Catherine Freyer (or Fry) KoernerNovember 30th, 1796 – January 20th, 1889 Catherine and John moved from Virginia to a farm in Union County, Indiana, in 1832, an area where several of Catherine’s relatives already lived. The Koerner farm, which covered nearly 180 acres, earned a description by Catherine’s descendants as having enough buildings to comprise a small village. After her husband’s death in 1876, Catherine Koerner lived in Richmond, Indiana, with her daughter and son-in-law. Milton Wright often visited her when in Richmond on business for the United Brethren Church. Catherine Koerner died in Richmond and is buried in the Franklin Church Cemetery near Liberty, Indiana. John (Johann) Gottlieb KoernerFebruary 16th, 1791 – December 3rd, 1876 Upon reaching the United States, John Koerner worked for awhile as a carriage-maker in Baltimore, Maryland. On April 10, 1820, he married Catherine Fry (or Freyer) and moved with her to her parents’ seventy-acre farm near Hillsboro, Virginia, in Loudon County. Over the years of their marriage, John and Catherine had five children. John worked in the farm’s carriage shop and at a forge in Hillsboro. John and Catherine sold their land to William Brown in 1832 and moved west to Union County, Indiana, a place to which several relatives preceded them. There they acquired a 170-acre farm, where they grew crops and John practiced his carriage trade. Later Wright family accounts told of a farm with tens of buildings that seemed like a small village. John converted from Presbyterianism to the United Brethren in Christ soon after his arrival in Indiana; he was active in this church until his death in 1876. He is buried in the Franklin Church Cemetery near Liberty, Indiana. Susan Catherine Koerner WrightApril 30th, 1831 – July 4th, 1889 |
Last updated: February 5, 2018