The Knoernschild family
Paul Knoernschild, the son of German immigrants, was born in Milwaukee before the turn of the century. He came west to visit a brother in the early 1900s, and somehow ended up working in a grocery store in Taylor.
Hannah Wilkinson’s mother ran a boarding house in Taylor. The couple met and married in that small mining community. They eventually moved to Issaquah, where Paul continued his grocery work. He had a store in the Odd Fellows Building on Front Street, and later became the manager of The Grange. He was a very civic-minded man, serving on the school board for several years.
The family originally lived close to where the Seafirst Bank is located today. Later, they moved to a 40-acre chicken farm on the Hobart Road south of town. There were five children all together, four of whom survived to adulthood: Dora Knoernschild Terhune; Mary Knoernschild Lewis; Paul, Jr.; and Ella Kathryn Knoernschild Burt.
Dora raised a family in the south end, while Mary and Paul stayed in Issaquah. Issaquah High teacher Mary Lou Lewis, Maywood Middle School staff member Lynora Reeves, and many other local people are among the descendents of Paul and Hannah Knoernschild.
