Issue 6, January 2002
Fort Stanwix National Monument
Fort
Stanwix, located in Rome, New York and is considered the most authentically
reconstructed fortification in North America.
Fort Stanwix was built in 1758 to guard the waterway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. Some events that occurred at Fort Stanwix include the development of European and later American-Indian affairs, the melting of diverse cultures, and the protection from for the Mohawk Valley during the American Revolutionary War. British military forces were repulsed while attempting to besiege the fort. American militia and Oneida allies tried to come to the aid of Fort Stanwix, but were cut off in an ambush at Oriskany, which is considered one of the bloodiest engagements of the war.
John J. Klock, was the son of Johannes Klock and lived at what is now know as Fort Klock. He was a member of the Tryon Country Committee of Saftey, which was the governing body of the area between the British removal and the formation of a new government. It was this committee that had the job of organizing a militia to resist the Indian and British raids, which were all too frequent in the Mohawk Valley. John Klock marched with this militia. On August 6, 1777 only three miles from Fort Stanwix, the militia was ambushed by the British, Indians and Loyalists. The militia was all but destroyed in the ambush but John Klock survived the battle and returned home.
This battle, although lost, contributed to the American Victory at Saratoga.
In 1781, six years of constant warfare the American Revolutionary nearly destroyed the people of the Mohawk Valley, over 700 homes were burned, the white population was reduced from 15,000 to 5,000 and the militia was reduced from about 2500 hundred to about 800 men. 10,000 people had fled the valley and went to Canada. Hundreds had been killed or taken prisoner. Many battles in the Revolutionary War took place in New York and the Mohawk Valley.
It was the fortified homes of people like John Klock and Col. Jacob Klock that helped the settlers in the Mohawk Valley survive until the end of the Revolution. Fort Klock and other fortified homes in the area were a place of refuge and safety. There were many forts and fortified homes in the Mohawk Valley such as Fort Wagner, Fort Johnson and three or four Fort Klock’s. For more information see the Fort Klock Web Site. www.fortklock.com The Fort Klock Web Site has information about Hundreds of Battles that took place in the State of New York and the Mohawk Valley during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. The Fort Klock Web Site has information on 50 or more forts used in the Wars as well. Look under Battles of New York and Raids in the State of New York 1609 –1814 written by John C. Devendorf.
For more information on Fort Stanwix, check out the following web page.
Timothy J. Klock
Timothy
J. Klock is a descendant of Sherman O. Klock. He was born August 13, 1961
in Herkimer, New York. He served in the U.S. Army as a Medic. He has been
a Police Officer/Deputy Sheriff since December of 1983 in Onedia County.
Tim has been in the Law Enforcement field for 17 years. He has lived in
Upstate New York his entire life. He is currently assigned to the Oneida
County Sheriff’s Foresic/ID unit as an evidence technician.
Timothy Klock married Chin Tok Sun on January 26, 1981. Chin Tok Sun was born in Seoul, Korea on October 26, 1959. Tim and Chin had one child, Lorraine G. Klock. Tim and Chin divorced and on April 28, 1990, Tim married Linda L. Levenworth. Linda was born on February 15, 1969. Tim and Linda have one child, Courtney E. Klock, who was born March 3, 1992.
Timothy has a very nice web site on the internet. It has genealogy, pictures and links to other web sites. I have it on my favorites list on my computer. You can get to his web page at the following address
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/5488/
Kaylee
Nichole Henry
8 lbs. 6 ozs. 20 inches long
born 10/18/2001
Kaylee
Nichole Henry ( John Henry Jr., Sandra Kay Klock Henry, Carl Klock, Jacob
Klock, Ira Klock, Issac Klock, Christian Klock, John J. Klock Jr., John
J. Klock, Johannes Klock, Hendrick Klock ) was born at 4:28 p.m. in Big
Rapids, Michigan.
She is the daughter of John Henry Jr., and Lisa Shopshear. Look out world, here comes Kaylee.
Obituary: John E. Klock “ 84 “
John E. Klock was born Jan. 21, 1917 in Herndon, Pa. He was the son of Carl Bordner Klock and Carrie May Shaffer Klock. John died at Menno Haven Village, July 29, 2001, and was a resident of Hagerstown, Maryland. John ws married to Margaret Catherine Klock who died Oct. 17, 1991.
John was employed by Pangborn Corp. for 41 years and retired in 1980. He was a member of Salem Reformed Church of UCC, Hagerstown. He was a member of Southern Engineering Society; Hagerstown Lodge 378 B.P.O. Elks; and the Pengborn Quarter Century Club.
He is survived by two sisters, Fritzie R. Ingram of Reno, New.; and Anna M Riegel of Shamokin Dam, Pa. Tow brothers, Karl J. Klock of Sarasota, Fla.; Ronald V. Klock of Hagerstown, Maryland. Many nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews.
