When Etta Adeline Beecher was born on May 19, 1852, in Kendall, Illinois, her father, Philo Beecher, was 33, and her mother, Mary Olney, was 32. She married William Maurice Knapp on May 19, 1876, in York, Nebraska. They had seven children in 12 years. She died on December 12, 1930, in Seattle, Washington, at the age of 78. She is Etta after her mom and Adeline after her mother’s sister.
She lived on her parents farm in 1860, in Kendall. The census form that year is full of misspellings and often illegible so it is difficult to discern who is who, there appear to be 3 extra children living with the family of unknown provenance, perhaps cousins, besides three of her actual siblings. Her father Philo owned an 80 acre farm valued at $4,000 and declared his belongings to be worth $843, by which I assume they were financially secure. His land was a patented homestead.
In 1870 Etta is 18 and working as a school teacher. Her dad is doing even better financially with their farm, and her three older sisters are also at home and also teaching school, the younger, Julia, is listed with the last name Ross and has a 1 year old son Archie Ross. She has a younger sister Jennie attending school, aged 7. (Etta had at least 8 siblings and I haven’t attempted to trace them but have kept the focus on Etta)
Etta’s father Philo died when he was 54, shortly before her birthday in May of 1873. It seems the family split up as Etta next re-appears in York, Nebraska along with several other members of her family.
On her birthday, 19th of May, 1876, Etta Adeline Beecher married Dr William Maurice Knapp, in York, York, Neb. She was 24 years old. He was an established physician, having moved to York in 1873, the same year she lost her father. It’s possible they already had an acquaintance as he had previously practiced in McDonough county, Illinois. She was working as a schoolteacher in York, and she remained active in the education of children her entire life. Her husband William was elected to the State Senate the following year, in 1877, after previously being town Mayor.
Their first child, a son, was born Arthur Lee Knapp, on the 28th of May, 1877, in York. He was followed by a daughter, Bessie Pearl Knapp, the 5th of December 1878.
Ettie was 28 in 1880. William is still a physician but very busy with civic affairs, medical societies, and fraternal organizations. She’s keeping house, also very active in civic affairs, and with two children listed, Lee (Arthur Lee) aged 3 and Bessie (Bessie Pearl) aged 1. Her mother Mary Olney Beecher and her sister Jennie, 16, are living with them. Another daughter, Helen Mary, was born on September 24th 1880.
Tragedy struck in 1882, when her daughter Lucille, born the 30th of November, 1881, died on the 29th of July. The next year, daughter Luetta Dorothy was born on March 17th 1883, in York.
In 1885 Etta’s household got larger, with the addition of Lee Carey, a painter, and his wife Francis. Im unsure of their relationship but would guess they were relatives. Her mother Mary Beecher nee Olney and a servant Eva Galvin are also in the house. Arthur Lee and Bessie Pearl are in school, the other two children Helen Mary and Luetta Dorothy are still at home, too young as yet for school. During this period, 1882 to 1886, her husband William was teaching as a Professor at the University of Nebraska. During the latter part of his tenure as Professor he was appointed by the Governor of Nebraska to head the Nebraska State Insane Asylum in Aurora, Hamilton county, Nebraska.
Etta and William had two more sons, William Maurice, born the 20th of April 1888 in Lincoln, and Harold Beecher, who was born the 29th of January, 1890, in York, Nebraska.
In 1895 the Lincoln, Nebraska “Courier” noted the surprise 75th birthday party thrown Saturday night, the 3rd of August for Etta’s mother Mary Olney Beecher at the home of her daughter Julie Ross. Etta and William attended with their children, as did several other family members. Quite a few Knapps and Beechers lived in the area.
Three months later, the 18th November 1895, Etta’s mother Mary Olney Beecher passed away in University Place, Lincoln, Neb. She was buried with her husband in Pavilion cemetery back in Kendall county, Illinois.
