SIXTH GENERATION

149. William BLESSING was born on 15 Oct 1844 in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pa.. He died on 22 Jul 1895 in Landisville, Pa.. He has descendant number 1-9-5-13. He was buried in Cemetery at 14th and Liberty Street, Harrisburg, Pa.. The following information and pictures on William Blessing and his descendants was prepared by William's great-grandson, George Barner Blessing, Jr. (1-9-5-13-1-7-2) retired and living at 1532 Agave Lane, Green Valley, Az. 85614.

"William Blessing was the thirteenth child of Christian and Sarah Blessing. He participated in the second day's fighting at Gettysburg Pennsylvania during the Civil War. He was a member of Rickett's battery light artillery. He was captured by a party of Louisanna Tigers and was recaptured the same day by the Union Army. He participated in many battles and escaped without a scratch."

The above account appeared in the Harrisburg Telegram of Sunday, July 28, 1895.

William Blessing's name appears on one of the monuments in the Gettysburg National Park, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

From the Hummelstown Sun, Hummelstown, Pa. July 26, 1895:
William Blessing, the engineer of Harrisburg, Pa., who was killed at Landisville on Monday, was an uncle to F.D. and D.D.Blessing, Mrs. John B. Nye and Mrs. James G. Riddle. They attended the funeral which took place on Wednesday.

It was the above article that this writer, Robert W. Blessing, used to tie-in William as a descendant of Anthony Blessing. The men and women in the above article were children of Absalom Blessing, brother to William Blessing. The previously known birth dates of William matched the information submitted by George Barner Blessing, Jr..

A brief account of the accident can also be found in the Harrisburg Independent newspaper of Tuesday, July 23, 1895.(cost of the newspaper was 6 cents a week)

The following article was in the Harrisburg, Pa. Daily Telegraph newspaper Tuesday July 23, 1895.
"RAN INTO AN OPEN SWITCH"
Engineer William Blessing, of This City, Instantly Killed.
An open switch at Landisville Junction, on the Pennsylvania, caused a bad freight wreck and the death of engineer William Blessing, of 422 Reily street, about 6:20 last evening. Mr. Blessing, who stuck to his post, was buried under the fire-box of the ditched engine, and his body was not recovered until about 3 o'clock this morning. Fireman Charles Toland, of 1116 Cowden street, excaped by jumping. He sustained a few slight cuts and bruises. The wreck occurred scarcely 100 feet west of the Reading crossing and less than that distance from the tower at that point, tearing up the platform to within a few feet of the latter. The switches at this crossing are interlocking and act so that when a train on one road is crossing an approaching train on the other road will be ditched. A run-in of a train on one road by a train of the other road is therefore impossible, as the switches are set so that it would run off the track before it reached the crossing.
A Reading train had just passed over the crossing last evening, but had not gone the required distance past the crossing for the Pennsylvania switches to close as the eastbound beef train came down the grade at a good rate of speed. The engineer saw the signal, knew that the switch was open and that his engine would be ditched unless
he could stop before the switch was reached. The train was heavy and was running too fast to be stopped in the short distance and the inevitable crash came. Engineer Blessing was seen to get down on the step as if about to jump, but for some unknown reason he got up into the cab again and pulled the whistle and the engine was still screeching as it left the rails, tumbled down the bank and rolled over on its side with Blessing pinned under it, a corpse. The poor fellow was crushed under the fire box, only one knee and a hand being visible. It was difficult to reach him and after the wrecking crews from Parkesburg, Columbia and Middletown arrived a ditch was begun as the
quickest was to recover the body. The five wrecked refrigerator cars were loaded with butter and eggs, and while they were not badly mashed, it would be impossible to
conceive how they could be twisted and tumbled and piled up in worse shape. The trains were all run by way of Columbia. Passengers on the Mount Joy line were taken on a special, made up in Lancaster, as far as the wreck, where they were transferred to the other side and another train took them to their destination. The engine lay on its
side at the foot of the ten-foot embankment while the tender was turned completely upside down, lying partly on the cab of the engine. Mr. Blessing was an old employee and had been an engineer about seven years. The body was brought to the city this morning. A wife and one son, Marion, who is married and a moterman in the employ of the
Harrisburg Traction Company, survive. The dead engineer was about 54 years of age.

More information and pictures of descendants of William Blessing can be seen at the homepage of George Barner Blessing. Jr. His homepage address is listed at the bottom of my homepage.

He was married to Susan BLOTTENBERGER about 1866. Susan BLOTTENBERGER was born about 1842. She died on 14 Nov 1921. William BLESSING and Susan BLOTTENBERGER had the following children:

child+301 i. Marion BLESSING.

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