HOME - Red Hook Liquor Stores, Bars, Saloons and Restaurants - Red Hook

Knoop/Knope, Jacob (c 1829-1873) ) Hanover, Germany

Imlay at Commerce

1860: Ward 1, Jacob Knoop age 28, grocer, $2,000 Hanover, John age 25 grocer.

1862 Jacob John Knoop grocery, Furman and Montegue.

1863 Jacob and John Knoop grocery, Furman and Montegue.

1866 tax record, Imlay and Commerce, Knoop, Jacob, retail dealer in liquor.

1866 licence Knoop, Jacob, cor. Commerce and Imlay Streets

1869, 1871 Knoop, Jacob, Liquor, Commerce and Imlay,

1870 BE liquor dealer list, MISCELLANEOUS Knoop, J. (Jacob), Imlay and Commercial

1870 directory Knoop, Jacob, Imlay c Commerce

1870 census; Knope, Jacob, 41 ret liquor dealer, Hanover, Wilhemina Napier 41, keeping house, Fred Napier 8

On a Board of Excise list for 1866: Jacop Knoop, cor, Commerce and Imlay

Jacob Knoop appears to have died of natural caused sometime between Christmas 1872 and February 1873 at his two story frame house at the south-east corner of Imlay and Commerce Streets. His body, which had been eaten by his dog and/or rats, was discovered in an upstairs bedroom. His neighbors had not seen him for a couple of months but assumed he had left as his house was about to be sold at a sheriff's sale. John Miller had recently bought the house and was planning on renting it to James Carhoonan (or Conaughan). Carhoonan had tried and failed to contact Jacob Knoop. After a four or five day search for Knoop Carhoonan and John Miller broke into the house. Knoop had been the original owner of the house, valued at about $5,000, but there was a mortgage on it for about $2,500 of which John Miller held about $1,000. A water pipe had burst in the cellar and it was filled with frozen water. The dog was shot after the discovery. Jacob had a sister and brother who had a lager beer saloon on 3rd ave in Manhattan. Jacob Knoop was said to have been a "hard drinker" who lived alone above his liquor store, his only companion the large Newfoundland dog.

The dingy bar room was said to have been littered with empty bottles on the floor and counters. His business was said to have been sparse. Knopp had lived in the house for about 6 years. He was a member of the Order of Red men, Goethe Lodge, No. 152, Sons of Hermann, a Masonic lodge, American Sharpshooters, and the Dutch Order of Hamburg.

Claus Mahnken, who had a lager beer saloon at the corner of William and Van Brunt, had recently endorsed a note of Knoop. See Mahnken.

A SHOCKING DISCOVERY.; A Human Body Devoured by a Dog in a Deserted House.

Some two months ago a German named Jacob Knoop, residing at the corner of Commerce and Imley streets, South Brooklyn, where he also kept a dingy little whisky-shop, suddenly disappeared, but being unmarried and without any family connections hero, his absence occasioned no remark.

NYTimes, Feb 6, 1873

Brooklyn Union February 6 1873 : Knoop's residence and liquor store at Imlay and Commerce was described as a "shanty". After the discovery of the body by John Miller (who had bought the place in a foreclosure sale) crowds of men, women and children gathered in the snow in front of the "two story frame building." The building was all dark and bordered up but had the "outward appearance of a place ones used as a low liquor store". There was a front room which had been the liquore store and a back room entered through a narrow hall. Both rooms were in chaos, with empty demijohn, cigar boxes, and papers scattered all around. There was a stove in the back room in which the policemen had built a fire. A narrow flight of stairs let to the second floor which contained a bed room furnished with a bedstand, a cot, a stove, a chest (with wearing apparel) and a trunk (filled with books and pamphlets) and some other furnishings. A clock, with the hands stopped at 5 o'clock, was on the mantelpiece. Knoop had apparently been a member of the Masons as a Masonic chart was hanging on the wall. There were other indications that he had been a member of the "Order of American Sharpshooters" and of the "Dutch Order of Hungary (The New York Times article says Hamburg which makes more sence.) ."Among the books were the Bible, Byron's Poetical Works, A City Directory, and several books in German. A sword and a lady's parasol were found in the closet.