Records in the Nebraska State Journal newspaper and a monthly magazine called the Nebraska State Journal both list Etta as a member of a discussion group on the ‘relation of the mothers to the school’ composed of members of the Nebraska Society for Child Study, during its annual address on December 5th of 1897.
A Nebraska State Journal list of real estate transfers records the sale of two real estate lots situated at University Place by Etta A Knapp, to a J.J. Longacre, for $1200, the 18th of July 1899. This would probably be her mothers estate.
By June 1900 Etta had turned 48, and the family was living in Aurora, Hamilton county, Nebraska, where William had been head of the Insane Asylum until 1892. All of the children are still living at home, Arthur employed as a day laborer, and Bessie Pearl and Helen both working as school teachers. The three younger siblings are in school.
In 1907 Etta suffered another loss of a child when she was 55, her eldest son Arthur Lee Knapp passed away on November 29th, in University Place, Nebraska, at the age of 30. He left a widow Laura M Knapp nee Smith, who was still listed as his widow in the 1910 city Directory for Lincoln, Nebraska. They had married the 14th of September 1894 and had no children.
The Nebraska State Journal listed another real estate transfer for Etta on October 5th 1909 she sold three more city lots for $550. This was probably the last of their property before moving to Idaho.
1910 was the year the Knapps established residence on a farm in Hope, Bonner, Idaho. Etta was 58 and had been married 37 years. They had with them their two youngest, William and Harold, along with a new addition, their adopted daughter Eloise A Knapp. Eloise was born the 11th of February 1903, the daughter of the Knapps daughter, Dorothy. She was raised by her grandparents as their daughter until 1920 when she is a teenager living with her mother Dorothy, after Dorothy’s marriage to Frederic Carver, but is listed as her sister. I wasn’t able to discover who her father was. During those first few years in Hope they also board a barber, Fritz Schumann.
In 1916 Etta and William are still in Hope, William is the county coroner as well as a running a private practice, their son Harold Beecher Knapp is married to Edna and working as a forest ranger, and William M Jr. is working as a carpenter.
During 1920 Etta’s son and daughter in law Edna are still living at home with her and William, along with their daughter Mary Etta, Etta’s grandchild. Etta is 68 and William at 72 is still a practicing physician. Harold is still a Forest Ranger, while Edna stays at home with Etta.
On the 16th of November, 1921 Etta lost her husband of 45 years, William succumbed to angina pectoris brought on by arterio sclerosis in Sandpoint, Bonner, Idaho. He was buried three days later, the 19th of November, in Hope cemetery, Bonner county, Idaho. Etta was granted her husband’s pension as recorded in the Ogden Standard Examiner, Ogden, Utah, on the 2nd of June 1922, for the monthly sum of $30.
Sometime after her photograph circa 1920, and after her husbands death in 1921, Etta Adeline Knapp nee Beecher moved to Seattle, Washington, the first address I found was in 1925 being 5638 12th Ave. N.E. which was the home of her daughter Bessie Pearl. By the next year 1926 she is living at 4639 Eastern Ave., and then in 1928 she is back with her daughter Bessie, at 5638 12th Ave. Along the way in 1927 on September 5th, Etta is mentioned in the Nebraska State Journal of Lincoln, Nebraska of having visited her niece, Mrs Mattie Knapp Leavitt, and her nephew Herbert S Knapp. She was accompanied by another niece, Laura Knapp of New York. She is back in Seattle with Bessie Pearl in 1929, and lists an occupation as a nurse, something she was undoubtedly familiar with from helping her husband.
She spent her last year, 1930, there with Bessie, Bessie’s husband Thomas Frizzell, and her grandson Don Frizzell who was 23 that year. Her son in law Thomas was the floor manager of a department store, and her grandson Don was playing in an orchestra. Etta and Bessie are not employed.
