Amanda
(Younkin) Hechler
(1862-1932)
Amanda
(Younkin) Hechler was born on March 16, 1862 near Kingwood, Somerset County,
PA, the daughter of Eli and
Mary Ann (Rose) Younkin.
As a girl, Amanda and her parents migrated west to Illinois for "a few years," said a newspaper, possibly for the sake of her mother's poor health. The mother did not get well. She died and was buried at Franklin Grove, IL. The mourning Younkin family then returned home to Somerset County, where Amanda's father married again.
In March 1881, Amanda gave birth to a son, and named him Beacher S. Younkin. The boy went to live with his grandfather and step-grandmother, and they raised him to adulthood. The identify of the boy's father is not precisely known, but in the 1900 federal census, the boy's last name was written as "Engelka."
On Sept. 27, 1885, Amanda married William Wallace
Hechler (1860-1934), son of Aaron and Nancy (Scott) Hechler. They had seven children
-- Charles Edward Hechler, Ross Hechler, Sadie Sterner, Mary Kreger, Corda Leslie-Kesler,
Maud Snyder and James Franklin Hechler.
Daughter Maud is believed to have suffered as a child from "cancer of the bowels" and was treated at hospitals in Pittsburgh but fortunately went on to a long life including marriage and children.
Wallace was said to be "ornery." He was not a church-goer, but once tried to pull a prank on three local ladies who were headed to church. He hid under a footbridge, and planned to throw some stones onto the bridge to make noise, then run with a bedsheet over him to make them think he was a ghost. But just at the key moment, there was a loud mysterious noise, which scared him into ending his plan. He then came out of hiding and asked the women if they had heard the noise too. One of them replied, "You've been to the devil, now come to church with us." But he refused.
Amanda
and Wallace, said a local newspaper, "lived on a small farm near Kingwood
for about 50 years," where Wallace labored "farming and working in the
timber, and helped to cut much of the virgin timber in the surrounding
territory. He was a robust man and an expert axman, strictly temperate, a
stalwart Republican, always exercising his right to vote."
At the Second Annual Hechler Reunion, held on June 16, 1928 at Rockwood Park, Wallace assisted with the adult activities. A small card from that reunion (partially seen above) states that "A game of Horseshoe Pitching at 3:30. Captains -- W.W. Hechler, C.M. Sanner, Wm. Hechler, Willis Singo. Distance 40 feet."
Amanda was a member of the inaugural organized adult Bible class of the Kingwood Church of God, where she was a 40-year member. A certificate with her name (among others) has hung in the church in recent years. She also was an expert quiltmaker, and is known for making colorful "crazy quilts," among others.
Amanda's "crazy quilt" featured in our Online
Quilt Museum
Heartache
struck the family on June 23, 1915 when son in law James Beaver Leslie died after a long
battle with pneumonia. The Meyersdale Republican said that "while
working for the Western Maryland Railway Co. as watchman in the winter of 1914,
contracted a severe cold that turned to pneumonia and later into tuberculosis.
He had been to Mont Alto for treatment where he improved; but on his return
home, about a year ago he slowly and imperceptibly continued to lose his health
and strength until the end came." He was buried at the Kingwood Church of
God cemetery, in the same section as Amanda's parents.
In 1931, Amanda became ill, and 15 months later died on June 19, 1932, at age 70. A newspaper eulogized that "Amid all her suffering she was faithful to God, and was waiting His coming for her, realizing that all had been done for her that medical skill could do. She told her loved ones that she wanted to go home to God. Mrs. Hechler was a model wife, a kind and loving mother, a friend and neighbor to all who came in contact with her, always willing to help anyone in need or afflicted."
A year later, Wallace's health began to go downhill, and
he died on Nov. 8, 1934, at the age of 75. His obituary said that "Six of his near neighbors
were the pallbearers -- William and Harry Kreger, Fred Ream, Harvey Henry, Ross
Younkin and Roy Stoner."
Wallace and Amanda are buried together at the IOOF Cemetery in Kingwood. They're mentioned in the 1939 manuscript history, The Family of Jacob Hechler, found at the Somerset (PA) Historical Center.
