Sarah Gertrude
(Younkin) Weaver
(1876-1924)
Sarah "Gertrude" (Younkin) Weaver was born on Nov. 29, 1876 in Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County, PA the daughter of Daniel M. and Elmira (Zimmerman) Younkin. Her husband was one of many of our cousins to be killed in railroad accidents.
As a girl, Gertrude moved with her parents to Rockwood, Somerset County, PA.
On Christmas Day 1893, Gertrude married John
Martin Weaver (1872-1927), a native of Rockwood and the son of Charles and Lydia
Weaver. The ceremony was performed in Rockwood, Somerset County, PA by justice
of the peace D.W. Will.
The Weavers first resided in Rockwood, where John was a carpenter. They later moved to Cumberland, Allegany County, MD, where John worked as a freight conductor on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. A postcard view of Cumberland is seen at right.
John and Gertrude had four sons – Harry M. Weaver, George E. Weaver, Frank C. Weaver and Herbert M. Weaver.
Sadly, Gertrude died of a stroke at age 49
on July 11, 1924. Her funeral was held at the Rockwood Evangelical Church, and
she was buried at the Rockwood IOOF Cemetery. Her death left John to raise their
4 sons alone.
Seen here is the famed "Narrows" gap near Cumberland with a criss-crossing network of railroad tracks, which John would have seen on almost a daily basis.
Adding to the tragedy, John only outlived his wife by four years. He was killed in a grisly death on Oct. 7,1927. He was “struck by the engine of passenger train No. 13,” said the Meyersdale Republican. “His body was badly mangled, the neck and both arms being broken.” The article went into detail, saying:
No
one witnessed the accident. It is believed, however, that Weaver, who was a
member of the crew of a special coal train, which was waiting at Salisbury
Junction for No. 13 to pass, before it continued on the way to Cumberland, left
his train to go to the dispatcher’s office. The noise of his own train
apparently prevented him from hearing the approach of No. 13.
John was buried beside his wife at Rockwood.
Son Frank was married twice. He died in 1956 and is buried in the Rockwood IOOF Cemetery.
Son Herbert married Dolly, but they had no children. They resided in Cumberland, where he died in 1940.
Son Harry married Marie, and they are buried in Maryland.
The fate of son George is unknown.
In October 1934, Gertrude's elderly father was interviewed during a Sunday visit by distant cousins Otto Roosevelt Younkin and Charles Arthur Younkin, who were gathering family history notes in connection with the Younkin clan's new national home-coming reunion. The discussion provided them with valuable genealogy insights that otherwise would have been lost. In March 1937, Charles wrote this in a letter to Otto: "Since you were here to see me have had more sad news, the death of ... Mr. Shaffer who was married to Gertrude, daughter of our old now dead friend Daniel Younkin of Rockwood, Pa." Charles may have been confused, since Gertrude was not married to a Shaffer, and since her Shaffer brother in law lived for another decade. Click to see this letter, dated March 7, 1937.
Copyright © 2002, 2006 Mark A. Miner