John Grantz
JOHN GRANTZ, late of Bethel township, Armstrong county, was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, July 2, 1834, and died July 25, 1912. He was brought to the United States by his father, Adam Grantz, when six years old. His mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Lautenschlager, died in Germany when a young woman. They had a family of four sons and two daughters, Henry, George, Barbara, Elizabeth, John and Adam, of whom one son and one daughter survive, Elizabeth and Henry. All came to America with the father. Settling first at Delmont, Westmoreland Co., Pa., Adam Grantz subsequently, about 1850, came to Armstrong county, where with the exception of about two years spent in Pittsburgh he passed the remainder of his life. His death occurred in Armstrong county in 1886, when he was aged eighty-two years, ten months, seventeen days. He was a member of the Lutheran Church.
John Grantz received his education in the county schools, and became a farmer. He was married twice, first to Malinda Trexel, daughter of Israel and Tina (Kinnard) Trexel, and to this union were born two children: George, who married Sarah Fennel1, resides at Delmont, Pa.; and Sarah C., deceased, who married Lewis Klingensmith, and had children, Clara E. (Mrs. Gordon Fennell), Charles E. (a telegraph operator), Sadie T. (Mrs. Matthew Dixon), and Bessie M. (Mrs. Braden Beatty).
On Oct. 4, 1864, for his second wife, John Grantz married Mary Lucetta Klingensmith, who was born March 7, 1837, daughter of Adam and Anna Mary (Kirkland) Klingensmith, and had by her children as follows: Abraham R., who married Mary Trower, and lives at Hunter, Okla.; Anna Mary, who became the second wife of Lewis Klingensmith (who first married her sister Sarah), of near Kelly Station, and has children, Harry R. (a farmer, at home), Bert C., David D., Ruth V., Cleason J. and Marie B. (all at home); Hettie J., wife of Joseph Gleixner, residing at St. Mary's, Pa.; John A., who married Jane Kunkelman, and died in 1911; William J., who married Mabel Ross, living at Brickerville, Pa.; Harriet E., wife of Marney Klingensmith, now of Willow, Cal.; Luther S.; Amos, who married Della Earhart and lives near Salina, Pa.; Josiah W., who married Phroney Myers and (second) Mary McMunn; Lewis H., who married Lena ---- and lives in Oklahoma; and Miles Roy, who married June 15, 1910, Sarah F. Turner, of Leechburg, Armstrong county, daughter of William R. and Elizabeth (Smith) Turner (Mrs. Miles R. Grantz died March 15, 1913). Three of the sons of this family are in Oklahoma.Source: Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed January 2012 by Sara Stewart for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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