The Family of Mr. & Mrs. John Krimminger
John |
Rebecca |
John Newton Krimminger
Doctor, Father, Judge, School Master, Post Master,
Senator and Much More
Was he someone who most people looked up to or, was he someone who was hated by almost everyone? Great great grandfather John Newton Krimminger was probably the most controversial of my ancestors. You decide for yourself after reading his story.
John Newton Krimminger, the father of my great grandmother Caroline Krimminger Severance, was the eighth child of Christopher and Elizabeth Krimminger. He was born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina in 1819.
John most likely worked on the family farm in Cabarrus County until he reached manhood. Then about 1846, he said goodbye to his family and moved to Darlington, South Carolina where at the age of twenty-seven, he met and married a young sixteen-year-old Rebecca U. Wright. He and his new bride without delay, purchased a farm, which I feel certain, (due to the purchase price of the farm and a housekeeper), must have included a very fine home.
John took an active part in his community and earned numerous positions in Darlington. He attended school in Columbia, South Carolina where he earned his doctorate in medicine. Then in 1856, John was appointed magistrate for the District of Darlington where he dealt with judicial matters, appointing people to county offices and conducting marriages.
In addition to his magistrate duties, John was a very productive farmer. The 1860 Census 
Agriculture Schedule described John’s 60-acre farm at a level of productivity exceeded only by the larger farms in his district. To help him with his work, John had for help in the home, a black woman, age 26, and three children, ages one to eight. The woman, because of her children, probably worked only inside the home. John most likely hired day laborers to help with work in the fields. Times were good for John, Rebecca and their six daughters.
Then, at 4:30 A.M. on April the 12th, in 1861, 43 Confederate guns (cannons and mortars) formed a ring around Fort Sumter, South Carolina and began the bombardment that initiated the bloodiest war in our American history. The American Civil War had begun and all, whether from the south or north, found that their life would never again be the same.
The Confederate Army conscripted (or drafted if you prefer) John into Company G of the Eighteenth South Carolina Infantry in May of 1862, at the age of 43. His military records indicate that he was sick and hospitalized most of the time he was in the service of the Confederacy. According to Rebecca (during her later testimony at a congressional hearing), while he was hospitalized, John wrote to her that he had mixed feelings toward succession, and that he would never fight against the United States.
John deserted the Confederate Army in Mississippi (probably in May of 1863) and joined the Union Army. He became a commissary sergeant during the latter part of the war and was then stationed at Pensacola, Florida.
According to Rebecca, after the War was over, John mustered out of the Union army in Tallahassee, Florida. From there, he and his family traveled to New Troy (a community located on the bank of the Suwannee River) in December of 1865. New Troy was the County Seat of Lafayette County, Florida, which in 1865, also included what is now Dixie County.
As soon as John arrived in Lafayette County, the Union men of the county urged him into politics. Although a medical doctor, John only practiced medicine on his own family and neighbors.
Over the next five years, John’s political status grew. It grew so much that he became known as the political “boss” of Lafayette County. John served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention that wrote the 1868 Florida Constitution. He served as a Senator in the Florida Legislature, as Superintendent of Lafayette County Schools, and as Lafayette County Judge.
During his political life in Lafayette County, John made many political enemies. Most of the Union men in Lafayette County were Republican, while the majority of the Confederates there were Democrat.
This political unrest brought John to the end of his political life, as well as his last day on earth.
On Thursday morning, October 5, 1871, John Newton Krimminger, age 53, was assassinated while sitting on the front porch of his home in New Troy.
This tragic event was just one of the many violent incidents, which occurred in Florida during Reconstruction following the Civil War. John’s murder created a great degree of attention because he was a County Judge and a prominent Florida Republican politician. The Civil War was over, but it was definitely not forgotten in Lafayette County. The animosity that existed between former Confederates and Unionists in Lafayette County became so bad in 1871 that Florida’s Governor dispatched U.S. troops to the area to restore law and order.
On November 13, 1871, a Joint Committee of Congress met in Jacksonville, Florida to investigate the lawlessness occurring in Florida. On their agenda, was allotted time to receive testimony from Rebecca on the death of Judge Krimminger.
The members of the Joint Committee asked Rebecca over one hundred and eighty questions regarding the life and death of her husband, in addition to what she knew of the lawlessness happening throughout the county.
In response to a question asked by the chairman of the Joint Committee, Rebecca recalls John’s last minutes alive. “It was right early in the morning; I recon the sun was half an hour high when it was done. He had just walked into the piazza and washed his hands and face, and had sat down as he usually did every morning after walking out. A few moments after he sat down I heard a gun fired, and I heard him holler; he hollered three times. I ran to him, and just as I got to my room door, I saw him rise up and fall over on his face. I went to him and turned him over. He tried to speak but could not.”
The Assassination of Dr. Krimminger
The Lake City herald gives the following particulars of the murder of Dr. Krimminger.
