Laura
Edna
(McKnight) Horstman
(1881-1951)
Laura Edna (McKnight) Horstman
was born on Sept.
9, 1881 in Fayette County, PA, the daughter of Henry
and Martha (Nutt) McKnight.
On May 11, 1899, approaching her 18th birthday, Laura married Samuel W. Horstman (1877-1956). The ceremony took place at the Brownsville First Presbyterian Church in Fayette County.
In 1919, Laura and Sam moved to a house on Short Street in Canonsburg, Washington County, PA where they resided for more than 30 years. Sam is seen here with his grandson and his trusty coal miner's lunch bucket.
The Horstmans had nine children -- Samuel W. Horstman, George Howard Horstman, Annabelle Smith, Margaret Horr, Henry Horstman, Lillian Aline Blanock, Wilbert 'Bic' Horstman, Arthur Rabe Horstman and Dora Estelle Horstman.
Sam was a longtime coal miner in the Canonsburg area. An undated newspaper article, seen here, said that:
...Horstman, who joined the old Knights of Labor when he entered mining at the age of 11, possesses a gold medal denoting 50 years of membership in the UMWA. Though unable to work now, he is known and liked, as he was during his active years in the mines, for his eager willingness to be of service to his fellow men. Recently, Horstman received his first check from the UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund, for which he expressed thanks to President [John L.] Lewis and all who made it possible. He believes the Welfare Fund is the greatest single accomplishment in the history of the UMWA and of very real benefit to coal miners.
On
May 11, 1949, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and were profiled
in an article in the Canonsburg Daily Notes.
Laura passed away on Jan. 7, 1951.
Sam outlived her by five years, and died on Sept. 16, 1956.
Miners in the famed "Connellsville Seam" of Fayette County
They are buried together at Oak Spring Cemetery in Canonsburg.
Son Bic worked at Continental Can Company in Canonsburg, making tin cans and, during World War II, airplane parts. The company's administration building is seen here, in a rare old postcard photograph, standing next to facilities of the Standard Tin Plate Co. Later, he was a shearman, cutting steel for power transformers for Pennsylvania Transformer.
Son in law Gregory 'Gus' Blanock was an ironworker in Western Pennsylvania.
Grandson Dr. Henry M. Horstman
(seen here) played key roles in astrophysics
research related to the NASA space program. While his work is being
researched more fully, he is known to have served at the Instituto di Astronomia,
Universita di Bologna, Italy. Henry's specialty was researching cosmic fireballs and gamma ray bursts
-- the most powerful type of explosion in the universe, found in deep space -- using balloon observation techniques.
He also is said to have been involved with the development of solid
rocket fuel. Some results of his 'burst
camera' and are posted on NASA's website. Between
1977 and 1984, he is known to have published at least 6 scholarly papers, listed
on the A Gamma-Ray Burst
Bibliography, 1973-2001 of the Space
Sciences Laboratory of the University of
California at Berkeley. His wife Elena Horstman-Moretti was a co-author on
at least one paper, and served with the Laboratorio TESRA/CNR in Bologna, Italy.
The
first of Henry's known papers, authored in 1977, was "Effect of Multiple Scattering on
Balloon Observation of Gamma Ray Bursts," published in Astrophysics and
Space Science.
Great-grandson Danny Lee Strimel currently is Chief of Police in North Strabane Township in Canonsburg, Washington County. He has been a police officer in the community for more than 33 years, starting in 1972.
Photo of gamma ray burst courtesy of NASA. Copyright © 2000-2005 Mark A. Miner