Bio-Strauch, WalterS

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Walter S. Strauch
(1883- ? )

Walter S. Strauch was born on May 29, 1883 near Dawson, Fayette County, PA, the son of John and Mary Hester (McKnight) Strauch.

Walter was just 11 years old when his father died. He and his brother William were educated in the Soldiers Orphans School in Uniontown, Fayette County. Records of the school circa 1895 indicate that J.A. Stickel of Dawson was the individual who applied to get them in.

By the year 1900, when he was age 17, Walter had returned to his mother's home near Dawson. He attended school that year.

Walter served in the US Army circa 1906. That year, in January, he was stationed at Fort DuPont, DE, and wrote a letter to his beloved grandfather, Henry McKnight.

The letter read, in part:

I have not forgot you yet. I have been thinking about writing to you for the pass year but kept puting it off. So I will try and make a start at it. I do not know how I will end.... Say dady, I will send this picture to you and you can see how I look since I was at home. I have got fatten up a little more now then when I was at home the last.

Busy railroad yards at Dickerson Run near Dawson

After the war, Walter is said to have worked on the railroad in or near Dawson, Fayette County.

It's thought Walter was married to Claire (?) ( ? -1942) but that they had no children. In September 1927, residing in Vanderbilt, they were given permission by the Fayette County Orphans Court to adopt 15-year-old Thelma McFarland, who had lived with them for a number of years. The girl was the daughter of Margaret Weimer of Berlin, Somerset County.

Later in life, at a McKnight family reunion circa 1950, Walter is seen here seated at far right. Others in this snapshot photo are his cousins, William C. and Adeline (McKnight) Radcliffe, and the couple's grandchildren, Barbara and William.

Clara died on Dec. 4, 1942, followed by a funeral at Frank B. Galley funeral home in Vanderbilt. A moment of silent prayer was observed in her memory at the meeting of the Women's Society of Christian Service at the Vanderbilt Methodist Church, held at the home of Mrs. Roy Herbert.