Etta passed away the 12th of December, 1930 in Seattle. She was 78 years old. Her body was returned to Nebraska where I found burial records listing her burial in Greenwood cemetery, York county, Nebraska. I presume her mother and Arthur are buried there as well, but that remains for further research as the cemetery is only partially transcribed.
She lived on her parents farm in 1860, in Kendall. The census form that year is full of misspellings and often illegible so it is difficult to discern who is who, there appear to be 3 extra children living with the family of unknown provenance, perhaps cousins, besides three of her actual siblings. Her father Philo owned an 80 acre farm valued at $4,000 and declared his belongings to be worth $843, by which I assume they were financially secure. His land was a patented homestead.
In 1870 Etta is 18 and working as a school teacher. Her dad is doing even better financially with their farm, and her three older sisters are also at home and also teaching school, the younger, Julia, is listed with the last name Ross and has a 1 year old son Archie Ross. She has a younger sister Jennie attending school, aged 7. (Etta had at least 8 siblings and I haven’t attempted to trace them but have kept the focus on Etta)
Etta’s father Philo died when he was 54, shortly before her birthday in May of 1873. It seems the family split up as Etta next re-appears in York, Nebraska along with several other members of her family.
On her birthday, 19th of May, 1876, Etta Adeline Beecher married Dr William Maurice Knapp, in York, York, Neb. She was 24 years old. He was an established physician, having moved to York in 1873, the same year she lost her father. It’s possible they already had an acquaintance as he had previously practiced in McDonough county, Illinois. She was working as a schoolteacher in York, and she remained active in the education of children her entire life. Her husband William was elected to the State Senate the following year, in 1877, after previously being town Mayor.
Their first child, a son, was born Arthur Lee Knapp, on the 28th of May, 1877, in York. He was followed by a daughter, Bessie Pearl Knapp, the 5th of December 1878.
Ettie was 28 in 1880. William is still a physician but very busy with civic affairs, medical societies, and fraternal organizations. She’s keeping house, also very active in civic affairs, and with two children listed, Lee (Arthur Lee) aged 3 and Bessie (Bessie Pearl) aged 1. Her mother Mary Olney Beecher and her sister Jennie, 16, are living with them. Another daughter, Helen Mary, was born on September 24th 1880.
Tragedy struck in 1882, when her daughter Lucille, born the 30th of November, 1881, died on the 29th of July. The next year, daughter Luetta Dorothy was born on March 17th 1883, in York.
In 1885 Etta’s household got larger, with the addition of Lee Carey, a painter, and his wife Francis. Im unsure of their relationship but would guess they were relatives. Her mother Mary Beecher nee Olney and a servant Eva Galvin are also in the house. Arthur Lee and Bessie Pearl are in school, the other two children Helen Mary and Luetta Dorothy are still at home, too young as yet for school. During this period, 1882 to 1886, her husband William was teaching as a Professor at the University of Nebraska. During the latter part of his tenure as Professor he was appointed by the Governor of Nebraska to head the Nebraska State Insane Asylum in Aurora, Hamilton county, Nebraska.
Etta and William had two more sons, William Maurice, born the 20th of April 1888 in Lincoln, and Harold Beecher, who was born the 29th of January, 1890, in York, Nebraska.
In 1895 the Lincoln, Nebraska “Courier” noted the surprise 75th birthday party thrown Saturday night, the 3rd of August for Etta’s mother Mary Olney Beecher at the home of her daughter Julie Ross. Etta and William attended with their children, as did several other family members. Quite a few Knapps and Beechers lived in the area.
Three months later, the 18th November 1895, Etta’s mother Mary Olney Beecher passed away in University Place, Lincoln, Neb. She was buried with her husband in Pavilion cemetery back in Kendall county, Illinois.
Records in the Nebraska State Journal newspaper and a monthly magazine called the Nebraska State Journal both list Etta as a member of a discussion group on the ‘relation of the mothers to the school’ composed of members of the Nebraska Society for Child Study, during its annual address on December 5th of 1897.
