Charles
'Evans' Harbaugh
(1861-1881)
Charles
'Evans' Harbaugh was born on Feb. 10, 1861 on a farm at
what is now Clairton Lake near Scullton,
Somerset County, PA, the son of David and Mary
Magdalene (Whipkey) Harbaugh. Little is known of Evans' short life.
As a 3-year-old boy, he would have seen his father leave home to join the Army during the Civil War.
When he was a young man, Evans had a photographic portrait taken, seen here, which is colorized and on metal.
In
December 1881, Evans became deathly ill, during a wave of typhoid fever that
swept through the mountain community. Tragedy struck on Dec. 17, 1881, when
Evans succumbed to the illness. Said the Uniontown (PA) Republican Standard,
he "died on the 17th of diphtheria. He was a fine young man, aged 21
years."
His death must have been a great shock to his parents, brothers and sisters. He is buried in the family plot at Imel Cemetery near Clay Run, Fayette County, PA. As part of the family's grief, his name and date of death were dutifully inscribed in the family Bible.
Over the years, the memory of Evans dimmed, but did not fade completely. His photo portrait hung for years in the home of his sister, Letitia Stoner, in Illinois. In 1947, when the book Harbaugh History was published by the Coopriders, he was named in the volume.
Copyright © 2001, 2003 Mark A. Miner