John Nicholas Klein (1827 - 1878)

Born 9 Aug 1827 in Nohen, Birkenfeld, Duchy of Oldenburg

Husband of Barbara (Milhizer) Klein — married [date unknown] in Germany

Descendants

Died 9 Oct 1878 at age 51 in Mahoning Township, Montour, Pennsylvania, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Star Kline [send private message]

Biography

Nicholas Klein has German Roots.

John Nicholas Klein was born 9 Aug 1827 in Nohen, Duchy of Oldenburg^[1][2][3] (now part of Germany). He married Barbara Milhizer,^[2][3] and they immigrated to the United States and settled in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne, Pennsylvania.^[2][4] The couple had four children, all born in Wilkes-Barre:^[2]

1. Jacob Kline
2. Mary Barbara Kline
3. George Peter Kline
4. Katherine Kline

In July 1860, Nicholas and Barbara lived in Wilkes-Barre. Two young children lived with them: Susan Forbe, age four, and George Forbe, age two. Their relationship to the Kline family is unknown. Nicholas worked as a coal miner. The value of his real estate was $100 and the value of his personal estate was $50.^[5]

On 1 Oct 1862, Nicholas became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the Court of Quarter Sessions in the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.^[6] Though he was enumerated on the list of men eligible for military service in Jun 1863, he never served in the U.S. Civil War.^[7]

Nicholas Klein suffered a kick in the head from a mule while working as a coal miner sometime between 1867-70 from which he never recovered

Nicholas worked as a coal miner.^[5][7] One day while working at the mine, sometime between 1867-1870, he was kicked in the head by a mule and suffered a fractured skull.^[4] There was no treatment for such a serious head injury at that time, so he was initially cared for at home for a few years.^[2]Note: Nicholas is enumerated on the 1870 census with his family and listed as 'insane'. He was admitted to the new State Hospital for the Insane (now Danville State Mental Hospital) in Mahoning Township, Montour, Pennsylvania sometime after it started admitting patients in Nov 1872.^[8] He never recovered and died on 9 Oct 1878 at the Danville State Hospital.^[9][3]

Nicholas was initially buried at the Danville Asylum. A year later his body was removed to Hollenback Cemetery, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, where he was buried in a family plot on 24 Oct 1879.^[9][10] It is likely that his name mistakenly appears on the 1880 mortality schedule because of this reinterment.^[11]

Research Notes

Though I do not have a record of baptism, it is likely that Nicholas was baptized in the Evangelical Church of Nohen as that was (and still is) the only church in the area. I have not yet found a marriage record or an immigration record for Nicholas and Barbara. There are several coal mines in Wilkes-Barre, and I do not know which one employed Nicholas. I do not know when his accident occurred, but I surmise that it was between 1867 when his youngest child was born and 1870 when he was listed on the U.S. census as 'insane' and living with his family.

I do not know the date when Nicholas was admitted to the Danville Asylum, but it was sometime after the facility admitted its first patient on 6 Nov 1872. A fire on 5 Mar 1881 destroyed the Administration Building and part of the main wards, so no records from his stay at the asylum exist. Kline-958 16:59, 24 July 2017 (EDT)

Sources

1. ↑ Hollenback Cemetery (Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania), Nicholas Klein tombstone, personally photographed by Star A. Kline on 11 July 1987. Note: tombstone reads 'Born Nohen, Aldenburg'.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ5M-LR3 : 17 October 2014), John N Kline, Pennsylvania, United States; citing p. 79, family 623, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,868.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Euada Kline Rohme Family Bible Records, 1827-1988, The Devotional Family Bible containing the New and Old Testaments. [publication page missing]. Privately held by Star A. Kline. This Bible was passed to her nephew Glen Thompson Kline (1918-1988), from whom the current owner inherited it in 1988. All dates are recorded in Euada Rohme's handwriting except for two - Vaselo Kline (my mother) recorded Euada's death in 1983 and I recorded Glen Kline's (my father) death in 1988. Note: Bible lists Nicholas's birthplace as 'Aldenburg, Germany'.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Euada (Kline) Rohme (42 Linden Road, Macungie, Pennsylvania), interview by Star A. Kline, 28 June 1972; transcript privately held by interviewer.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "United States Census, 1860", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXT8-37H : Thu Oct 05 12:00:41 UTC 2023), Entry for Nich Cline and Barbara Cline, 1860.
6. ↑ Pennsylvania, Luzerne County, Court of Quarter Sessions, Wilkes-Barre. Naturalization Certificate for Nicholas Kline, 1 October 1861; original privately held by Star A. Kline. This document, in color with red wax seal, was passed from Nicholas's wife Barbara Milhizer Kline (1833-1910) to her son Jacob Kline (1860-1945) to his daughter Euada Kline Rohme (1893-1983) to her nephew Glen T. Kline (1918-1988), from whom the current owner inherited it in 1988.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Ancestry.com, U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/: accessed 11 Apr 2015), record of registration for Nicholas Kline; citing Consolidated Enrollment Lists, 1863-1865 (Civil War Union Draft Records), RG 110, Records of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau (Civil War), ARC Identifier 4213514; Volume 3.
8. ↑ J.H. Beers, Historical and biographical annals of Columbia and Montour counties, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1915), 306. Note: states the first patient was admitted on 6 Nov 1872.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Hollenback Cemetery Office (Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania), burial record card, citing Nicholas Kline, record #1680, lot 424 N 1/2; personally viewed 11 July 1987. Note: The record states "Removed from Danville Asylum."
10. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 12 April 2019), memorial page for John Nicholas Klein (9 Aug 1827–9 Oct 1878), Find A Grave: Memorial #31344614, citing Hollenback Cemetery, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, USA ; Maintained by Star Kline (contributor 46964248).
11. ↑ "Pennsylvania Mortality Schedules, 1850-1880", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZM5L-9CT2 : 19 April 2020), Nicholas Kline, 1879.

Acknowledgement

This profile was originally created by Star A. Kline, Nicholas's great great granddaughter, on 2 July 2014.