A Nebraska State Journal list of real estate transfers records the sale of two real estate lots situated at University Place by Etta A Knapp, to a J.J. Longacre, for $1200, the 18th of July 1899. This would probably be her mothers estate.
By June 1900 Etta had turned 48, and the family was living in Aurora, Hamilton county, Nebraska, where William had been head of the Insane Asylum until 1892. All of the children are still living at home, Arthur employed as a day laborer, and Bessie Pearl and Helen both working as school teachers. The three younger siblings are in school.
In 1907 Etta suffered another loss of a child when she was 55, her eldest son Arthur Lee Knapp passed away on November 29th, in University Place, Nebraska, at the age of 30. He left a widow Laura M Knapp nee Smith, who was still listed as his widow in the 1910 city Directory for Lincoln, Nebraska. They had married the 14th of September 1894 and had no children.
The Nebraska State Journal listed another real estate transfer for Etta on October 5th 1909 she sold three more city lots for $550. This was probably the last of their property before moving to Idaho.
1910 was the year the Knapps established residence on a farm in Hope, Bonner, Idaho. Etta was 58 and had been married 37 years. They had with them their two youngest, William and Harold, along with a new addition, their adopted daughter Eloise A Knapp. Eloise was born the 11th of February 1903, the daughter of the Knapps daughter, Dorothy. She was raised by her grandparents as their daughter until 1920 when she is a teenager living with her mother Dorothy, after Dorothy’s marriage to Frederic Carver, but is listed as her sister. I wasn’t able to discover who her father was. During those first few years in Hope they also board a barber, Fritz Schumann.
In 1916 Etta and William are still in Hope, William is the county coroner as well as a running a private practice, their son Harold Beecher Knapp is married to Edna and working as a forest ranger, and William M Jr. is working as a carpenter.
During 1920 Etta’s son and daughter in law Edna are still living at home with her and William, along with their daughter Mary Etta, Etta’s grandchild. Etta is 68 and William at 72 is still a practicing physician. Harold is still a Forest Ranger, while Edna stays at home with Etta.
On the 16th of November, 1921 Etta lost her husband of 45 years, William succumbed to angina pectoris brought on by arterio sclerosis in Sandpoint, Bonner, Idaho. He was buried three days later, the 19th of November, in Hope cemetery, Bonner county, Idaho. Etta was granted her husband’s pension as recorded in the Ogden Standard Examiner, Ogden, Utah, on the 2nd of June 1922, for the monthly sum of $30.
Sometime after her photograph circa 1920, and after her husbands death in 1921, Etta Adeline Knapp nee Beecher moved to Seattle, Washington, the first address I found was in 1925 being 5638 12th Ave. N.E. which was the home of her daughter Bessie Pearl. By the next year 1926 she is living at 4639 Eastern Ave., and then in 1928 she is back with her daughter Bessie, at 5638 12th Ave. Along the way in 1927 on September 5th, Etta is mentioned in the Nebraska State Journal of Lincoln, Nebraska of having visited her niece, Mrs Mattie Knapp Leavitt, and her nephew Herbert S Knapp. She was accompanied by another niece, Laura Knapp of New York. She is back in Seattle with Bessie Pearl in 1929, and lists an occupation as a nurse, something she was undoubtedly familiar with from helping her husband.
She spent her last year, 1930, there with Bessie, Bessie’s husband Thomas Frizzell, and her grandson Don Frizzell who was 23 that year. Her son in law Thomas was the floor manager of a department store, and her grandson Don was playing in an orchestra. Etta and Bessie are not employed.
Etta passed away the 12th of December, 1930 in Seattle. She was 78 years old. Her body was returned to Nebraska where I found burial records listing her burial in Greenwood cemetery, York county, Nebraska. I presume her mother and Arthur are buried there as well, but that remains for further research as the cemetery is only partially transcribed.
