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Peter Dumbauld

Peter Dumbauld was born on March 21, 1849 in the newly formed Upper Turkeyfoot Township, Somerset County, PA, the son of Jonathan Cable and Elizabeth (Dull) Dumbauld. 

In young manhood, no doubt lured by the influence of his elder brother George, who was making a good living as a farmhand in northern California, Peter joined him there. The United States Census of 1870 shows the two brothers living in Snelling, Merced County, CA, as boarders in the house of M.D. Abuater (?). Among the other residents of the house at that time were P.R. Tarr, Peter Holm, Isaac Place, W. Henderson, Joseph Bassett and A. Murphy.

Peter eventually returned to his native Somerset County and stayed for good. He entered into the bonds of marital wedlock with Ellen Gerhart (or "Gerhard") (1861-1927), daughter of Jacob/William and Catherine (Brougher) Gerhard. 

Their six children were Lavenia Mary "Venie" Younkin, Jacob Dumbauld, James M. Dumbauld, Charles D. Dumbauld, Mabel Sechler and Ruth Evelyn Schrock. 

The Dumbaulds pursued a life of farming. In 1881, he bought a farm of 220 acres in Milford Township, where they had "a beautiful and pleasant home," said the 1884 book, History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania. Peter's aged father came into their home in later age and died there in 1885. 

In 1884, Peter was elected a Somerset County Commissioner, one of only a few cousins in the extended family to hold this influential political office.   

The same year as his election as commissioner, he made news with weighing some of his cattle on the borough's scales and "were the finest seen in this section for many a day," reported the Somerset Herald. The average weight was 1,321 lbs., and the livestock were "sleek, fat and handsome, being stall red, and were calculated to make the mouths of lovers of good beef water... [He] sold them to a Johnstown butcher by the name of Jacob Trefts, at a price in advance of what our home butchers were willing to pay for them."

He also raised horses, and in about 1890 "sold a gelding three years old, past, for $280, the highest price ever realized for a gelding in the county," noted the Herald. 

Peter in September 1892 was elected as vice president of a dinner in Somerset featuring guest speaker William McKinley, the Governor of Ohio and future President of the United States. As such, he got a seat on a raised platform with other local VIPs. The dinner proved a memorable event, with widespread interest from throughout the county, as reported by the Herald:

"The hills of Somerset" blazed with political watch-fires that stalwart Republicans of this county lighted Saturday night... The great and peerless champion of protection had consented to make one of his masterly and matchless addresses on the issues that divide like the river of life the dead past of the Democracy from the living issues for which the Republicans do battle "And now hath every halmet sent up her tale of men." From Meyersdale, from Rockwood, from the Glades and the South, from Stoyestown and the North the trains brought in their hundreds; from Berlin, from the surrounding country and from nearly every voting precinct in the county came farmers in wagons, on horseback, and with many an ardent Republican on foot. They met and surged around the court house, anxious to get in and secure a place. Long before the hour of opening the room was crowded to its utmost capacity and the overflow filled the stairs and hallway...

As Ohio's Napoleon came forward a cheer went up that made the rafters ring. He bowed his acknowledgement of the warm reception accorded him and said that he had consented to address the people of Somerset county on the differences between the two great parties in the campaign now before us. Said he: "It is important that we should have discussions so that we may know what the people would have embodied in their laws. Fortunately the issues of the campaign are strictly business. 

When the World's Fair was held in Chicago in September 1893, Peter and Ellen, along with Daniel Will and Edward Freese, spent two weeks touring the exhibit. At the Washington County (MD) Fair held in Hagerstown in September 1894, he was a judge for the heavy draft horse competition. In 1895, he displayed a Conestoga wagon and six horses at the Somerset centennial event, and the following year took the same team to nearby Uniontown, Fayette County, for a Fourth of July celebration. He took some of his Clydes, Belgians and Percherons to the Inter-State Fair at Luna Park in Johnstown, PA in September 1907.

Peter ran for the elected position of Somerset County Treasurer in the fall of 1899. In a related story, the Herald said "A vote for Peter Dumbauld for County Treasurer will be not only a vote for a genial gentleman whose friends are spread all over the county and whose enemies are an unknown quantity, and he has none that the HERALD has ever learned of. Mr. Dumbauld has been a life-long Republican, has filled the office of County Commissioner and will be a safe custodian of the county's finances." When he was successfully elected, the Herald reported that he "will radiate sunshine throughout the gloomy corridors of the temple of justice and will discharge [his] duties diligently."

