Biography: Winnifred May Kline

The Kline/Klein family is of German heritage. It is believed that the family originated in Essenheim, in the Palatinate southwest of Mainz, leaving on the ship “Phoenix” on 20 Oct. 1744. The family settled into a German community that included many other Klein families, in an area of Northampton County, Pennsylvania. This area later became Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County.

The great-grandparents of Winnifred Kline moved west to Clarion County in 1837, settling in Ashland Township. The family had for generations spoken German and attended churches, mostly Lutheran, where German was the language of the records and the gravestones. The spoken language of the community became a mixture of German and English. The last immigrant of the famiy, Winnie’s maternal grandparents Anna Catherine Kenemuth and John Frederick, arrived in 1852, and they also settled in Clarion County. They brought a new infusion of German culture and reliance on the German language. The Klein name spelling was changed to Kline in the mid-eighteen hundreds. In the era of the World Wars, some families changed it further to Cline.

Winnie May Kline was born on 10 March 1888 to parents John Abram Kline and Elizabeth Anna Frederick (known as Ella). At the time of her birth the family lived on rented farmland that today lies in Richland_Township, Venango_County, PA. She was born in what became known as the Election House, which her parents rented. It was on the farm that her parents would later purchase from “Squire” Maurice B. Shannon, and eventually Winnie and her husband would own.

Her family attended church at Zion Evangelical and United Brethren (EUB), located at Disler’s Corners. It had been organized in 1844 with an early structure called “The Old Black Church”, used until 1875 when a new building was erected. (Two other EUB churches in the area were the Ashland Church, and the Old Valley Church at Nickleville; Klein relatives are buried at both these sites). Winnie’s parents were married at Zion EUB Church in 1885. In 1896-97 a dispute arose between two local bishops, and the Zion congregation was split. Among members remaining at Old Zion were Morris Shannon, John and Ella Kline, and Frank Beals. (The New Zion church building was located a quarter mile away, and they continued to share the cemetery, as Zion Union Cemetery)

On 2 February 1897, when Winnie was almost nine years old, her parents bought the farm they had previously rented from M.B.Shannon. Winnie attended grade school, probably for eight years, and received the customary certificate. At home she learned to play the piano. She had an older sister Annie, two younger sisters Gladys and Mary P., and a brother Fred

When old enough to hire out as a housekeeper, Winnie worked for James Francis Beals, a widower with five children, most of whom were older than she was. Here she met her future husband James Elgie Beals, the younger son.

Winnie and Elgie were married on 12 October 1910, at the Kline home. Winnie was twenty-two years old. The couple lived for a time with Elgie’s father. Records show that Elgie bought a portion of this Beals farm in 1910, and again in 1911. Their first two children were born there. James Loy Beals, known as Loy, was born 8 February 1912, and Ella May Beals was born 28 September 1917. Elgie and Winnie attended Old Zion EUB church, which Winnie’s parents attended. She cooked the farm food and German cuisine learned from her mother. See Winnie's Food.

Winnie’s father died in 1915 and sometime between 1917 and 1922 Elgie and Winnie bought the Kline farm. An undated news clipping describe the estate sale administered by son-in-law James Elgie Beals. An addition to the farmhouse was built for the widow Ella Kline, and her youngest daughter still at home, Mary Philistia Kline.

Two more children were born to Elgie and Winnie after moving to the Kline farm, Bertha Irene Beals on 6 May 1922, and Robert Elgie Beals on 13 November 1926.

Besides the weekly tasks of housekeeping, sewing the family’s clothes, and canning the summer produce, Winnie enjoyed the outdoors fieldwork of the farm. She enjoyed quilting bees, and during WWI joined with members of the Ladies Aid Society in preparing packages of bandages. On Satudary mornings, Elgie & Winnie delivered farm eggs, cream and milk to customers in Emlenton.

Winnie’s medical history included recovery from breast cancer. She died on May 4, 1966 from complications of late onset diabetes, and was buried at Zion Union Cemetery.

-written by Elizabeth Wilson Williams, granddaughter of Elgie & Winnie, on August 25, 2006.

Notes

• Information regarding the Zion EUB church taken from “History of the Old Zion Church” by Mrs. Bunnie Linn, Emlenton – 1956; found in a notebook, “Venango Co. Cemetery Records – Richland Township” at Venango County Historical Society, Franklin.