When Etta Adeline Beecher was born on May 19, 1852, in Kendall, Illinois, her father, Philo Beecher, was 33, and her mother, Mary Olney, was 32. She married William Maurice Knapp on May 19, 1876, in York, Nebraska. They had seven children in 12 years. She died on December 12, 1930, in Seattle, Washington, at the age of 78. She is Etta after her mom and Adeline after her mother’s sister.
She lived on her parents farm in 1860, in Kendall. The census form that year is full of misspellings and often illegible so it is difficult to discern who is who, there appear to be 3 extra children living with the family of unknown provenance, perhaps cousins, besides three of her actual siblings. Her father Philo owned an 80 acre farm valued at $4,000 and declared his belongings to be worth $843, by which I assume they were financially secure. His land was a patented homestead.
In 1870 Etta is 18 and working as a school teacher. Her dad is doing even better financially with their farm, and her three older sisters are also at home and also teaching school, the younger, Julia, is listed with the last name Ross and has a 1 year old son Archie Ross. She has a younger sister Jennie attending school, aged 7. (Etta had at least 8 siblings and I haven’t attempted to trace them but have kept the focus on Etta)
Etta’s father Philo died when he was 54, shortly before her birthday in May of 1873. It seems the family split up as Etta next re-appears in York, Nebraska along with several other members of her family.
On her birthday, 19th of May, 1876, Etta Adeline Beecher married Dr William Maurice Knapp, in York, York, Neb. She was 24 years old. He was an established physician, having moved to York in 1873, the same year she lost her father. It’s possible they already had an acquaintance as he had previously practiced in McDonough county, Illinois. She was working as a schoolteacher in York, and she remained active in the education of children her entire life. Her husband William was elected to the State Senate the following year, in 1877, after previously being town Mayor.
Their first child, a son, was born Arthur Lee Knapp, on the 28th of May, 1877, in York. He was followed by a daughter, Bessie Pearl Knapp, the 5th of December 1878.
Ettie was 28 in 1880. William is still a physician but very busy with civic affairs, medical societies, and fraternal organizations. She’s keeping house, also very active in civic affairs, and with two children listed, Lee (Arthur Lee) aged 3 and Bessie (Bessie Pearl) aged 1. Her mother Mary Olney Beecher and her sister Jennie, 16, are living with them. Another daughter, Helen Mary, was born on September 24th 1880.
Tragedy struck in 1882, when her daughter Lucille, born the 30th of November, 1881, died on the 29th of July. The next year, daughter Luetta Dorothy was born on March 17th 1883, in York.
In 1885 Etta’s household got larger, with the addition of Lee Carey, a painter, and his wife Francis. Im unsure of their relationship but would guess they were relatives. Her mother Mary Beecher nee Olney and a servant Eva Galvin are also in the house. Arthur Lee and Bessie Pearl are in school, the other two children Helen Mary and Luetta Dorothy are still at home, too young as yet for school. During this period, 1882 to 1886, her husband William was teaching as a Professor at the University of Nebraska. During the latter part of his tenure as Professor he was appointed by the Governor of Nebraska to head the Nebraska State Insane Asylum in Aurora, Hamilton county, Nebraska.
Etta and William had two more sons, William Maurice, born the 20th of April 1888 in Lincoln, and Harold Beecher, who was born the 29th of January, 1890, in York, Nebraska.
In 1895 the Lincoln, Nebraska “Courier” noted the surprise 75th birthday party thrown Saturday night, the 3rd of August for Etta’s mother Mary Olney Beecher at the home of her daughter Julie Ross. Etta and William attended with their children, as did several other family members. Quite a few Knapps and Beechers lived in the area.
Three months later, the 18th November 1895, Etta’s mother Mary Olney Beecher passed away in University Place, Lincoln, Neb. She was buried with her husband in Pavilion cemetery back in Kendall county, Illinois.