Peter's name (upper left) as county commissioner on County of Somerset letterhead, 1885. National Archives

In September 1902, reported the Meyersdale Republican, he traveled to Iowa and brought back a railcar full of horses he planned to sell in Somerset. He is known to have enjoyed attending local horse races. He repeated the trip in November 1904, said the Daily American, returning with "a car load of heavy draft horses and colts of the best that can be found in the State of Iowa, Normans and Belgians, several fine mated teams. Anyone wishing to buy a good horse or colt is invited to come and see this stock, as they will be for sale." He continually purchased horses from local farmers but also continued his purchasing in the midwest, bringing a railcar load of draft horses from Illinois in March 1912. In doing so, quipped the Republican, "Mr. Dumbauld is one of the best judges of horseflesh in the county, and would rather admire the fine parts of a horse than eat." He took a buying trip to Iowa in June 1912 and once again shipped home a carload of fine draft stock. He conducted much of his business circa 1919 as president of the Somerset Percheron Horse Comopany, with E.B. Knepper as secretary.

When a carload of horses from Chicago arrived in Somerset in early 1913 having been "carelessly" transported and "not properly" fed, Peter sued the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and was awarded damages of $418. He resorted to litigation again in August 1915 when 200 horses he had shipped from Illinois, over the B&O lines, arrived without having received the proper care and were so badly damaged en route that he lost $600 of his investment in lost sales. At trial, said the Republican, he alleged that "the horses were kept in a car for sixty hours without being fed or watered, and arrived at Somerset a day or two after the time advertised for the sale." The jury eventually awarded him $351 in damages.

Peter made news in the Ligonier Echo in May 1904 after plowing a field for oats on his Milford Township farm and finding a "well-preserved half cent of the U.S. coinage of 1804."

Embracing the new technology of telephone communication, Peter in January 1911 was elected to the board of directors of the Economy Telephone Stock Company. The board made an immediate decision at that time to construct a line from Salisbury into Coal Run and from Hooversville to Holsopple.

The Pittsburgh Press noted in November 1912 that Peter had displayed a 34-year-old peck of wheat at the fourth annual exhibit of the Somerset Agricultural Society, held at the county courthouse, having raised the grain in California. 

Peter lost a court case and was required to pay more than $689 in damages in a dispute with James M. Cover over the sale of Cover's farm in Milford. The Republican reported that "It appears from the evidence that Dumbauld solicited Cover to dispose of his farm, agreeing to allow him a commission of $200 in event of his making a sale for $15,000, and to split any sum received in excess of that amount on a fifty-fifty basis. When it came to completing the deal [the buyer] demanded that a survey of the property be made, agreeing to pay for any additional acreage on the basis of the agreed-upon price. The survey showed that the property contained more acres than Dumbauld claimed, and when it came to splitting up the money received over and above $15,000 in exchange for the farm, Dumbauld demurred and Cover brought suit."

Unspeakable grief cascaded over the family in June 1922 when learning that son Charles, age 35, had drowned while fishing in a river in Middletown, NY. 

Tragedy struck on April 3, 1926. At the age of 77, Peter was  attending the market day sale at the Schrock warehouse on West Patriot Street in Somerset. While standing at a street crossing, and talking with Alex Rose, he was struck by a car driven by a local Ford automobile mechanic. Said the Republican, "Realizing the imminent danger, Mr. Rose stepped quickly aside and avoided the car, but Mr. Dumbauld, who wore eyeglasses, was knocked down and caught in the machinery and dragged for some distance... Mr. Dumbauld was unconscious when eye-witnesses of the accident reached his side," his chest crushed, a lung punctured, his heart traumatized and his brain bleeding internally. He was rushed to Somerset Community Hospital and died two hours later. The driver, said the Republican, "is heart-broken over the unfortunate affair, and since the accident has been unable to speak of it without giving way to his emotions."

Funeral services were conducted in the Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, presided by the hand of Rev. John W. Whisler of the Church of God in Pittsburgh and assisted by Rev. C.E. Servey of the Evangelical Church. Among the many attending the services were Mr. and Mrs. C.N. Flanigan and Mr. and Mrs. C.B. Humbert of Confluence. Interment was in the Husband Cemetery.In an obituary, the Connellsville Daily Courier said the deceased "was formerly a prominent farmer of Milford township and for more than 50 years he was a commanding influence in the public affairs of Somerset county." The Republican weighed in, saying he:

... was the most widely known horsedealer in Somerset County. More than fifty years ago he started his career as a horseman, shipping many carloads of horses to Philadelphia. He soon made friends with the big horsemen of the city and they soon found their way to his farm in Milford Township and many a carload he sold right at the barn. He served as judge of draft horses at a number of the large fairs, and he knew all the qualities of a good horse. When horses would get scarce in the East he would go to the West and get them. He knew most of the farmers in the county and could meet them all as his friends... Mr. Dumbauld was a sterling citizen and staunch Republican. He believed in party regularity and party loyalty and there was never any doubt as to where he stood politically. Only a few weeks ago he was appointed manager of John S. Fisher's campaign for Governor, in Somerset County. He he lived, his influence would have made many votes for Mr. Fisher, and knowing he was for Fisher, will be sufficient reason for many of his friends to vote for Fisher, even though the Fisher campaign manager is dead. 

