1850 Peter R Klinefelter (age 49, born in Pennsylvania) lived in District 22, Christian County, Illinois, in a household with Mary Klinefelter (age 50), Cornelius Klinefelter (age 17), Elisabeth Klinefelter (age 14) and Julia A Klinefelter (age 12). Peter R Klinefelter was a farmer. [1]
1850 Peter Klinefelter and wife Mary sold land to the school commissioner on November 11. [2]
1855 [Sons] Jacob B Klinefelter and J Cornelius B Klinefelter of Christian County, Illinois sold land to the Board of Trustees of Schools on May 31. Amanda and Agnes Klinefelter relinquished any claim to the land. [3]
1857 Peter R Klinefelter and wife Mary sold land to Albert Sattley on September 26. [4]
A biosketch of son Jacob B. Klinefelter reports [5]:
JACOB B. KLINEFELTER -- One of the substantial settlers of Montgomery county who came to it among the first years of its municipal existence was Jacob B. Klinefelter, of Cherry township. He was prepared for a life of "ups and downs" on the frontier by a service of nearly four and a half years in the volunteer army and the sound of martial music had hardly died within him when the civil march toward the prairies of the west began. If he encountered hardships, they were tame incidents in his career, and if fortune smiled upon him it was but nature's symbol of appreciation of the sacrifices of one of her noblemen. It was in 1871 that Mr. Klinefelter came to Montgomery county, single and with limited means, and for the first three and one - half years he was a wage earner by the month; first for the pioneer, George Evans, and second, in the old saw - mill established on the Verdigris river nearby. He then entered a tract of the public domain, six miles north of the present city of Cherryvale and at once occupied himself with the work of its improvement. Beginning with 1879, he was absent from his farm for eight years, having migrated to Colorado where he was first employed in railroad work, as foreman of a pack train for the company building the road, and subsequently he went into the mines and labored in the diggings for seven years. Returning to Montgomery county, he resumed the cultivation of his farm. His soil is rich and black and produces an abundance of grain and seeds. It is conveniently improved and the profits from its surface have placed its owner far beyond the pangs of want. He has his place well stocked and manages it with that intelligence that always marks the successful farmer. Jacob B. Klinefelter was born in York county, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1830, and his ancestors were of the early settlers of that place. His parents, Peter and Mary (Baker) Klinefelter, were born in that county and lived there till 1852, when they emigrated, and settled in Christian county, Illinois. There the father died at the age of eighty - one and the mother at six years younger. Of their four children, only two survive, namely: Cornelius, of Illinois, and Jacob B. A limited attendance upon the country schools sufficed for the mental training of Jacob B. Klinefelter. He accompanied his parents to Illinois, where he was married to Amanda Pierce, who soon died, leaving a child, Mary, still living in the "Prairie State." When hostilities broke out between the divided sections of our country in 1861, Mr. Klinefelter was among those who responded to the President's call for 75,000 troops. He enlisted in the Eighth Indiana battery and began his part at putting down the rebellion at Wilson creek. Chief among his fifteen hard - fought battles were: Wilson creek, second battle of Corinth, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, Dalton, Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville. He was in many smaller fights and skirmishes and had many "close calls" during his four years, four months and twenty days in the army. He carries scars made by two Rebel balls and while he was thus severely wounded he never permitted himself to be captured, preferring death to imprisonment in a Southern stockade. From August, 1865, till his advent to Kansas Mr. Klinefelter was a farmer in Christian county, Illinois. When he had entered land in Montgomery county, he saw the necessity of a help - mate and, August 23, 1872, he married Eva Heltz, born in Germany, September 29, 1851. When seven years old, Mrs. Klinefelter came to the United States with her parents, John and Christina (Barsch) Heltz, and for twelve years resided in Indiana. In 1870, they came on to Kansas and settled in Montgomery county, where the mother died in 1902, and where the father survives at the age of eighty - eight years. Ten children were born to this venerable couple, the seven living being: Katie, Maggie, Michael, Elizabeth, Susan, John and Mrs. Klinefelter. The issue of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Klinefelter was five children, viz: Emil, Ada, William, Maynard and Lizzie, all of whom still surround the family "hearthstone." For thirteen years Mr. Klinefelter filled the office of justice of the peace of his township. His first vote was cast for " John and Jessie in the Fremont campaign, and his next Presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln, whom he personally knew many years before he became President. Republicanism has always remained his slogan and he has a ways united his efforts with that party in Montgomery county.
Cemetery records of Fairview Cemetery, Rosamond Twp, Christian County, Illinois (nine miles west of Pana on Bear Creek Road) report the following [6]:
Klinefelter, Agnes P. wife of C. B. 1835 - 1929
Klinefelter, Alta dau of C. & A. d. 1881 aged 17 yrs .
Klinefelter, Cornelius B. 1832 - 1906
Klinefelter, Cornelius G. son of C. & A. d. 1877 aged 6 yrs .
Klinefelter, William 1878 - 1934
Klinefelter, Kate 1877 - 1956
[1] United States Federal Census, 1850, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[2] Christian County Recorder, Christian. Deeds 1845–1848, 1849–1852, deed 3-457, DGS 8548190, image 613, [FamilySearchImage].
[3] Christian County, Illinois Recorder, Christian. Deeds 1854–1855, deed 7-294, DGS 8548191, image 560, [FamilySearchImage].
[4] Christian County, Illinois Recorder, Christian. Deeds 1856–1858, deed 11-228, DGS 8548194, image 154, [FamilySearchImage].
[5] Anna Blanche Cottingham, Lew Wallace Duncan, History of Montgomery County, Kansas, page 352, DGS 7831125, image 219, [FamilySearchImage].
[6] Daughters of the American Revolution. Peter Meyer Chapter (Illinois), Champaign. Cemetery Records 1962–1963, 1962–1964, page 68, DGS 8211141, image 78, [FamilySearchImage].