The report included a rather graphic description of the eaten face and body.

Knoop was reported to have owned the property for about six year. It was said he was very reserved and did not associate with his neighbors. James Mooney was a keeper of a grocery store "a few yards away" made some comments: Knoop had been in his liquor shop for about 6 years, he was about 50 years old, lived alone, spoke English, lived as a miser, "broke up house" about six months before, did very little business, the place had been closed up all summer, was addicted to drink, had a bartender for a short while. See Mooney

Mr. Henry Clifford who lived on the opposite corner also make some comments: Knopps' letters and papers were left at Clifford's, he was a very reserved man and kept to himself

The next morning several hundren people wer congregated in front of the "shanty" the next morning discussing the "affair". The stock of the store was said to have been worth about $75.

A police officer remarked to the reporter that he had known Knoop for about 5 years and that for about three years he had kept a liquor store at the corner of Montague and Furman streets was was "then of middling circumstances". Other said that of late Knoop had been a very "hard drinker". The police noted that Knoop had been arrested for intoxication on the 9th of August the previous year. At that time a he had come to court carrying a "slung shot"*. He was given ten days in jail for intoxication and carrying a concealed weapon. He had a brother George Knoop who lived at 25th and Third Ave in Manhattan

The dog was shot.

*a striking weapon consisting of a small mass of metal or stone fixed on a flexible handle or strap (Webster)

A SHOCKING DISCOVERY.; A Human Body Devoured by a Dog in a Deserted House.

Some two months ago a German named Jacob Knoop, residing at the corner of Commerce and Imley streets, South Brooklyn, where he also kept a dingy little whisky-shop, suddenly disappeared, but being unmarried and without any family connections hero, his absence occasioned no remark

February 06, 1873, Thursday - (Feb 6, 1873 NYT)

The building was described as a two story frame on the south east corner of Imlay and Commerce. The Times article also contains a rather graphic description of the mangled and eaten body.

New York Herald: Feb 8, 1873, Another ghastly description of the room and the deceased. It was determined by a grand jury that Knoop had died on natural causes, the precise nature unknown sometime between October 1872 and February 1873. His brother claimed the remains. Death: Knoop Jacob 12 y Feb 7 1873 1106 Kings

What is amazing is that the dog barked for two months and no one investigated or complained.


If you have any suggestions, corrections, information, copies of documents, or photos that you would like to share with this page, please contact me at maggie@maggieblanck.com

Liquor Stores Red Hood 1870 and later
Red Hood
HOME - FRITZ KETTLER - HANNA PETERS - JOHANN BEREND PETERMANN - IMMIGRATION

Red Hook Liquor Dealers

A Survey of Liquor Dealers in Red Hook mid to Late 1800s

Red Hook Liquor Dealers - The Families

Balfe - Ball - Baumann - Behnken - Bell - Black - Boysen - Bray - Brickwedel - Callaghan - Carberry - Cassin - Cavanagh - Collimore - Collins - Coogan - Cordes - Curran - Daly - Dawson - Dempsey - Depperman - Devan - Dixon - Dockery - Donovan - Doran - Ehrichs - Fay - Finkeldey - Fitzgerald - Garahan - Gillen - Graef - Haack - Henry - Higgins, Hugh - Higgins, George - Hoehn - - Hoffman - Hughs - Hunold - Hussey - Judge - Kassenbrock - Keleher - Krohler - Kuhn - Lamont - Lever - Little - Looney - Madigan - Mahnken - McAvanny - McGee - McGrath - McKenna - McQuade - Meyers - Molloy - Mooney - Moran - Mullady - Munsinger - Murray - Noble - O'Brien - O'Hara - Oberdieck - Powers - Ropke - Schmadeke - Schwanemann - Shea - Sheridan - Siebe - Simmons - Struve - Sullivan - Weinphal - Winkelman


If you wish to use any of the images or information on this page please feel free to do so provided that you give proper acknowledgement to this web site and include the same acknowledgments that I have made to the provenience of the image or information. Thanks, Maggie

© Maggie Land Blanck - Page created January 2013 - update June 2016