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150. Peter S. BLESSING
was born on 22 Sep 1846 in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pa.. He died
on 6 Feb 1898 in Middletown, Pa.. He has descendant number 1-9-5-14. He was
ill with consumption. He was a blacksmith. He was buried in Middletown Cemetery,
Middletown, Pa.. Peter enlisted at Harrisburg, Pa., on December 11, 1863 in
the U. S. Army, Co. A., 3rd Battalion, 15th Regiment U.S. Infantry in the
War of The Rebellion. (Civil War). He was discharged at Mobile, Alabama on
December 11, 1868 as a private. Peter signed an
application, dated June 12, 1897, for an invalid pension and stated he was 53
years old. (Based on birth records, Peter was 50 years and 8 months when he completed
the application.) He went on to say that he was 5' 7" tall, fair complexion,
light hair and gray eyes. He stated he contracted chronic diarrhoea about June
1864 and also was troubled
with bronchitis and rhumatism. He listed his address, after being discharged
from the service, as both Dauphin and Perry Counties and his occupation as a
blacksmith.
Peter S. Blessing and Eliza Ann Shoop were married the Rev. F.V. Badenfelt at
Harrisburg, Pa. neither had previous marriages. Eliza was a nurse and lived
with her brother Lewis Shoop when the 1900 census was taken. There is no record
of any children.
When she applied for a continuation of her husbands pension, her sister-in-law
Susan Blessing, wife of William Blessing, and a Harriet Shoop witnessed Eliza's
application. A question comes up as to the relationship of Harriet Shoop. Susan
Blessing's maiden name was Blotenberger. Was Harriet Shoop Susan's sister?
Charles Blessing's
first wife's maiden name was Harriet Blattenburg. Blattenburg and Blotenberger
could be the same surname just spelled different as was often the case in those
days. In Charles' pension application it was stated that Harriet never divorced
her first husband when she
married Charles. Was Harriet's first husband a Shoop??? This is something for
future genealogists to look into.
Eliza's obit was in the May 23, 1938 addition of the Hummelstown, Pa. newspaper:
"Mrs. Eliza Blessing. Funeral services for Mrs. Eliza Blessing who
died at her home in Middletown on Friday night were held at the residence at
149 East Water St. Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. Rev. Harvey K. Geyer, of
the First United Brethren Church, officiated. Burial was in the Middletown Cemetery.
Her husband, Peter Blessing, died more than 30 years ago. She is survived by
two step-brothers, William Long, Union Deposit and Isaac Long, Ohio."
He was married to Eliza Ann SHOOP on 3 Sep 1872 in Harrisburg, Dauphin Co., Pa.. Eliza Ann SHOOP was born on 20 Mar 1853. She died on 19 May 1938. She was a nurse.