Records in the Nebraska State Journal newspaper and a monthly magazine called the Nebraska State Journal both list Etta as a member of a discussion group on the ‘relation of the mothers to the school’ composed of members of the Nebraska Society for Child Study, during its annual address on December 5th of 1897.
A Nebraska State Journal list of real estate transfers records the sale of two real estate lots situated at University Place by Etta A Knapp, to a J.J. Longacre, for $1200, the 18th of July 1899. This would probably be her mothers estate.
By June 1900 Etta had turned 48, and the family was living in Aurora, Hamilton county, Nebraska, where William had been head of the Insane Asylum until 1892. All of the children are still living at home, Arthur employed as a day laborer, and Bessie Pearl and Helen both working as school teachers. The three younger siblings are in school.
In 1907 Etta suffered another loss of a child when she was 55, her eldest son Arthur Lee Knapp passed away on November 29th, in University Place, Nebraska, at the age of 30. He left a widow Laura M Knapp nee Smith, who was still listed as his widow in the 1910 city Directory for Lincoln, Nebraska. They had married the 14th of September 1894 and had no children.
The Nebraska State Journal listed another real estate transfer for Etta on October 5th 1909 she sold three more city lots for $550. This was probably the last of their property before moving to Idaho.
1910 was the year the Knapps established residence on a farm in Hope, Bonner, Idaho. Etta was 58 and had been married 37 years. They had with them their two youngest, William and Harold, along with a new addition, their adopted daughter Eloise A Knapp. Eloise was born the 11th of February 1903, the daughter of the Knapps daughter, Dorothy. She was raised by her grandparents as their daughter until 1920 when she is a teenager living with her mother Dorothy, after Dorothy’s marriage to Frederic Carver, but is listed as her sister. I wasn’t able to discover who her father was. During those first few years in Hope they also board a barber, Fritz Schumann.
In 1916 Etta and William are still in Hope, William is the county coroner as well as a running a private practice, their son Harold Beecher Knapp is married to Edna and working as a forest ranger, and William M Jr. is working as a carpenter.
During 1920 Etta’s son and daughter in law Edna are still living at home with her and William, along with their daughter Mary Etta, Etta’s grandchild. Etta is 68 and William at 72 is still a practicing physician. Harold is still a Forest Ranger, while Edna stays at home with Etta.
On the 16th of November, 1921 Etta lost her husband of 45 years, William succumbed to angina pectoris brought on by arterio sclerosis in Sandpoint, Bonner, Idaho. He was buried three days later, the 19th of November, in Hope cemetery, Bonner county, Idaho. Etta was granted her husband’s pension as recorded in the Ogden Standard Examiner, Ogden, Utah, on the 2nd of June 1922, for the monthly sum of $30.
Sometime after her photograph circa 1920, and after her husbands death in 1921, Etta Adeline Knapp nee Beecher moved to Seattle, Washington, the first address I found was in 1925 being 5638 12th Ave. N.E. which was the home of her daughter Bessie Pearl. By the next year 1926 she is living at 4639 Eastern Ave., and then in 1928 she is back with her daughter Bessie, at 5638 12th Ave. Along the way in 1927 on September 5th, Etta is mentioned in the Nebraska State Journal of Lincoln, Nebraska of having visited her niece, Mrs Mattie Knapp Leavitt, and her nephew Herbert S Knapp. She was accompanied by another niece, Laura Knapp of New York. She is back in Seattle with Bessie Pearl in 1929, and lists an occupation as a nurse, something she was undoubtedly familiar with from helping her husband.
She spent her last year, 1930, there with Bessie, Bessie’s husband Thomas Frizzell, and her grandson Don Frizzell who was 23 that year. Her son in law Thomas was the floor manager of a department store, and her grandson Don was playing in an orchestra. Etta and Bessie are not employed.