"Dr. Krimminger, the former Republican Senator of Taylor and La Fayette Counties, was assassinated at his residence in new Troy, La Fayette County, on the morning of the t5h Inst. A man by the name of Poncher had had some difficulty with Krimminger, growing out of the last fall election in that county. It appears that he nursed the deadly animosity for many long months, seeking a convenient opportunity to satisfy his devilish, murderous desire. On the night of the 4th, he concealed himself, armed with a rifle, in the court-house, which is in proximity to Dr. Krimminger’s residence, and there he remained during the night, chewing a large quantity of tobacco, as is shown by a large pool of amber that was found at the place where he was concealed until sun up next morning, when Dr. Krimminger, all unconscious of danger, got up and came out on his piazza and seated himself to enjoy the morning air. Sliding the window of the court-house so as to admit the barrel of his rifle, Poncher placed his gun in rest and deliberately aimed and fired, the ball entering the heart of Krimminger and killing him instantly. At the report of the gun Mrs. Krimminger ran out to the front piazza only to see her husband breathe his last, and recognized Poncher as he left the court-house, gun in hand, and make his escape."
"From last accounts Poncher had not yet been arrested, but is being pursued by the sheriff and a posse."
"At the time the assassination took place, the river was very high, and a slough cut off Krimminger’s residence from the other part of the town, which consists of a half dozen houses, and being early morning the inhabitants were not up and stirring."
A related article from the Savannah Morning News, July 25, 1873, page 1, col. 2.
"Tallahassee Sentinel: John C. Ponchier was killed on the 5th Inst., at Dedman’s Bay by Mark Stevens, a merchant at that place. Ponchier was once Sheriff of La Fayette County. In 1861, he shot Senator Krimminger, at New Troy. It will be remembered that he lay all night in the court-house and shot Krimminger from a window, as K. sat on his porch early in the morning. Ponchier fled into the dense hammocks in the lower part of Taylor and La Fayette counties, and there defied the Sheriff and his posse. He was always well armed, and on one or two occasions when they came up with him, he stopped, got behind a log, and beckoned them to come on, which invitation they prudently declined. He has long been noted as a desperate character. At the time of his death, he was sixty years of age."
Betty L. Krimminger (a noted Krimminger family researcher) wrote in an article for the Cabarrus County, North Carolina Heritage book. “John was the eighth Republican assassinated in Lafayette County in 1871. Congress, believing the Ku Klux Klan was behind much of the deadly violence spreading through Florida and other Southern states, immediately ordered vigorous enforcement of federal authority in the South.
Yes, Judge Krimminger was a man who you might have loved, and yes, he was also a man who you might have hated. Yes, his murder was very tragic, especially to Rebecca and the five remaining children. It is thought however, that others, especially the citizens of Lafayette and surrounding counties, probably benefited from this tragic event as the lawlessness that had plagued their lives for so long and that had cost John Krimminger his life, began to decline.
Note: Currently researching the Wright Family History. Please check back later.
The Family of John and Rebecca Krimminger
1. Mary A. Krimminger was born on the 22nd of February 1847 at Darlington County, North Carolina. She married Reddin Byrd Hill circa 1866 at Lafayette County, Florida. She died on the 17th of February 1934 at Lafayette Co. Florida at age 86 and was buried at Maypop Cemetery, in Lafayette County.
2. Nancy A. Krimminger was born in Dec 1848 at Darlington South Carolina. She married Howell Hawkins on the 30th of June 1870 at Lafayette County, Florida. She
died in 1903 at Lafayette County.
.
3. Sarah A. Krimminger was born on the 29th of August 1851 at Darlington South Carolina . She died on the 2nd of November
1866 at Lafayette County, Florida at age 15 and was buried at Troy Cemetery, Lafayette County, Florida.
4. Victoria V. Krimminger was born on the 8th of October 1853 at Darlington South Carolina. She died on 5 Nov
1866 at Lafayette County, Florida at age 13 and was buried at Troy Cemetery, Lafayette County.
5. Dorah Krimminger was born on the 1st of January 1857 at Hartsville, Darlington South Carolina. She married William O. Sistrunk on the 17th of December 1875 at Lafayette
County, Florida. She died circa 1920. The location of her death is unknown to me at this time.
.
6. SusanKrimminger was born in 1859. When and where she died is unknown to me at this time.
7. Caroline Catherine Krimminger was born on the 25th of July 1865 at Timminsville, Darlington County, South Carolina. She married Samuel Stephen Severance ,
son of Paul S. Severance and Martha Langston, on the 8th of December 1887 at Live Oak FL. She died on the 25th of December 1945 at New Troy, Florida, at the age of 80. She
was buried at Maypop Cemetery, Lafayette County, Florida.
8. Franklin Ives Krimminger was born on the 21st of January 1867 at Lafayette County, Florida. He died on the 7th of August 1889 at Lafayette County, Florida, at age 22.
Franklin is buried in Maypop Cemetery, Lafayette County, in the Krimminger family plot.
It is sad to note that Rebecca, for reasons unknown to me, passed away one month and one day after her son Franklin died.
