The will of John Kleckner was written in 1835 and mentioned son George, named him an Executor in fact. So George was clearly still alive, meaning he could not have been the George Kleckner who died in 1834. The 1849 will of Anna Barbara Kleckner also named son George as Executor.

I found George Kleckner and learned he was Rachel's father by looking for Rachel in the 1850 Census (when she was 5) and the 1860 Census (she was 15).

1810 and 1820. He can be accounted for with his father.

1830. George lives in West Buffalo Twp. A neighbor is his father John.

1840. George lives in W Buffalo Twp.

1850. George and Elizabeth live in W Buffalo with their 10 children including Rachael E. Even given everything I now know, I think it looks more like Rachael R than Rachael E -- but it was transcribed by someone as Rachael E, and I can see that it may say that.

1860. He lives in W Buffalo Twp.

1870. He lives in W Buffalo Twp. A younger woman age 39 lives with him called “housekeeper”, but she is in fact his daughter Sarah Royer, who was previously age 21 in 1850.

There is a World Family Tree that shows George Kleckner born 12 Jul 1797 West Buffalo died 3 May 1874 buried at Mifflinburg Cemetery with wife Elizabeth. It shows the same list of children as found in 1850 Census except Richard is where Rachel should be. I think someone simply misread the listing in the 1850 Census.

His will is quite hard to read but I have a copy. It was dated 29 Apr 1874. I think he says he is of Mfflinburg. He makes no mention of a wife. He does mention son Joseph, daughter Sarah Royer, son John H, daughter Barbara Ruhl, daughter Mary C Wetzel, daughter Lydia Herman who clearly is deceased, daughter Rebecca Diehl, son Daniel, son George O and daughter Rachel E Diehl. Executors Daniel and George M Royer.

There is a little problem and that is that he clearly acknowledges that daughter Lydia Herman has died but makes no such acknowledgement about daughter Rachel E Diehl. But she died about a year earlier. His estate was valued at about $25,000. There was a disbursement to Robert Foster guardian for the children of Rachel Diehl.

In 1871, George Kleckner of West Buffalo Twp deeded half of a town lot in Mifflinburg to daughter Rachel Diehl wife of William and the other half to Sarah Royer.

Francis Fox said John’s son George died in 1834 and married Miss Ruhl. Various Internet Family Trees give the same impression. The truth is there were three George Kleckners who came to adulthood around 1810 in Union County. One died in 1834, one in 1858 and one in 1874. They can be easily confused.

But I have worked very hard to get this right. It was Solomon’s son George who died in 1834 and who had married Miss (Margaret) Ruhl. In Solomon’s estate file, there was mention of several men named Ruhl acting as guardians for George’s children.

In any event, we know that the George Kleckner of interest to us, father of Rachel, died in 1874 and his wife’s name was Elizabeth.

George lived his entire life in or near Mifflinburg. He was a prosperous man, his estate accounting showing assets of $25,000.

George and wife Elizabeth had 10 children. We know their names and approximate birth years from the 1850 Census: Joseph 22, Sarah 21, John H 19, Barbara 18, Mary C 16, Lydia 14, Rebecca 12, Daniel 10, George 8, Rachel E 5.

And from George’s will, we learn that Lydia pre-deceased her father and had married Hartman, Sarah married Royer, Barbara married Ruhl and Mary C married Wetzel.

We know too that Rachel E pre-deceased her father.

For a long time, I had the information that Elizabeth’s maiden name was Hartman, but it came from an Internet family tree and I had absolutely no other evidence of it and so I never took it that seriously. Besides, the tree where I found her full name had no information on who her parents were, so it was a name that led nowhere.

Then I found that in John Kleckner’s will, he set aside funds for the use of Barbara Hartman, widow of John of Northampton County, the balance to go to her heirs upon her death. Then I found a deed wherein Solomon Kleckner sold land to Barbara Hartman, widow of John. I got curious about Barbara.

In researching Barbara Hartman, I found that she had a son named John and he had a daughter named Elizabeth and according to a (different) Internet tree, Elizabeth’s birth date, presumably from church records, was in full agreement with the birth date I had for Elizabeth Kleckner from her tombstone. I also realized that many of the names that George and Elizabeth gave their children were names of Elizabeth Hartman’s siblings, and finally the proof of her name emerged when I found the death certificate of John Hartman Kleckner, her son. It gave her name as Rachel Hartman.

Elizabeth was Rachel Elizabeth Hartman, daughter of John Hartman and Regina Baer. Her daughter Rachel E (I’d guess Elizabeth) was named after her.

She was most certainly born while her parents were still residing in Northampton County and no doubt she moved with them to Luzerne County. How she met George Kleckner seems clear since her grandmother had moved to Union County and was transactionally involved with the Kleckner family there. But was it just from occasional family visits? Or, did Elizabeth live with Barbara for some period of time? That I don’t know.

Ultimately, though, she married a man from Mifflinburg and lived out her life there.

She is with her husband in 1830-1850.