Etta passed away the 12th of December, 1930 in Seattle. She was 78 years old. Her body was returned to Nebraska where I found burial records listing her burial in Greenwood cemetery, York county, Nebraska. I presume her mother and Arthur are buried there as well, but that remains for further research as the cemetery is only partially transcribed.
She lived on her parents farm in 1860, in Kendall. The census form that year is full of misspellings and often illegible so it is difficult to discern who is who, there appear to be 3 extra children living with the family of unknown provenance, perhaps cousins, besides three of her actual siblings. Her father Philo owned an 80 acre farm valued at $4,000 and declared his belongings to be worth $843, by which I assume they were financially secure. His land was a patented homestead.
In 1870 Etta is 18 and working as a school teacher. Her dad is doing even better financially with their farm, and her three older sisters are also at home and also teaching school, the younger, Julia, is listed with the last name Ross and has a 1 year old son Archie Ross. She has a younger sister Jennie attending school, aged 7. (Etta had at least 8 siblings and I haven’t attempted to trace them but have kept the focus on Etta)
Etta’s father Philo died when he was 54, shortly before her birthday in May of 1873. It seems the family split up as Etta next re-appears in York, Nebraska along with several other members of her family.
On her birthday, 19th of May, 1876, Etta Adeline Beecher married Dr William Maurice Knapp, in York, York, Neb. She was 24 years old. He was an established physician, having moved to York in 1873, the same year she lost her father. It’s possible they already had an acquaintance as he had previously practiced in McDonough county, Illinois. She was working as a schoolteacher in York, and she remained active in the education of children her entire life. Her husband William was elected to the State Senate the following year, in 1877, after previously being town Mayor.
Their first child, a son, was born Arthur Lee Knapp, on the 28th of May, 1877, in York. He was followed by a daughter, Bessie Pearl Knapp, the 5th of December 1878.
Ettie was 28 in 1880. William is still a physician but very busy with civic affairs, medical societies, and fraternal organizations. She’s keeping house, also very active in civic affairs, and with two children listed, Lee (Arthur Lee) aged 3 and Bessie (Bessie Pearl) aged 1. Her mother Mary Olney Beecher and her sister Jennie, 16, are living with them. Another daughter, Helen Mary, was born on September 24th 1880.
Tragedy struck in 1882, when her daughter Lucille, born the 30th of November, 1881, died on the 29th of July. The next year, daughter Luetta Dorothy was born on March 17th 1883, in York.
In 1885 Etta’s household got larger, with the addition of Lee Carey, a painter, and his wife Francis. Im unsure of their relationship but would guess they were relatives. Her mother Mary Beecher nee Olney and a servant Eva Galvin are also in the house. Arthur Lee and Bessie Pearl are in school, the other two children Helen Mary and Luetta Dorothy are still at home, too young as yet for school. During this period, 1882 to 1886, her husband William was teaching as a Professor at the University of Nebraska. During the latter part of his tenure as Professor he was appointed by the Governor of Nebraska to head the Nebraska State Insane Asylum in Aurora, Hamilton county, Nebraska.
Etta and William had two more sons, William Maurice, born the 20th of April 1888 in Lincoln, and Harold Beecher, who was born the 29th of January, 1890, in York, Nebraska.
In 1895 the Lincoln, Nebraska “Courier” noted the surprise 75th birthday party thrown Saturday night, the 3rd of August for Etta’s mother Mary Olney Beecher at the home of her daughter Julie Ross. Etta and William attended with their children, as did several other family members. Quite a few Knapps and Beechers lived in the area.
Three months later, the 18th November 1895, Etta’s mother Mary Olney Beecher passed away in University Place, Lincoln, Neb. She was buried with her husband in Pavilion cemetery back in Kendall county, Illinois.
Records in the Nebraska State Journal newspaper and a monthly magazine called the Nebraska State Journal both list Etta as a member of a discussion group on the ‘relation of the mothers to the school’ composed of members of the Nebraska Society for Child Study, during its annual address on December 5th of 1897.
