Jonathan Klinger, retired farmer, was born in Washington Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 26 March 1840, a son of Alexander Klinger and Magdaline [Smeltz] Klinger,.
George Klinger, the great-grandfather, was a resident of Lancaster County, where it is supposed he lived most of his life.
Peter Klinger, the grandfather, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and was a farmer and miller by occupation. He came to Klingerstown at a very early day, and later opened two grist mills and owned a farm. He died at Klingerstown about 1850 He married a Miss Stonebreaker and their children were:
Philip Klinger, deceased;
Peter Klinger, deceased;
Dietz Klinger;
Hanna Klinger;
George F. Klinger;
John Klinger;
Adam Klinger;
Daniel Klinger, resides near Klingerstown;
Eva Elizabeth Klinger, Mrs. Samuel Wiest.
The father, Alexander Klinger, was born near Klingerstown, in 1805, and followed farming principally and also worked some at the miller’s trade. Some time after his marriage he came to Washington Township and bought the farm of seventy-three acres on which his son Jonathan now lives, which was a tract of wild land at that time and which he cultivated and occupied until his death in 1876. His wife died in 1878. Their children were:
Simon Klinger, farmer in Washington Township;
Beneval Klinger, died aged nineteen years;
Catherine Klinger, widow of Jacob Bowman, Halifax;
Daniel Klinger, farmer and watchmaker, Washington Township;
Jonathan Klinger;
Sarah Klinger, Mrs. Edward Romberger, Washington Township;
Elias Klinger, farmer in Washington Township;
Marietta Klinger, Mrs. Thomas P. Moyer, Washington Township.
The father was a Republican and also took an active part in church matters.
Jonathan Klinger attended the common schools of his native place until he was about nine years of age, when he went to work on the farm, where he grew to manhood and was employed in cultivating the place. He was married, in Washington Township, 19 April 1869, to Miss Hattie Uhler, who was born in the township. For ten years after his marriage Mr. Klinger cultivated the old home farm on the shares. His father died in 1876 and his mother in 1888. In 1878 he bought and occupied the farm until 1892 when he rented his farm and retired to Elizabethville and occupied a house he had built in 1892. He has no children.
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The above information was modified/edited from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, published in 1896 by J. M. Runk and Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A free download is available from the Internet Archive.
See also:
Findagrave Memorial #29828105. Jonathan Klinger died 11 February 1922 in Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He is buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery at that place.
For information on his Civil War service see:
26th Pennsylvania Infantry – Emergency of 1863 – Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg