John Franklin Unangst

Notes:

Biography:
From Find-a-Grave:
Enlisted as a Private with Company A of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers on 18 September 1864. Mustered out with his regiment at Charleston, South Carolina on 25 December 1865.
Major Engagements of the 47th Pennsylvania During His Term of Service: Participated in Union General Philip Sheridan's tide-turning 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign (possibly the Battles of Fisher's Hill and Opequan, September 1864, and the Battle of Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864).
Sources: Bates' "History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5"; Pennsylvania Veteran's Burial Card (John Unangst), Pennsylvania Veterans Administration.

According to the 1880 census both his parents were born in PA. Accorging to the 1900 census Irvin's mother was born in PA also. In 1880 he and his family (Annie, Irvin, Ida, John, and Katie) lived on 269 Butler Street (it may be 1406) in Easton, PA. It is only a guess that the mother of the last two childen was Annie and the other children had a different Fritta. The guess was made purely on the age of Annie.

John married Fietta Serfass about 1855. Fietta (daughter of Samuel Serfass and Sarah A Wagner) was born on 4 Feb 1836 in Easton, Pennsylvania; died on 26 Mar 1873 in Easton, Pennsylvania; was buried in Easton Cemetery, Easton, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Annie Wagner between 1873 and 1880 in Pennsylvania. Annie was born on 22 Sep 1855 in Pennsylvania; died on 10 Jun 1929 in Easton, Pennsylvania; was buried in Easton Cemetery, Easton, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
He was probably born in Easton.

Biography:
This section will contain a summary on the Unangst family. In 1880 he was living in Easton with his Father and probable step mother (she was seven years older than he was). According to the census he was 19 years old and a laborer. He lived with his family in Pondcreek, a small patch town (company owned housing near a mine shaft or breakers) half way between Freeland and White Haven, PA. Their half of the double home had no running water or electricity. The 1900 census listed the house as being in Foster Township and the home as being rented. He and all his sons were coal miners for at least part of their lives (he and Tillie were miners for all their lives).

Irvin married Ellen Ann Williams on 10 Oct 1888 in Freeland, Pennsylvania. Ellen (daughter of Henry J Williams and Anne Jeffery) was born on 15 Mar 1869 in Slatington, Pennsylvania; died on 14 Nov 1931 in Mt Carmel, Pennsylvania; was buried on 17 Nov 1931 in Freeland, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Ida Marley

Notes:

Biography:
The date of her birth and her parents marriage is fairly certain. It is not known if she is the daughter of her father from a previous marriage, her mother from a previous marriage, or the child of one or both of them while they were not married. However, the 1900 census lists her as being the daughter of the head of the household and her mother is listed as having six living children and there were six living in the house.

Died:
||She died before her brother Irvin (1965)

Notes:

Biography:
He had one daughter. He died of influenza during the World War I epidemic.

Notes:

Biography:
He died very young.

Other Events:

• Name: Ellen A Marley
• Name: Nellie Unangst

Notes:

Biography:
She lived in Raven Run (a poor patch town near Shannandoah) in a house that had no running water or electricity. She was loving, kind, and generous. Robert Unangst used to spend a week with her every summer as a boy. He always had a great time playing with Charles and Tom (see Thomas under Beatrice Unangst).

Family/Spouse: Thomas Marley. Thomas was born in 1892; died in 1975. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Biography:
When he worked in the coal mines he drove a "locy" (a small gauge locomotive used to haul coal from the mine shafts to the breakers). He served in the Army in France in World War I. After returning he quit the mines and began to work as an agent for Metropolitan Life Insurance Co about 1927. The first car he owned was a 1935 Rockne (mfg. by Studebaker). He bought a 1937 Ford two years later, which he drove until after the war. Up to that time he walked his route to all the patch towns around Freeland writing and collecting premiums on life insurance policies. He used to do his weekly account and report every Thursday night at the kitchen table. It usely took him several hours. He was the smart one of the family. Everyone else would come to him for advice and help. He was also very active in the church (St Johns German Reformed Church). He was Sunday School Superintendent, Senior Elder, Choir Leader and Soloist (he had a pretty decent tenor voice), and substitute minister.
His obituary:
Ex-Insurance Agent Dies
Irvin Unangst, 930 Birkbeck street, Freeland, retired insurance agent and active church worker, died suddenly at 9:30 a.m. today at the State Hospital where had been a patient since last Thursday.
Born in Pond Creek, a son of the late Irvin and Ellen (Williams) Unangst, he had resided on the North Side his entire life.
Prior to his retirement in 1956, he had been employed as an agent for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
A veteran of World War One, he served with Army in France.
The deceased was a member of St. John's Reformed United Church of Christ, Freeland, president of the church consistory, member of the Men's Bible Class, Men's Brotherhood and Choir of the church, member and treasurer of Arbutus Lodge No. 611, F and A.M,. Freeland, and Lehigh Consistory, Allentown.
Surviving are his wife, the former Clara Kresge, and four children: Robert E., New Providence, N. J.; Marian R. Timko, Virgin Islands; Mrs. Malcolm (Mary Ellen) Van Horn, Freeland; and Mrs. Leroy (Carolyn) Warner, Allentown.
Also surviving are seven grandchildren and these sisters and brothers: Mrs. Torrence (Nettie) Culp, Hazleton; Mrs. John (Mary) Brennan, Mrs. Mabel Pavlic and Mrs. Eden (Beatrice) Moyer, Freeland; Samuel, Philadelphia; Tillman, Lost Creek; and John, Washington, D. C.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Irvin married Clara Alice Kresge on 28 Dec 1922 in St. John's German Reformed Church, Freeland, Pennsylvania. Clara (daughter of Ezra Kresge and Mary Alice Brong) was born on 27 Aug 1897 in Pennsylvania; died on 16 Sep 1987 in Freeland, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Annette Culp
• Name: Nettie Unangst

Notes:

Biography:
She lived with her husband Torrence in Hazelton, PA most of her married life.

Family/Spouse: Torrence Culp. Torrence was born in 1898; died in 1978. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Mary Brennon

Notes:

Biography:
Her family were Protestant and her husband Bucky was Irish Catholic. Though she never became a Catholic herself, she aggreed to raise her children Catholic. Shortly afterward her sisters Mabel and Ruth became Catholics and this caused a rift in the family that never really healed.

Family/Spouse: John Brennon. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Tillie Unangst

Notes:

Biography:
He had no children. He lived in Raven Run with his sister Ellen until she died when he and his wife moved to another patch town Lost Creek. He worked as a miner until his death.

Notes:

Biography:
She died from complications as a result of a scalding from a pot of tea.

Other Events:

• Name: Mabel Parlic

Notes:

Biography:
She had no children. She worked at a shirt factory in Freeland all her life and ultimately was the head supervisor.

Died:
||She was still alive when her brother Irvin died (1965).

Family/Spouse: John Parlic. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Beatrice Moyer

Family/Spouse: Eden Moyer. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Biography:
She never married and died from heart disease.

Other Events:

• Name: Jack Unangst

Notes:

Biography:
He joined the Army or the Marines and afterward lived in Washinton, DC.

Other Events:

• Name: Marian Baehler
• Name: Marian Timko