Son Beacher S. Younkin (1881-1957) married Vallie Ethel Knox (1899-1928), the daughter of Mahlon and Minnie A. Knox, on April 13, 1918. He was 18 years older than she was. They had five children, Wreatha Mary Hager, Harold Scott Younkin, Frances Ruth Garrison, Ida "Mae" Peck and Junior Eugenine Younkin, who died in infancy. Vallie "joined the Methodist Episcopal Church at Harnedsville in 1918," said a local newspaper. "She was a devoted wife and mother and kind neighbor." Circa 1928, the Younkins were in Akron, Summit County, OH, where their daughter Mae was born. But sadly, Vallie died at age 28 on Sept. 28, 1928, in Johnstown Memorial Hospital, six months after giving birth. "She will be greatly missed by her husband and family, besides by a large circle of neighbors and friends," said the newspaper. She was laid to rest at the Kingwood Cemetery, adjacent to the plot where her husband's grandparents are buried. The children were sent to live with relatives, and on the 1930 census, two-year-old daughter Ida Mae made her home with her Knox grandparents in Somerset County. Beacher survived his wife by nearly three decades. In the 1930s, the National Younkin Home-Coming Reunions were held at the Kingwood I.O.O.F. Picnic Grove, just a mile or so from where Beacher grew up and was living at the time. He was named on a July 1935 list of local relatives who had been sent an invitation that year by reunion secretary Charles Arthur Younkin -- click to see Beacher's name on the handwritten list. Beacher later moved to Versailles, near Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA. He died in Versailles on April 25, 1957, and rests for eternity beside his wife.
Beacher and Vallie's grave in Kingwood
Beacher inherited the old family Bible of his grandparents, Eli and Sarah Younkin. In the 1930s, the National Younkin Home-Coming Reunions were held at the Kingwood I.O.O.F. Picnic Grove, just a mile or two from where Beacher lived. In about 1934, reunion president Otto Roosevelt Younkin personally examined the Bible, and copied the family birth, marriage and death entries by hand. Click here to view the Bible pages at a larger size. Beacher was included on a July 1935 list of local relatives who were sent an invitation that year by reunion secretary Charles Arthur Younkin -- click to see Beacher's name on the handwritten list. Over the years, he is known to have attended the annual Kingwood Picnic.
Seen
at left, son
Charles Hechler married Mae Harriett McGuire. They resided in Kingwood. The portrait of
them here was taken on their farm, in the back yard of their home,
in the 1960s. The trees in the background run beside what is now Route 281, with the Odd
Fellows Cemetery nearby but out of view.
Daughter
Sadie married Russell L. Sterner in 1903. They are seen at right with their
four eldest children. They had six children in all -- Oscar Sterner, Ralph
Sterner, Hazel Sterner, Floyd Sterner, Verda Dunmeyer-Philippi and Vernon
Sterner. Sadly, Russell died at age 53, and was said by a local newspaper to
have been a "well known resident of South Rockwood." Sadie outlived
all but two of her children and several of her grandchildren. She was known to
use herbal medicine and superstitions to help heal sickness. If one had warts,
for instance, you were to cut slices of a raw potato, rub it over the affected
area, and bury it in a place where rainwater would fall, and the warts would go
away. Another time, one of her rose bushes bloomed in winter, and she feared
that it was a "token" -- sign that that there would be a death in the
family. Within a month or two later, her own husband was dead. She also could
take away the pain of a flesh burn by "blowing fire" -- putting salve
on a burn, circling it with her finger, and saying certain words, which
invariably took away the burning sensation.
Son in law Edwin Snyder taught in the high schools of Somerset and Johnstown, PA for 43 years and was secretary of Ferndale Borough for 28 years.
Great-grandson Alton Glen
Sterner, seen here, served with the Fifth Regimental Combat Team,
Company L, during the Korean War.
Tragically, he was killed in action in Korea in 1953. His
body was returned home for burial, and he was laid to rest in the Rockwood Odd Fellows (IOOF)
Cemetery. His widow, Alma, was quoted in the Sept. 28, 1953 edition of Time
Magazine, about her alleged "bad heart" kept
her from attending the funeral. In reality she had eloped with the military
officer who had escorted her husband's body home, and then quickly moved with
him to Waterbury Center, VT. (Click
here to see the article in full.) In 1998, our reunion theme honored Alton and the other
cousin-soldiers in our extended family who have given their lives in the ultimate sacrifice of defending our
nation's freedom.
Great-grandson Alvin Leslie and his wife Pauline
produce home-cultivated
A.E. Leslie Apiary
Honey which is sold locally throughout Somerset and Fayette Counties. The Leslies graciously have donated jars of their honey
as door prizes at our reunions. An impressive display of their alfalfa,
clover, goldenrod and wildflower honey selections is displayed at right circa 2003.
Great-grandson Warren Sterner has been a lay speaker in Rockwood-area churches for many years. He was featured in a front-page article in the Somerset Daily American, which called him "a self-taught artist," adding that he "enjoys painting beloved scenes of his youth, as well as building clocks and woodworking... His paintings have been displayed at the Meyersdale Train Station and at Laurel Arts in Somerset." On July 22, 2006, Warren said prayers at a special ceremony at the Younkin Reunion, during which a tree was planted at the Kingwood Odd Fellows Picnic Grove in memory of reunion founder and website publisher Donna (Younkin) Logan.
Warren Sterner praying during the 2006 Younkin Reunion
tree-planting ceremony in memory of Donna Younkin Logan
Copyright © 2000, 2002-2003, 2005-2006 Mark A. Miner