads.unl.edu/documents/view_dcoument.php?id=rail.dev.0051.