Anna’s death was related in an edition of the Cambria Freeman: “On Sunday afternoon, April 21st, Mrs. Springer, wife of Mr. Peter Springer, of Barr Township, this county, feeling unwell, retired to her room and with a newspaper in hand lay down on the bed to read and if possible recuperate her wasted energies. She was permitted to remain undisturbed for an hour or two, after which a memeber of the family went to call her to supper, when she ws found lying on the bed, apparently fast asleep, but a closer examination revealed the startling fact that her seeming slumber was the long sleep of death. . .”. The article went on to relate that at Mrs. Springer’s funeral at St. Nicholas Church in Nicktown, two loud knocks were heard by all at the right side of the altar, “the knocks could not, of course, be ascribed to human agency.” After the funeral, a letter was received that announced the death of Mrs. Springer’s sister, who was in a religious order of charity in Philadelphia. It was then determined that the sister died at the precise moment that the knocks were heard in church.
The story was later corrected to state that the Sister of Charity was actually a daughter, and that she had died before receiving the news of Mrs. Springer’s death. This was followed by a letter to the editor by Fr. Valentine Lobmayer of St. Nicholas Church, who explained the two knocks - two windows in the church were hoisted without support because of the warm wather, and while offering the Requiem Mass one fell during the Dies Irae and another during the consecration 15 minutes later. He also indicated that neither death was unexpected, as Mrs. Springer was suffering from the consumption and her daughter, Sister Gervasia, had been ill of the typhoid fever.

Peter and Anna immigrated on the vessel Bark Anna, which left Bremen and arrived in Baltimore on May 8, 1851. The manifest indicates they were born iin Niederklein and last lived in Churhessen (i.e. Kurhessen), both of which were then situated in the Hesse province of Germany. It indicates that their destination was Pittsburg and Peter’s occupation was listed as Steinbauer, i.e. stonemason.

Peter was a farmer. In 1860, the family lived in Carrolltown, Pa. By 1870, they settled in Carroll Township, and by 1880 they were in Barr Township.

Peter was drafted for the Civil War on September 19 or 20, 1864. He was among the 72 selected on a wheel of 117 for Carroll Township, Cambria Co., Pa.