George Lininger was born on February 28th of 1870 in Garrett County, Maryland. His parents were Henry Franklin Lininger (1847-1930) and Mary Fike (1848-1889). George was the eldest of 9 siblings, 4 other siblings died as infants. When his mother died at the age of 40 of cholera morbus, his father remarried in 1892 and had 6 more children.
Cora Viola Gnagey was born on April 10, 1874 in Grantsville, Maryland. Her parents were Jonas Elmer Gnagey (1850-1940) and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Swauger Gnagey (1855-1894). Cora was the eldest child of 16 children, and she was married the year before her mother died in childbirth.
George, 23, and Cora Viola Gnagey, 19, (1874-1954) were married on August 16, 1893, at the Farmer’s Hotel (now Casselman Inn) in Grantsville, Maryland. This was also the home of Cora’s parents. They lived in nearby Accident, Maryland for 18 years and George operated the Lininger General Store. They had 11 children between 1894 and 1910, 4 who died as infants.
George’s maternal grandmother, Sarah Boger Fike, lived with them, and when she passed in 1911 they traveled by train and moved to Waterloo, Iowa. George’s younger brother Lewis Lininger, and Cora’s paternal aunt Fannie Gnagey Hershberger and husband Jonas S. Hershberger and family had moved to Waterloo in 1906 and encouraged them to also move Waterloo. George purchased a house on Hammond Avenue close to the Hershbergers, and due to their growing family sold it within a year. He then purchased a house at 567 LaPorte Road on 7.5 acres. 3 additional children were born in Waterloo, and the 10 Lininger children were raised and grew up at the LaPorte Road property. The property was large enough to keep horses and several other farm animals, a few acres for planted money crops, as well as a large family garden which provided food for the large family. Cora managed household affairs and the children while George managed the businesses.
From 1911-1916 George worked for other people, and in 1916 started his own business Lininger Coal and Feed Company, which was located in a building next to their house on LaPorte Road. Railroad tracks bordered one side of the property which allowed carloads of coal and flour to be delivered to their warehouse. A milk dairy business was started in another building near the house, and was operated for a time by other family members in conjunction with the Coal and Feed Company. He operated this family business mostly by himself with some part-time help from children Charles, Lula, William and Art Mosher for 30 years until he retired in 1946.
In 1950 he and Cora were living at 516 W. 8th Street. Their 3 youngest children who had all been born in Waterloo had passed, Lula from a head injury in a car crash, George Allen from a heart condition, and William in WWII.
Cora died at the age of 80 of complications incident to advanced age on June 12, 1954. George died 10 years later at the age of 94 of complications of advanced age on April 27, 1964. They are buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Waterloo.
Children of George and Cora Lininger
Floy (1894-1894)
Lester Clay (1875-1973)
Infant (1896-1896)
Annie Lucille (1897-1998)
Carmon Randal (1899-1972)
Thelma Elizabeth (1901-1984)
Mildred May (1902-1903)
Gladys Gnagey (1904-2001)
Mary Dorcas (1906-1995)
Harry Beverly (1908-1909)
Charles Jonas (1910-1988)
Lula Grace (1912-1936)
William Earnest Lininger (1916-1944)
