Ella
(Younkin) Hauger
(1878-1938)
Ellen Linda "Ella" (Younkin) Hauger was born on New Year’s Day 1878 near Rockwood, Somerset County, PA, the daughter of William ‘Shedrick’ and Caroline (Cupp) Younkin.
On Oct. 23, 1898, at the home of her parents, Ella married Jonathan E. Hauger (1869-1954), the son of Simon and Elizabeth Hauger. She was 20 years old at the time, and he was 29.
The Haugers had three daughters – Olive Caroline Younkin, Grace Ruby Eagle and Edna Elizabeth Sembower.
The Haugers settled on
her parents' farm (seen here) in Black Twp.,
near Rockwood. He worked as a saw
miller and a day laborer. They also operated a grocery store in Rockwood for many years near the
Western Maryland Railroad depot. She was a member of the Rockwood Church of the
Brethren.
In 1913, some of the family attended the first annual Minerd Reunion
at nearby Ohiopyle, Fayette County, PA. A rare group photograph taken that day has been found in the
collection of a descendant, and Ella’s parents and
daughter Olive are visible in the image. Click here to view the image
in high resolution, with each face numbered for identification purposes.
In the early 1930s, the Haugers were devastated when their barn was hit by lightning, and burned to the ground.
In October 1934, Ella may have been interviewed for an extensive genealogy research effort undertaken by distant cousins Otto Roosevelt Younkin and Charles Arthur Younkin. The men were gathering data in connection with the Younkin clan's new national home-coming reunion, held in nearby Kingwood, which drew more than 1,000 people a year during the heart of the Great Depression.. Click here to see Otto Younkin's actual handwritten notes from the alleged conversation with Ella.
Sadly, Ella died at home at age 60 of an “extended illness” on Feb. 8, 1938. The news was reported in the Younkin Family News Bulletin (April 30, 1938). She was buried at the Rockwood IOOF Cemetery.
The Hauger graves in Rockwood
Jonathan
passed away in 1954, at the age of 85, having outlived his wife by 16 years. He
was laid to rest beside Ella at Rockwood IOOF Cemetery..
Daughter Olive (seen here) married a distant cousin, Clark Melvin Younkin, son of Henry and Rachel (McClintock) Younkin. Clark was a coal miner at the No. 10 and 11 mines near Rockwood. He also was a school director of Black Township for 30 years, and spent 28 years working for the Rockwood Water Company. Olive was a charter member of the Rockwood Volunteer Fireman’s Auxiliary. A photograph of Olive, Clark and their daughter Ellouise was printed in the January 1993 edition of the modern version of the Younkin Family News Bulletin.
Daughter Grace is pictured in the book, Down
the Road of Our Past, Book II, published by the Rockwood Area Historical
& Genealogical Society. Her husband, William Franklin Eagle, was a coal
miner in Rockwood. He was featured in a Somerset Daily American article,
“Bill’s a Working Man,” on his 80th birthday. Over the years, Bill worked
in the coal mines, drove a bread truck, and in a local printing shop. He was
Sunday School superintendent at the Rockwood Church of the Brethren for 12
years, trustee for 20 years and a deacon for 35-plus years. Said the Daily
American, “He rarely does anything but work, reflecting a lifetime of
steady employment that began when he was a motorman in the coal mines for 18
years.”
In 1983, daughter Edna and her husband
Maynard Sembower were featured in the Daily American on their 50th
wedding anniversary. A registered nurse, Edna graduated from Conemaugh Valley
Memorial Hospital in 1932, and was a private duty nurse at Somerset Community
Hospital for many years. Maynard worked for the Pennsylvania Game Commission and
was a fireman with the Rockwood Fire Department and a member of the Central
Pennsylvania Police Officials Association of Johnstown. He also was a member of
the Black Township School Board for many years in the 1940s and ‘50s.
Copyright © 2001, 2006, 2007 Mark A. Miner