Jacob Karnes

Jacob Karnes
born:  26 Oct 1837 - Fertigs, Venango County, Pennsylvania
died:  1897 - Pennsylvania

Jacob Karnes is the father of Henrietta Karnes Truby and, therefore, Ula Truby's grandfather.  He was born the 5th child of James Karnes and Mary S Stroup on Oct 26, 1837 in Fertigs.  He died in 1897 and is buried in Fertigs Cemetery with his wife, Frances.

The following is taken from the History of Venango Co PA published in 1890 by Brown, Runk & Co (Chicago ILL) pages 1147 and 1148:

 

As shown above, Jacob was married to Frances "Fanny" Stewart on Aug 2, 1860.  That is the only documentation I have found regarding their marriage, but part of me hopes that they were really married in 1859 since Ula's mother was born Nov 16, 1860.  However, we have all heard that "the first baby comes any time, the second one takes nine months."

During June of 1863, Jacob registered for the Civil War draft.  He was 25, married and residing in President Township, Venango Co.  His occupation was that of an “ox driver”, also known as a teamster.  It is unclear whether he drove oxen for the purpose of plowing or as a transportation hauler of goods.

 

In 1864, Jacob appears on the IRS November “Special” tax assessments in Cranberry Township, Venango Co.  He was taxed $25.00 ($389.66 in today’s money) for working as a “Peddler 2^nd class” which tends to make me think that he was actually hauling goods rather than plowing when he registered for the draft. He owed $12.50 because he only worked for six months, most likely only during the warmer months of the year.

 

Jacob has been rather elusive as far as finding records that pertain specifically to him.  I found many records for his children showing him as their “father”, but he died before mandatory record keeping began in Pennsylvania. 

 

I don’t believe that Jacob actually fought in the Civil War, although at the age of 27 in 1863, he would have been the appropriate age.  He was required to register for the draft, but the fact that he was a “peddler” in 1864, and my inability to find any military records for him leads me to believe he did not, in fact, serve.  Jacob also had children born during the war which would seem to indicate that he was present in the home although, admittedly, he may have only been home on short furloughs.  He may have had some type of disability as having a certain number of children would not have prevented him from being drafted.

 

I haven’t been able to find him on any census after 1850 when he was 12 years old and still at home with his parents.  There just seems to be nothing out there to tell us what Jacob did between 1864 and 1890, but the fact that he appears as a subject in the History of Venango County, tells us that he was successful at farming.  You had to pay for your “mugshot” to appear in the county histories which were written throughout the US in 1890 and 1895.  He and Frances were members of the Free Methodist Church and he was at least politically aware, if not active, as an independent.  From this we can tell that Jacob was free-thinking and chose not to follow along party lines.

 

I haven’t found an obituary for Jacob yet.  That he died in 1897 is only apparent from his grave marker.  Since the marker was erected after the death of Frances in 1912, this may or may not be correct.

 

Jacob and Frances are buried at the top of a hill at Fertigs Cemetery.  On my earlier visits to their gravesite, all was well.  The cemetery is well maintained and during my last visit in 2010, they were in the process of placing foundations under some of the flat markers which had been sinking into the ground.  However, it was a little disconcerting to me that the very large markers at the top of the hill were beginning to lean as the ground has eroded over the last 100 years.  As can be seen from my photos of this gravesite, as well as a few others later in this narrative, they were doing what they could to preserve the markers.  I didn’t realize that it has been seven years since I was there, so perhaps I’ll make a trip this summer and find out what has happened since then.