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| According to his marriage license, Jonathan Grover Emerich was born July 8, 1892 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. His parents were Reuben M. Emerich and Elizabeth W. Borkey. By 1910 the family had moved to the Burough of Orwigsburg where Jonathan spent the rest of his childhood. Here also he met and married his wife, Lillian Holzer, the daughter of William Holzer and Louisa Reed. The 1900 census lists "Grover" as being born in July of 1994. In the 1910 census, "Jonathan" is listed as being 18, and in the 1920 census he is listed as Jonathan G. and his age is given as 26. Not having a birth certificate for Jonathan we are left with a question as to his birth year. |
Lillian and Jonathan were married in Orwigsburg on December 22, 1910. At some point in the next ten years the couple and their family would move to Springfield Twp., Deleware County where they are listed in the 1920 census living next to Jonathan's parents on Baltimore Pike. At the time of the census the couple had six children living. Twins, Ethel and Ellen born in 1916 had died in infancy. The children living in 1920 were, Raymond, Winfield, Theodore, William, Robert, and Elizabeth (who I believe was named after her grandmother). In the next two years two more daughters would be born to the couple, Marguerite born in 1921 and Evelyn born in 1923. |
Tragedy struck the family sometime during 1923. Jonathan was killed when a barn collapsed during a storm. Apparently Lillian was unable to raise the children on her own, so the children were scattered around the area. The oldest boys went to live with various farmers, working for their board. The youngest boy, Robert, along with his sister Elizabeth went to Bethany Orphans home to which Evelyn would also go when she was weaned. Marguerite was fortunate in that Lillian's father, William Holzer, and his second wife, Ellen Degler, agreed to take her into their home. Marguerite believed that her age was the factor in this decision. Although the children were scattered, there was a real effort on the children's part to keep in touch which they succeeded in doing. William and Ellen Holzer would often take Marguerite to visit her sisters and brother at "The Home" and from family stories relayed by Marguerite, it seems that the Holzer home was always open for visitors. Robert was the only one of the nine children who having lived past infancy, did not live to adulthood. He died from appendisitis while at the Bethany Orphan's Home. Lillian would later remarry James Davidson and they had a son, James. |
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