A Nebraska State Journal list of real estate transfers records the sale of two real estate lots situated at University Place by Etta A Knapp, to a J.J. Longacre, for $1200, the 18th of July 1899. This would probably be her mothers estate.
By June 1900 Etta had turned 48, and the family was living in Aurora, Hamilton county, Nebraska, where William had been head of the Insane Asylum until 1892. All of the children are still living at home, Arthur employed as a day laborer, and Bessie Pearl and Helen both working as school teachers. The three younger siblings are in school.
In 1907 Etta suffered another loss of a child when she was 55, her eldest son Arthur Lee Knapp passed away on November 29th, in University Place, Nebraska, at the age of 30. He left a widow Laura M Knapp nee Smith, who was still listed as his widow in the 1910 city Directory for Lincoln, Nebraska. They had married the 14th of September 1894 and had no children.
The Nebraska State Journal listed another real estate transfer for Etta on October 5th 1909 she sold three more city lots for $550. This was probably the last of their property before moving to Idaho.
1910 was the year the Knapps established residence on a farm in Hope, Bonner, Idaho. Etta was 58 and had been married 37 years. They had with them their two youngest, William and Harold, along with a new addition, their adopted daughter Eloise A Knapp. Eloise was born the 11th of February 1903, the daughter of the Knapps daughter, Dorothy. She was raised by her grandparents as their daughter until 1920 when she is a teenager living with her mother Dorothy, after Dorothy’s marriage to Frederic Carver, but is listed as her sister. I wasn’t able to discover who her father was. During those first few years in Hope they also board a barber, Fritz Schumann.
In 1916 Etta and William are still in Hope, William is the county coroner as well as a running a private practice, their son Harold Beecher Knapp is married to Edna and working as a forest ranger, and William M Jr. is working as a carpenter.
During 1920 Etta’s son and daughter in law Edna are still living at home with her and William, along with their daughter Mary Etta, Etta’s grandchild. Etta is 68 and William at 72 is still a practicing physician. Harold is still a Forest Ranger, while Edna stays at home with Etta.
On the 16th of November, 1921 Etta lost her husband of 45 years, William succumbed to angina pectoris brought on by arterio sclerosis in Sandpoint, Bonner, Idaho. He was buried three days later, the 19th of November, in Hope cemetery, Bonner county, Idaho. Etta was granted her husband’s pension as recorded in the Ogden Standard Examiner, Ogden, Utah, on the 2nd of June 1922, for the monthly sum of $30.
Sometime after her photograph circa 1920, and after her husbands death in 1921, Etta Adeline Knapp nee Beecher moved to Seattle, Washington, the first address I found was in 1925 being 5638 12th Ave. N.E. which was the home of her daughter Bessie Pearl. By the next year 1926 she is living at 4639 Eastern Ave., and then in 1928 she is back with her daughter Bessie, at 5638 12th Ave. Along the way in 1927 on September 5th, Etta is mentioned in the Nebraska State Journal of Lincoln, Nebraska of having visited her niece, Mrs Mattie Knapp Leavitt, and her nephew Herbert S Knapp. She was accompanied by another niece, Laura Knapp of New York. She is back in Seattle with Bessie Pearl in 1929, and lists an occupation as a nurse, something she was undoubtedly familiar with from helping her husband.
She spent her last year, 1930, there with Bessie, Bessie’s husband Thomas Frizzell, and her grandson Don Frizzell who was 23 that year. Her son in law Thomas was the floor manager of a department store, and her grandson Don was playing in an orchestra. Etta and Bessie are not employed.
Etta passed away the 12th of December, 1930 in Seattle. She was 78 years old. Her body was returned to Nebraska where I found burial records listing her burial in Greenwood cemetery, York county, Nebraska. I presume her mother and Arthur are buried there as well, but that remains for further research as the cemetery is only partially transcribed.
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