Klock Connections

Klock Connections

The Klock Family
Newsletter

November 2001 Issue # 4

Klock’s of New York City

I have been asked if there are any Klock’s who live in New York City by several of my family and friends. I have contacted two, Donald Klock and Michelle Klock.

I asked them if they were OK and expressed our concern for them and for all the people of the City of New York. I asked if I could interview them for this Newsletter. Both Donald and Michelle have interesting lives in New York City and Donald has a story I will share with you next month. (Note: Donald never sent me the information for his article and I have since lost track of him. If you see this article, Donald, please e-mail me.) Donald and Michelle have never met but do know of each other. Donald told me he heard about the Klock Family Reunion through a friend of Michelle’s but had never met her himself.

Michelle, her parents and two of her sisters attended the Klock Reunion this past summer. Her family comes from upstate New York, north of Syracuse. They are not completely certain if they are descendants of the Klock of Fort Klock. Most of her family lives outside Buffalo, New York. Michelle moved to New York City when see attended college at New York University. Michelle has worked at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the past nine years. She is the Associate House Manager. She works with the performers, production staff, stagehands, ushers and security. Michelle says, “Her schedule is very hectic, and the work can be crazy, but the job is very interesting and some to the performances are really amazing.”

I asked Michelle what she was doing when the planes hit the World Trade Towers and how she and the city was coping with the disaster? “Thank you for your kind wishes and concerns for the people of New York City. Everyone is trying to function as well as possible, but it is a sad time that still has many unnerving elements. I was at work when the first explosion occurred, and we saw the second plane hit while we were watching the news to see what happened to the first tower of World Trade. When the second plane hit, we realized that it wasn’t an accident, but an attack. It was very frightening. When we received news about the Pentagon attack, we sent people home and prepared for heightened security measures. The first day, the city was basically shut down, allowing no one in except for rescue teams. Many people could not get home, and had to stay with friends. Everyone was offering help to people. For some days afterwards, the smoke continued to rise up- the fires could not be completely doused because there was still hope that there would be more survivors found.”

It has been a truly sad and terrible time here in New York, and throughout the country. There were so many people lost – the pictures of the people that were not recovered are all over the city. It is particularly heartbreaking to see those photos, most of them with smiling faces, many pictures of people with their families. The fire and police departments suffered devastating losses. It is unreal to view the city as it looks now, and to see all the military presence in New York. There are tighter security measures in place all over the area, effecting the business, travel and everyday functions of almost everyone. It is comforting to see all the help the families and survivors have received for the public, and how much support the city has been given by the rest of the country. It has also been heartwarming to here from so many concerned people and to see the kind of spirit and patriotism of everyone in the states, and allied nations. I hope that people will continue to work together and not let sadness, fear, or hatred overtake them.”

Michelle had also told me in her e-mails that she felt very confident with the people that handled the disaster relief efforts. She also expressed that the people of the City of New York were grateful to everyone who has helped in this disaster. Michelle wanted to say thank you to all who supported the people of New York City, Washington DC., and Pennsylvania.

Thank you for sharing your story with us, Michelle, God Bless You and May God Bless America.

The Last Klock

George Grantison Klock ( Isaac, Christian, John, John Jr., Johannes, Hendrick ) was born on Feb. 14, 1862 in New York. He was the forth born child of Isaac Klock and Lucy Hartwick. Grant, as he liked to be called, moved to Michigan when he was young. The family settled in the thumb area of Michigan in Tuscola County.

Grant had lost an eye and had a glass one. When I first heard about his glass eye, I had thought maybe he lost it in battle. “Nothing so Grand”, grandson, Richard Cypher told me in an e-mail. “Grant lost his eye in an accident. He was burning a large pile of brush on the farm and a hot branch snapped back and hit him in the eye.”

Grant had been married four times. Nothing is known about his first marriage. His second was to Myrtle Onderkirk in 1888. This was Myrtle’s second marriage as well. Myrtle’s parents were F.P. Nichols and Lynda Hegger. Grant’s third marriage was to Mary Dupries . Mary was the daughter of John Dupries and Mary Winters. They were married the 25 of January in 1895. It is not known if Grant had any children as a result of his first three marriages. Then on Jan. 29, 1898 Grant married Rowena Salisbury. Rowena Salisbury was born in Kansas and her parents were Henry Salisbury and Susan Graves. Grant and Rowena had five children; Inza, Agmes, Carl, Ena, and Lorena. Grant died on April 11, 1917 in Vassar, Michigan. If anyone has any information about Grant’s first marriages, please let me know. We would like to know if there were any children born in any of the first three marriages.

