Surnames: Knoll, Dietsche, Gherke, Brown, Olson, Hable, Langholz, Blaubach

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) 04/12/1945

Knoll, George (1857? - 7 Apr. 1945)

George Knoll gathered himself to his fathers last Saturday upon the land which he had carved from the forest and in the barn which he had built long ago. With his world falling away from him, he went alone last Saturday to this barn, climbed up the ladder of the haymow, attached a new clothes rope to the beam overhead, and swung off into eternity. At the age of 88 his accomplishment was turning to emptiness. He had made a farm and had sold it; had $2,500 of the money in his possession, with plenty more to come. But to him the farm was more than money, and with it gone, and his old manner of living gone, he felt there was nothing more to live for.

Mr. Knoll had lived upon his farm in Loyal town for more than 50 years. Here his five children had been born. Here he had labored with, and bade a last farewell to his first wife, who had died 50 years ago. Here he had lived, with his second wife, until she too, had passed over in 1937. For some years he had lingered on the old place. Of late a daughter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Dietsche, had lived upon the farm with him, upon a rental basis. But their time was up on Sunday, April 8, and the plans had been made to break up the old arrangement. So the farm was sold, and $2,500 had been paid upon the purchase.

As the end was approaching, a doubt arose. Why didn’t the young folks buy the old place, at the price paid by the outsider, and why did Mr. Knoll not continue to live with them in his accustomed room and bed? But when that question arose, it was too late. And on Saturday the Dietsches went off to look for a farm, while Mr. Knoll and John, his bachelor son, cooked their dinner and ate it together.

For the old man the program was definite enough, as he ate that final meal. With the old place sold, he had money and the prospect of more. The personal property was to be sold at an auction yet to be arranged for. He was to go and live with another daughter in the same neighborhood, Mrs. Leonard Gherke. Everything was all fixed, but it was fixed by him and as he was accustomed to fix things when he did the fixing. The meal concluded, he went out back, with no hint to John of what he contemplated. He went straight to the barn. Evidently his plan had been thought through, for the clothesline he used was new and strong.

It was some time, perhaps 20 to 30 minutes, before John became uneasy and went to look. Searching for the old man, he finally found him. Mr. Knoll had solved life’s perplexities in his own way. A call was put in for Coroner Herbert L. Brown and for Sheriff Olson. Dr. A. P. Hable also was summoned from Loyal. But there was little that could be done. The action was conclusive. The manner of death was sure.

It remained only to conduct the last rites for an old man whose work was done, and that brief ceremony took place, Tuesday afternoon at Ohlrogge funeral home in Loyal, with the Rev. J. C. Langholz of the Trinity Lutheran church officiating.

In addition to the three children already mentioned, Mr. Knoll left a daughter, Mrs. Leonard Blaubach of Ashland, and a son, Clarence Knoll of Colby, Wis.