Susan
(Long) Kooser
(1864-1935)
Susannah
Phalitia (Long) Kooser was born in 1864,
likely in Normalville, Fayette County, PA, the daughter of George
and Elizabeth (Minerd) Long. She sometimes went by the names
"Susan" and "Anna."
When Susan was eight, her father died, and she became the legal ward of her grandparents, Jacob and Rachel (Ansell) Minerd III of Normalville, Fayette County. The Minerds would care and provide for Susan for many loving years.
Susan married John R. Kooser (1860-1923), the son of Samuel and Sarah (Kern) Kooser of nearby Somerset County, PA. They had at least seven children – Hammond Kooser, William McKinley Kooser, Elizabeth Burchett-Smith, Sadie McLaughlin, Amy Phelps, Fred Kooser and Mary Lohman.
In early 1886, John and Susan moved to a house at the east end of Normalville, which her mother had purchased. But John appears to have been restless. Later that year, the Uniontown Genius of Liberty reported that he "talks of locating in Scottdale. He was down looking for a house. John is a good mason, and we wish him good luck wherever he goes."
In 1898, the Koosers lived in Pennsville, near Connellsville, and in 1900 were in Scottdale, Westmoreland County, PA. John's father Samuel Kooser, a longtime wagon driver of Normalville, died on Sept. 18, 1900, and was buried on the farm of Susan's cousin, Martin Miner.
In about 1903, the Koosers moved to Ohio, where they resided in Wellsville and eventually in East Liverpool.
Bird's eye view of industrial Scottdale
Tragedy struck the first week of 1903. Son Hammond, known as "a good boy, bright," died of typhoid fever at the Kooser home in Wellsville. His body was sent back to Connellsville for burial at Hill Grove Cemetery. The Connellsville Courier’s correspondent in Normalville said "his early demise is sorrowfully felt by all here, where he was born and reared."
Susan's widowed grandfather, who remained in Normalville, missed having them close by. He is known to have traveled to visit them in Wellsville in June 1906, when he was 90.
The
Koosers must have moved back to Fayette County, because they were residing there
in East Scottdale in 1907. That year, Susan’s infirm grandfather Minerd lived under their roof, and died there in October.
The family relocated again at some point to East Liverpool, Columbiana County, OH. A rare old photographic postcard of East Liverpool's famed "Diamond" is seen here.
By December
1910, Susan must have moved to Columbus, Franklin County. She sent her
mother a birthday postal card, depicting a scene on West High Street in
Columbus. The brief note said: "Mother, I am right on this street
now."
Susan sent another postal card the following year, in late August 1911, from East Liverpool, to where she must have returned after a short stay in Columbus. She wrote: "Forgive me for being so slow answering. I had broke my glasses and can't see to write at all without them. Will write you a letter in a few days. We are all well. Hope you are all the same." The postcard, seen at right, is preserved today in the Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor Archives.
Susan and her children enjoyed visiting with their Long and Pritts relatives in Connellsville and Normalville, and often made the railroad trip from their home in East Liverpool. In September 1915, they came to Connellsville and spent several days with Susan's brother William Jacob Long and niece Katherine Long. In a postcard, Katherine wrote:
Just finished washing and am resting a while so will drop you a card. They all left yesterday and it seems most awfully lonesome. Papa is going away again at three o'clock in the morning. Aunt Ann just coaxed and begged me to go along back but I thought that was a little too much. I'm feeling better again although I'm some weak yet.
In
another postcard dated Aug. 29, 1916, from Connellsville, daughter Mary sent a
note to her aunt in Normalville, Rachel
Ruamy Pritts. Mary wrote: "McKinley and Mother arrived alright. When
you come down Friday and bring McKinley's search light. Bring my princess slip
that isn't made. The search light is on the window sill. My princess slip is
there someplace."
Son McKinley suffered from diabetes. He is known to have traveled to visit his Pritts relatives in Normalville in August 1917, as his cousin Bessie Pritts wrote to Homer Pritts: "Suppose you are having some time since Kinley is there. Did they surprise youns. I would like to see them. What time did Father and Mother get home." Tragedy struck again in the spring of 1919 when McKinley died at home at age 22. His body was sent by the "Pennsylvania train" to Connellsville, PA for burial at Hill Grove Cemetery.
Sadly, the Kooser marriage did not last. At some point Susan and John divorced. John continued to resided in East Liverpool at 1028 St. George Street. He worked as a "millman" in the sheet heating industry. Susan then moved in with her married daughter Mary Lohman in Sebring, Mahoning County, OH.
John
passed away in East Liverpool at the age of 62 on March 20, 1923. "He was
found dead in bed," wrote his physician. His remains were returned to
Connellsville via the Pennsylvania Railroad, and were laid to rest in Hill
Grove Cemetery. The pallbearers were his cousins, Grant Dull, Harry Dull, Ernest R.
Kooser and Daniel Kooser.
Susan died at the Lohman residence in Sebring at the age of 71 on March 22, 1935. At her funeral, held at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Connellsville, the choir sang “Good Night and Good Morning” and “The Old Rugged Cross.” As with sons Hammond and John, she was buried at Hill Grove Cemetery, but their graves are not marked.
Son Fred Kooser lived in Louisville, OH in the early 1920s. By 1935, he had moved to Alabama, residing in the city of Birmingham.
Daughter
Mary married Charles Lohman (1898-1969) and are seen at left circa 1936,
at the golden wedding anniversary of their aunt and uncle, John
and Rachel (Long) Pritts. Said the Alliance (OH) Review, Charles
"was a former potter in California." They also resided in Sebring, OH.
Charles passed away at age 70 on July 17, 1969 in Marlboro, OH, with burial at Woodland
Cemetery in Salineville, OH.
Daughter Lizzie is seen at right.
Circa 1923, she was married to Grover Burchett, and they resided in Sebring, OH.
Later, she married a man named Smith, and in 1935 they lived in Hamilton,
Canada.
Daughter Sadie was close with her cousin Katherine (Long) McClain (daughter of William Jacob Long). In a postcard dated Sept. 9, 1915, Katherine wrote this to another of their cousins, Hannah Pritts, in Normalville: "I had a letter from Sadie to-day. She is trying to hold me to my promise to go out there Xmas. Would like well enough to but guess I can't." Sadie married William McLaughlin and lived in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH in 1923-1935. They later resided at 932 South Arch Avenue in Alliance, Stark County, OH. William passed away in Sandusky, Erie County, OH on Sept. 30, 1961.
Daughter Amy married a man named Phelps and in 1923 was living in East Liverpool. By 1935, they had moved to Columbus, OH. Their fates are unknown.
Copyright © 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007 Mark A. Miner