Hold on now, I am getting to the meat of this story and why I entitled it, “The Last Klock”. Carl was the only son of Grant’s ( that we know about ). Grant and Rowena had five children. Carl was born May 30, 1908 and he married Lucille Hulverson on Oct. 30, 1954. Carl and Lucille had three children, Rina, Mary, and Nancy. Today all three girls are married and have children of their own. When Carl died in 1979. The Klock name died with him. Or that is what the family thought.

The Rest of the Story

When I first started researching my family tree, I put an inquiry out on Family Tree Maker, an internet web site. I got a response ( e-mail ) from Tammy Lash who lives in Oregon. Tammy is the Great Granddaughter of Grant Klock.

My Grandfather, Jacob Klock very rarely talked about his family and when he did, he would say, “I was adopted” or “I was left on a door step”. My father, Carl did not know anything about his family. It was not until I was a teenager did my Grandfather tell me he had two brothers and a sister and that he had lost track of them, he did not know if they were alive or dead. He had not seen them since he was a child. He was about 80 at this time. Now, Grant and his son, Carl must have fell from the same tree. They were as tight mouthed about their family as my Grandfather was. Tammy gave me her Aunts name and telephone number. Her Aunt June DeBoise lived in Tustin, Michigan. About 15 miles from where I grew up as a child. I called June up on the telephone and we set up a day we could meet. We talked for hours and had a great time. I had brought some of my old pictures with me and she got out hers. As we talked and looked at pictures, we discovered that I had a picture of her Aunt Agnes standing next to my Grandmother. She also had a copy of the same picture. We knew then that we were somehow related.

After some research, I found the connection. Grant was my Grandfather’s uncle. The story does not end here….. this is where it begins…. My family tree had grown by several hundred new cousins and Grant’s family had just found out that the Klock name was alive and well. I will continue this story in another issue of the newsletter. I want to tell you about Nancy Brown and her family. I also want to share another story about finding one of my Grandfather's brothers.

Christian Klock

Christian Klock (John Jr., John, Johannas, Hendrick) was born in New York, August 17, 1806. He married Margaret Walrath, who was the daughter of William and Margaret Walrath. Margaret was born in 1809. Christian and Margaret had three children that I know of, Nathan who was born in 1828, Isaac who was born in 1829 and Wesdey who was born in 1845.

Christian and his family moved to Michigan around 1858. (According to page 488 of the book," History of Allegan and Berry Counties, Michigan.") This comes from that book.

"In 1851, when Franklin Bliss settled on section 24, where Leonard Wilcox, now of Irving, had made a clearing of 2 acres, he had no neighbor on the north except an Indian called, " Chippewa," who owned 40 acres on section 1 and lived in a log cabin. At that time a well-traveled stage-road crossed the Bliss' farm, - the one which ran between Grand Rapids and Hastings. Farther north Slomon dark settled on section 12 in 1854, and beyond that C.I. Klock located in 1858, on section 2. Mr. Klock now lives on section 2 with John Moxon who came with him into the township. Klock's neighbors on the south were Cornelius Walrath and his sons; On the north, John Klock and Henry Smith; on the west, the Forbes family; and on the east, John Moe and a Mr Badgrow. That same spring, Simeon Lawrence setded on section 11. At that day the northeastern portion of the township was a new country for until then the land-owners had chosen to discourage settlements by holding the property out of the market. After 1858, however, the population began multiply rapidly, and die locality is now well peopled , containing, moreover, many valuable farms."

(I just love die way people used to write.) Christian Klock and his family were one of the first Klock's to relocate in Michigan from New York. He was a pioneer in Michigan. Christian Klock died May 12, 1888 and is buried in Parmalee Cemetery in Middleville, Michigan. Also buried in the same plot is his wife Margaret, his sons Nathan, and Westley. There is also an Unknown Klock and a John Klock in the same area in the Parmalee Cemetery. I have not been able to find anything about the Unknown Klock, adult, child, male or female. John Klock, I think, is another child of Christian and Margaret Klock. If you have any information who the Unknown Klock may be or if John Klock is another son of Christian and Margaret. Please let me know......... Thanks.

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