Laura
Belle (Younkin) Shroyer
(1877-1950)
Laura
Belle (Younkin) Shroyer was born in 1877 at Clay Run, Fayette County, PA,
the daughter of William ‘Dayton’
and Lucinda (Harbaugh) Younkin.
On March 21, 1897, at age 19, Laura Belle married 23-year-old Jacob Adam Shroyer (1873-1949). Jacob was a native of Clay Run, and the son of Adam and Lydia (Linderman) Shroyer. The Uniontown Genius of Liberty reported that the ceremony was held “at the residence of the bride” and that “Quite a number of persons were in attendance.”
They had nine children – Annabelle Gertrude Harbaugh, Hazel Shroyer, George Osborne Shroyer, William Dayton Shroyer and an unnamed twin, Mae Conn, Kenneth Melvin Shroyer and Laura "Marie" Johnson. Sadly, in addition to the infant twin who died at birth, Hazel died at age 6 (in 1907), and George passed away at age 8 months (in April 1904).
The deadly wave of disease struck the Shroyers' home in January 1907. Said the Connellsville Daily Courier:
Diphtheria is raging on Laurel Hill near Clay Run school house. The family of Jacob Schroyer are badly affected. Both Mr. and Mrs. Schroyer and one child are down with the disease, while a younger child was buried last week with the same disease.
In
the photo seen here, Jake stands at left, with a mustache, with his adult
sons William, Kenneth and with John Showman (at far right).
The Connellsville Daily Courier said that Jacob was a “well known farmer” and that he was “road supervisor of Springfield township for six years and was a member of the Mill Run E.U.B. Church.” Early in adult life, Laura was a teacher in the Clay Run Union Church Sunday School. In 1895, she was baptized “at the backwater in Indian Creek near Rodgers’ Mill,” an event witnessed by about 300 people.
In
the depths of winter in 1901, Jacob purchased a 186-acre farm from his wife’s
grandfather, widower George A. Younkin, at Clay Run. In comparison to today’s
bank-backed mortgages, Jacob’s arrangement seems to have been a gentleman’s
agreement. According to the Courier,
his down payment on the $2,000 farm was $800 cash (40 percent), and a promise to
pay $200 annually on the balance. He then built a house on the property, seen
here.
In
about 1919, Laura Belle's 1st grandchild was born. To mark the occasion, a
historic 5-generation photograph portrait was taken, seen here --
standing, left to right: mother Lucinda, daughter Gertrude Harbaugh and Laura
Belle. Seated, grandmother Mary Harbaugh
and granddaughter Evelyn.
History then repeated itself. In 1938, Laura Belle’s first great-grandson was born. Since Laura Belle’s mother was still living, this again was a rare situation where five generations were alive at the same time. Laura Belle’s brother Charles, at that time the publisher of the national Younkin Family News Bulletin, ran a story headlined “Five Living Generations – Is There Another?” He wrote: “This great [Younkin] family group can boast of at least one, very few persons regardless of age, have known of the fifth generation “to live” and be a part of it is a proud heritage…. [If] there is another within this great family group, would be pleased to know about it." (The photograph may be viewed on the biography of Lucinda [Harbaugh] Younkin-Johnson.)
The Shroyers enjoyed the annual Harbaugh Reunions. They are known to have attended the very first event in 1926, and then later in the mid-1940s, including 1948, when Laura Belle was elected Vice President.
After more than a half-century of marriage, Jacob died of a “coronary occlusion” in October 1949. Laura Belle died of leukemia a year later, on Oct. 16, 1950. She was buried beside her husband, near her Younkin and Harbaugh ancestors at the Imel Cemetery.
Son
William Shroyer married Grace Augustine (died 1933) and Jenny Hillen (died 1975) and
produced a total of 13 children. He was a farmer and also a coal miner for
Eastern Gas & Fuel Co. of Melcroft, PA.
He was featured in a 1991 Daily Courier story, “Local Mans Turns
86,” seen here. At his death in 1992, William had “40
grandchildren; many great-grandchildren; and six great-great grandchildren,”
according to the Greensburg Tribune-Review.
Son
Kenneth Shroyer was married to Goldie Della Basinger for 59 years.
When they were first married, neighbor and cousin Lawson
Minerd built two chimneys for their home. A farmer, Ken was a longtime
employee of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). He also
served for 50 years as a forest fire warden for what is now the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Resources (DER), and in 1992 received a special DER
award. He also was a part owner of the Maple Summit Church near Mill Run,
purchased when its elders decided to close the church. He was featured in an
article in the Daily Courier on June 25, 1988, and in a story in
the Tribune-Review of Oct. 4, 1992, seen here, headlined “Warden
Rekindles Smoke, Memories.”
Daughter Marie Shroyer married Roy Ross Johnson. They are mentioned in the book, Chip’s Off the Old Block’s by Kimberly Kay (Ritenour) Gach. Tragedy struck at Christmastime 1991 when their son Russell E. Johnson, a US Navy veteran, was killed in an automobile accident in Saltlick Township.
Daughter Gertrude Shroyer married Oakey D. Harbaugh, a cousin. They resided at Normalville, PA.
Daughter
Mae Shroyer married Lester Conn, the son of Edward and Minnie (Hyatt) Conn. Lester was an employee of the Beacon Restaurant, the
L&N Restaurant and the Somerset Food Pantry.
The Conns are pictured in the book, Draketown Past & Present,
and are mentioned in Reflections: Ursina 1787-1994. Mae also was once
profiled in the “Area Personality” feature of the Somerset Daily American,
which said that Mae “at 74 displays more energy than some folks half her
age.” The article, seen here, also quoted their struggle raising
a large brood of children during the Depression:
Was it rough bringing up nine kids? “You aren’t kidding,” says Mae, “it was just really rough. When the Depression was, we had a truck and couldn’t buy gas for it. There were no Food Stamps, unemployment, welfare, nothing. There was the Salvation Army and Red Cross, and that was it.”
The Conns' former granddaughter in law, Kay Lynn (Younkin) Wilson, served for several years as secretary of the Younkin Reunion-East, held the last weekend of every July at the Kingwood IOOF Grove. Kay also has been active in helping restore a small private Younkin Cemetery on her family farm near Kingwood, Somerset County.
The late Olive Duff researched the Conn family history and published her findings in the booklet, Moon Genealogy, which is preserved today in the Minerd- Minard- Miner- Minor Archives.
Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2007-2008 Mark A. Miner