Bio-Ream, EthelHarbaugh

Ethel Irene Ream
(1899-1975) and
William Elliott Harbaugh
(1899-1973)

Ethel Irene (Ream) Harbaugh was born May 17, 1899 in Lower Turkeyfoot Twp., Confluence, PA. She was the third of 16 children born to Joseph and Sarah Ellen (Harbaugh) Ream.

Like her sisters before her, Ethel worked hard on the family farm near the old Jersey settlement. There was a daily routine of washing clothes, baking bread, scrubbing floors and preparing meals.

As the story goes, Ethel was teased about a certain young man named William "Elliot" Harbaugh. It was reported that her reply was that “I wouldn’t marry him if he was the last man on earth.” Needless to say Ethel married Elliot (1899-1973), the son of Marshall and Annie M. (Shroyer) Harbaugh. (Note -- Elliot was a brother to Nora Harbaugh, who married Ethel’s brother Edgar. Eliot and Nora's grandparents were Joseph and Jane (Williams) Harbaugh.)

The Harbaughs had seven children -- Sara Elizabeth Scott, William Alfred Harbaugh, Anna Ruth Bates, Marshall Lester Harbaugh, Wilma Marie Harbaugh, Tedford "Ted" Frantz Harbaugh and Eunice "Dolly" Eileen Mraz. Sadly, daughter Wilma died Feb. 15, 1964.

The photo at right was taken after the birth of their seventh and last child.

Ethel and Elliot moved in about 1937 to Sandy Plaines, near Clarksville, Greene County, PA, where they lived the rest of their lives. Their home was at the top of Black Dog Hollow Road. There was a coal mine behind the barn on their property, and their sons and friends would occasionally dig coal for the family's use.

Elliot is known to have labored at the Vesta No. 5 coal mine of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation.

In the mid-1940s, Elliot provided family history information for the Coopriders' 1947 book, Harbaugh History, a standard reference in the Harbaugh family.

Jones & Laughlin Steel's Vesta-Shannopin mines, where coal traveled by conveyor over the suspension bridge at right into the coal preparation plant for cleaning and loading into barges bound for J&L Steel plants

Elliot and Ethel and their grown children are seen in the photo at left. The family enjoyed attending the annual Harbaugh Reunions and are known to have been present in 1961 and 1963 (when they received the "Largest Family Present" award). Son Ted kept the tradition going with the "Most Recent Married" award in 1957 and the "Largest Family" award (in 1969-72, 1978-82 and 1991-96). They also helped with children's games over the years, and Ted was elected Vice President in 1972-77 and 1985-86 and was President in 1983-85.

A niece recalls fond memories of visiting the Harbaugh farm in Clarksville every summer. "It was a once a year trip," she said, "although now it doesn't seem that far. They always had home cured hams in the smoke house and our visit was an occasion for Uncle Elliot to bring in a ham. They had a huge table and the eating was 'good'."

Ethel outlived him by two years, and passed away of leukemia on Jan. 19, 1975. They are both buried at the Maple Summit Cemetery, Mill Run, Fayette County, PA.

Son William Alfred Harbaugh (1925-2009) was born in Somerset County. He married Joye M. Doman on Oct. 13, 1954. The Harbaughs had one daughter, Brenda Hutchinson. William was employed in Jones & Laughlin Corporation's Vesta 5 Mine, where he was a roof bolter and logged more than two decades of work, retiring in 1987. He was a member of the United Mine Workers of America Local No. 762 and the East Bethlehem Baptist Church. Said the Uniontown Herald-Standard, "He was an avid outdoorsman, who enjoyed hunting and gardening. He was quite the handyman and always willing to lend a hand to those who asked. Above all, he cherished spending time with his family." William died at the age of 83 on April 8, 2009, in the Southwest Regional Medical Center. He was laid to rest in the Beallsville Cemetery. At the time of his death, William along with Joye had produced two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.