He was an ordinary man in extraordinary times.

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

The company and regiment saw continual action in one way or another. At the beginning of their service in Virginia, the regiment spent most of its time training – interrupted by forays supporting other regiments. During this time the regiment were not involved in any actual fighting, but their forays were a lead up to the Siege of Petersburg – the precursor of the fighting and surrender at Appomattox. The regiment was part of the pursuit of General Lee April 3-9, 1865. It was on the 9th of April that General Lee, as head of the Confederate Army of North Virginia, surrendered. 2

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.

Shoes/boots from 1880: (L to R) - cowboy boots, men's boots, women's boots

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.

Lincoln, Neb., railroad depot, circa 1880 (Google Image)

To get to Lincoln from Pennsylvania, the Knepper family would have taken the railroad. Two options were available: Travel from Pittsburgh or travel from Washington, Pennsylvania. The rates were cheaper from Washington, Pennsylvania, and would have been easily accessible from Somerset, Pennsylvania. One-way tickets cost $26.85 per person. 3 This would have been an expensive trip as the Knepper family included two adults and seven children. In today’s dollars, the cost of one ticket would be $669.11.  

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.