Do you have a Birth Announcement or an Obituary you would like to put in our Newsletter? Send it to me and I will put it in the Newsletter. Thank You
A Klock Family Reunion
A Klock Family Reunion is being planned for June 29, 2002 in Central Michigan. It will be held in Morley, Michigan at the “cabin in the woods” of Jerry Klock. We are planning on deep frying a few turkeys. If you would like to attend this Reunion, you are asked to bring a dish to pass and your own plates, silverware and what ever you would like to drink.
There will be room for tents and campers and if you drink, you will be asked to spend the night. There are also Motels and other camp grounds in the area. There will be a horse shoes and card games, and games for the kids.
The Reunion will start on Saturday June 29th about 1:00
If you would like to attend the reunion you are asked to send me an e-mail or letter to let me know. More information about the Reunion will be in the next newsletter with a map on how to get to the reunion.
Reunions
Is your family having a reunion this summer? Send me the details and I will put it in the Klock Family Newsletter.
Jay E. Klock
Do you remember the article I did about John Nellis Klock who was a newspaper man in Benton Harbor, Michigan? He was a philanthropist, industrialish, and the Mayor of Benton Harbor. He was the driving force behind many civic projects, including the Bell Opera House, the YMCA, YWCA, Roosevelt Park, and the Salvation Army. John N. Klock also donated to the city of Benton Harbor the 90 acre track of land that is known as Jena Klock Park. The park was named after his daughter, who died in infancy. He also two roads named after him. Klock Road East and Klock Road West. He was President of the largest factory in Benton Harbor and was President of Mercy Hospital for many years.
His brother, Jay E. Klock was also in the Newspaper business. Jay Klock, born of poor parents in Hammond, St. Lawrence County, New York, the Rev. Nellis Klock and Lovina I. Ottman on February 14, 1864. Like John N. Klock, he was educated under his father’s hand for the most part. Jay did attend the Albany Boys’ Academy but did not graduate. Jay was married three times. He married Lucia Delong and then Ina G. Chilson, in Farmington New York on Oct. 8, 1890, and he married Louise M. Rice on August 15, 1911 in New York City.
At the age of 21 he became a member of the editorial staff of the Albany Evening Journal. In 1889, Jay purchased controlling intrest in the Little Falls Daily Times. In 1891 he sold his interest in that paper and purchased the Kingston Daily Freeman. He also developed a large printing business in New York.
Jay’s family line runs like this: Nellis Klock, Daniel Klock, John Klock Jr. John J. Klock, Johannes Klock and Hendrick Klock. Nellis Klock was born August 24 1831, in Montgomery County, New York. He married Lovina T. Ottman on January 29, 1863 in Morriston, St. Lawrence City, New York. They had five children. Jay E., John Nellis, Lillian Ida, Ernest G., and Ida B. Klock.
Update: Ernest G. Klock was also in the newspaper business like his father and brothers. Rev. Nellis Klock was the founder of the Holland Sentinel in Holland, Michigan, which is still in business. At one time all of his children, except John Nellis Klock lived and worked in Holland, Michigan on the Sentinel.
From the Work of Sherman O. Klock
“
Sketch of the Family of Klock”
llion, New York 1929
It is a well known fact, I believe, that one becomes concerned about their ancestry near or remote only when they begin to get old. Certain it is that youth cares little or nothing about it. Suffice for them to know that they sprang from Adam, so what care they if a black sheep now and then went straying in forbidden pastures, or a horse thief was found hanging from the family tree, or a few fair Magdalene's were seen lying in shame beneath it, on down through the years, But when this same youth begins to grow old, when the waist line begins to expand for no apparent reason at all, or when the bald spot begins to appear on the head then will it begin to poke about in search of some ancestor whom it can hold up to view and brag about.
There are however, certain individuals whose egotism is so great that they give no thought to whom their ancestors were, or what part in life they played. But for the greater part we all have a spark within our breast, which at some time in life flames to know something about our men and women who have gone before It is the same sort of spark which flames in heart and soul when we say "this is my Native Land " and which never dies no matter in what foreign land we may end our days, and the same that burns within us for home and fireside.
Sherman O. Klock did a lot of research on the Klock Family. Like me, he started his research when he was about 50 years of age. I wish I had the way with words as Sherman O. Klock had. Below is a poem he wrote:
Where
shadow of hawk and swallow,
Shadows of wind stirred wood
Dapple each hill and hollow,
There where their dead had stood.
Wild bees hum through the forest vines
Where the bullets of England hummed,
And the partridge drums in the sighing pines,
Where the drummers of England drummed."
I will put more of the works of Sherman O. Klock in future Newsletters. I have 13 or 14 pages of information of his research with is quite interesting.
________________________________________________________________________ The last page of Issue #6, January 2002 is Genealogy: The Family Registry