What's New

Photo of the Month

Minerd.com Blog

Biographies

National Reunion

Interconnectedness

Cousin Voices

Honor Roll

In Lasting Memory

In the News

Our Mission and Values

Annual Review

Favorite Links

Contact Us

She married (?) Johnson ( ? - ? ), sometimes spelled "Johnston." 

They together produced three known children -- Mary Johnson, Harriet Johnson and Herman Johnson. She also helped raise a young grandson, Isaiah Johnson Struckoff.

An examination of government census records for 1850-60-70 shows that at no time was a husband shown in the household.

When the United States Census was enumerated in 1850, Nancy was age 40 and listed as a farmer. She headed an Upper Turkeyfoot household of three children as well as a German-born farm laborer, 23-year-old Henry Struckhoff. The whereabout of her husband that year is not known, although he may have been deceased by that time.

The federal census of 1870 lists Nancy and her two daughters and one grandson living in Upper Turkeyfoot, most likely near Scullton, with Nancy's 80-year-old widowed mother in the household. That year, their next door neighbors were her widowed niece Mariah Crossen and her children. 

Nothing more is known.

~ Daughter Mary Johnson ~

Daughter Mary Johnson (1834- ? ) was born in 1834. At age 16, in 1850, she lived at home with her mother. 

When she was age 20, in 1854, she gave birth out of wedlock to a son, whom she named Isaiah Johnson, sometimes spelled "Josiah." It's likely that the boy's father was Henry Struckhoff, a immigrant from Hanover, Germany (then known as Prussia) who had boarded with the family at about the same time. 

In 1860, at age 28, Mary worked as a seamstress and resided at home. 

By 1870, still unmarried, she dwelled under her mother's roof and helped with the farm. The son eventually took the surname of his father, Struckoff. 

The federal census of 1880 shows Mary living with her son Isaiah "Struckoff" and his wife Cordelia, as well as her unmarried sister Harriet. Their next-door neighbors in 1880 were double cousins Michael and Mariah (McClintock) Younkin and their offspring. She is believed to have died during the two-decade span between 1880 and 1900. Nothing more is known.

Son Isaiah Johnson (1854-1883?), later known as Isaiah Struckoff, was born in 1854. His father is thought to have been German-born Henry Struckhoff (1826- ? ). He was raised under the name "Johnson" until he eventually changed it to "Struckoff" (without the "h"). He married Cordelia "Delia" Kuhlman (or "Lucas") (1858-1930?). In 1880, they lived in Scullton, where Isaiah labored as a farmer. They had at least one son, Milton "Bruce" Struckoff, born in 1882. Sadly, the Struckoffs' marriage ended about the time their son was born -- perhaps Isaiah passed away, at around the age of 29. The following year, on Dec. 14, 1884, his wife Delia married again to Noah Pletcher ( ? - ? ). The wedding was noted in the Somerset Herald. Cordelia and Noah Pletcher went on to have a large family of children, residing in Lower Turkeyfoot Township -- David Rush Pletcher, Susan L. Pletcher, George Arnold Pletcher, Lucina Grace Sipe and Ira Clyde Pletcher. Noah passed away in 1910, and Cordelia died in Somerset County on April 11, 1930, with burial together in Scullton Cemetery. 

• Grandson Milton "Bruce" Pletcher Struckoff (1882-1923) was born on Aug. 25, 1882. He may have been raised under the name "Pletcher." In 1907, he wed Alice May Cope ( ? - ? ) under the name "Struckoff." Bruce earned a living as a junk dealer and resided on Painter Street in Everson, Westmoreland County, PA. He advertised his boiler repairs and welding services in the Uniontown newspaper, promising prompt attention in emergency circumstances. Tragically, the day after Christmas in 1923, he and friend James Cliten were killed when their small roadster automobile was struck by the Uniontown Express of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Thompson's Crossing, Hunker, seven miles south of the city of Greensburg. The horrific incident was covered in the same day's Pittsburgh Press,saying "It is thought the man driving the car waited for a freight train to pass the crossing and then started across the tracks while the passenger train, coming from the opposite direction, was obscured by the freight cars. Thompson's is one of several bad grade crossings near Greensburg and the Uniontown express has figured in many accidents at these danger points. It probably was traveling at between 45 and 50 miles an hour at the time of the smash." Burial was in Scottdale Cemetery. On his death certificate, his parents are named as "Isiah Struckoff" and "Cordelia Kuhlman."

~ Daughter Harriet Johnson ~

Daughter Harriet Johnson (1839-1907) was born in February 1839 (or 1838).

At age 20, making a living as a seamstress, she lived at home with her mother. She remained unmarried through the 1860s and by 1870, at age 29, she still resided in her mother's home. At age 40, still unmarried, she made her home with her nephew and his wife Isaiah and Cordelia Struckoff and with her 46-year-old sister Mary. By 1900, at age 61, she resided alone, near Scullton.

In her late 60s, Harriet's health began to fail. On the fateful last day of February 1907, she walked to a spring near her home, and apparently lost her balance, falling in. Unable to summon the strength to pull herself out, she drowned. A coroner or physician was summoned from Casselman, and in his report, he wrote that the cause of death was: "Died without a physician. Fell into a spring. Accidental Drowning." He added that a contributing factor to her tragic passing was "Feebleness. She lived alone on the mountain. Was found dead." 

No obituary has been found in the Meyersdale (PA) Commercial in Somerset County.

On her official Pennsylvania certificate of death, there was no informant. Her mother's name was given as "Nancy Younkin," and the space for the name of her father was left blank. Burial was in the Dumbauld Cemetery.

~ Son Harmon ("Herman") Johnson ~

Son Harmon "Herman" Johnson (1841- ? ) was born in 1841.