Photo of the Month February 2023

See Previous Photos     Unknown Faces and Places

Bearded Civil War veteran Henry "Foxy" McKnight of Dawson, PA sits with his son Charles, grandson Clarence "Jay" in the doorway and a great-grandson in this four-generation image, circa the 1910s. Henry served with the 140th Pennsylvania Infantry during the war but is not believed to have seen action. His only wartime injury was White Hall Station, MD, in December 1862, when, he later wrote, he "was thrown into a creek and caught a severe cold which brought on Rheumatism and Catarrh in [my] head."

Tragically, his bride Barbara (Minerd) McKnight died in childbirth shortly after his return from the army, on Valentine's Day, 1866. He never married again during the remaining nearly 50 years of his life.

As evidence that Henry remained close with his wife's extended Minerd family, this photograph was found in the collection of his grand-nephew Lawrence Earl Minerd of Bullskin Township near Connellsville, PA. Handwritten on the back is this message from C.H. McKnight: "Dear uncle, Here is a couple of cards if you ever want any more let me know and i will make them for you." 

Henry and Barbara rest in the long, long sleep of the ages in Cochran Cemetery near Linden Hall in Dawson. In 2019, direct offspring Joseph Allen McKnight, assisted by his cousin Russell McKnight, with guidance from Corrine (Cremers) McKnight and a map drawn by Beth Lynne Radcliffe, cleaned the couple's original grave markers and placed them upright against the newer tablet stones.

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Copyright © 2023 Mark A. Miner