UNKRUR, Joseph (DOD: 10-15-1898)

UNKRUR, ATHMER

Posted By: County Coordinator (email)
Date: 3/17/2025 at 12:08:47

CRUSHED BY THE WHEELS
Joseph Unkrur of Rock Township, Run Over and Killed

A messenger came hurrying to town, Saturday morning, in quest of a physician, bringing the news that Joseph Unkrur, a young farmer of Rock township, had been run over and dangerously hurt. Dr. Hornibrook was called but found the man beyond human aid when he reached his side. There were no witnesses to the accident that so suddenly terminated the young man’s life, but from what little he was able to tell before death, the story is believed to be as follows: Unkrur had been to town and was returning with a load of building material, including a number of heavy stones for foundation work. The accident occurred a few rods from the home of J. F. Ritchie. Whether he fell from the wagon while reaching back to adjust some of the stones or whether he had dismounted for the same purpose and the team started suddenly, throwing him down, is not clear, but at all events, one wheel of the heavily loaded wagon passed over his abdomen. He managed to get up and walk to the Ritchie house where he laid down upon the porch and asked that a doctor be called, saying that he had been run over and was going to die. Before the doctor or his wife and the priest, who had also been summoned, could reach his side, he was dead, death having resulted in less than an hour after the accident.

The funeral was held Monday, at the Catholic church of Rock, the interment occurring at the Rock township Catholic cemetery.

The deceased was in his thirtieth year and was esteemed among his neighbors as a good neighbor and an excellent citizen. He was but recently married and the young wife is well-nigh prostrated by the terrible blow. (Source: The Cherokee Weekly Times, Thurs., Oct. 20, 1898, pg. 5)

The following was posted on Find-a-Grave:

Aged 28 yrs, 1 month, 15 days.
Joseph married Mary Athmer on April 28, 1898, and died in an accident in October. Their child, Joseph, was born several months after his father died.