John W. Klingner

John W. Klingner was born September 28, 1877 in Fair Grove. His father was a farmer and a Methodist minister. After school john became a blacksmith. He was a blacksmith for 10 years.

He met and married Lulu Putman. They married on December 24, 1899. They had 4 children. Velda, Mona, John B., and Malcolm.

John decided he wanted to run a funeral home. He would be an embalmer. An embalmer is someone who gets people ready for burial after they die. John would sell the family a coffin. A coffin is what a dead person is buried in.

John came to Springfield in 1909. He started his own funeral home. The J. W. Klingner & Company funeral home opened on November 1, 1909. It was on Commercial Street. The building is still standing. It is near the Springfield Kitchen.

The Klingner funeral home's first hearse was horse drawn.

Mr. And Mrs. Klingner died a few months apart in 1935. The Klingners had one of the early funeral homes. They were important in Springfield.

Author: Amy Carr
Source: Jonathan Fairbanks and Clyde Edwin Tuck, Past and Present of Greene County, Missouri, 1915, and interview by Amy Carr with Mr. and Mrs. John Klingner.
We thank Mr. And Mrs. John Klingner for use of the above photos.
(These images, courtesy of the Klingner Collection, are for use in conjunction with the SMSU Campus Compact/WorldCom grant project. You must request permission to print, copy, or download these images for any other use.)