Ellen only survived him by one year. Suffering from cancer, she was treated in the spring of 1927 in the Johnstown Memorial Hospital before being transferred to Somerset Community Hospital. There, she died at age 66 on June 20, 1927. Rev. S.A. Miller, of the Evangelical Church in Somerset, led her funeral, with an obituary appearing in the Republican. She joined her husband in eternal repose in the Husband Cemetery.

~ Son James M. Dumbauld Sr. ~

Husband Cemetery

Son James M. Dumbauld Sr. (1881-1977) was born on Nov. 21, 1881 in Milford Township, Somerset County. He grew up on the family farm and that became his occupation. 

On Christmas Day 1902, at the age of 21, James was united in the bonds of matrimony with 19-year-old Eva D. Weigle (Aug. 19, 1883-1956), daughter of John and Maria (Ringler) Weigle of Somerset Township. Rev. Calvin F. Gephart officiated the wedding ceremony, held in the home of Eva's parents. Evidence from their marriage license application shows that she could barely write her name. 

They went on to bear four known children -- James M. Dumbauld Jr., Peter Theodore Dumbauld, Ruth Brubaker and Richard W. Dumbauld. 

In the early summer of 1911, he purchased his father-in-law's farm in Somerset Township. Then in November 1913 he was impaneled on a jury which listened to claims of damage from a local family against the Western Maryland Railway Company. The jurors toured the site of the alleged damage, had dinner at the Confluence House and took the train back to Somerset. 

Grieving overwhelmed the family less than two weeks before Christmas 1927 when seven-year-old son James Jr. contracted influenza and pneumonia. He suffered for about four days, but his body gave out on on Dec. 17, 1927. 

Circa 1930, James announced his candidacy for election to the office of Somerset County Auditor. He appears to have won the position in 1935, but ran into controversy with his fellow two auditors involving publication of the annual auditor's report in one Somerset newspaper but not the other. Again he ran in 1939, and finished fourth in the voting. 

The couple belonged to the First Evangelical United Brethren Church, later known as the Somerset Church of the Brethren, and James was a member of the Somerset lodge of the Odd Fellows. 

Sadly, after a short illness, Eva passed away at the age of 72 in Somerset Community Hospital on Jan. 22, 1956. An obituary in the Somerset Daily American said that she had "lived all her life in the Somerset vicinity." Co-officiating at her funeral service were Rev. Kenneth T. Barnette and Rev. Galen R. Blough. 

James lived for another 20 years. He died in Somerset Community Hospital on Jan. 2, 1977, at the age of 95. Burial was in the Husband Cemetery, with Rev. Gerald Deffenbaugh leading the funeral service. An obituary appeared in the Daily American.

Son Richard W. Dumbauld (1905-1986) was born on April 22, 1905 in Somerset Township. In early adulthood, at the age of 22, he was employed as a school teacher in Somerset Township. At the age of 22, on April 23, 1927, he married fellow teacher Susan L. Snyder ( ? - ? ) of Berlin, daughter of Norman B. and Annie (Wahl) Snyder. Rev. S.F. Tholan led the nuptials, held in Garrett, Somerset County. The couple made a residence in Somerset. Their two known sons were Richard K. Dumbauld and Carl S. Dumbauld. Richard at one time was an owner and operator of County Auto Parts. He also earned a living as an inspector for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, eventually retiring from this position. Their home in the 1980s was on West Sanner Street. He died as a patient in Somerset Community Hospital at the age of 81 on Sept. 25, 1986. Pastor H. James Meyers officiated the funeral, with interment in Somerset County Memorial Park. An obituary appeared in the Somerset Daily American.

• Grandson Richard K. Dumbauld served in the U.S. Air Force in France for three-and-a-half years, attaining the rank of first lieutenant. He studied at the University of Pittsburgh, receiving a bachelor of science in chemistry in 1954, and spent a year at New York University. He went on to the University of Michigan where he secured a master of science degree in 1959. Upon graduation, he was hired by the federal government and assigned to a post in Idaho Falls, ID. He was joined in marriage with Dorothy Reiman ( ? - ? ). The Dumbaulds lived in Salt Lake City in 1986.

• Grandson Carl S. Dumbauld received a bachelor's degree in photographic illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He became employed in 1962 by Eastman Kodak Company and resided in Fairport, NY. Over the years, he was photo information director for marketing support services and in 1985 was tapped to be manager of telemarketing, educatinanl, marketing administration and support services at its Marketing Education Center. He held memberships in the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, the Photographic Society of America and the American Telemarketing Association. He wedded Shirley Egolf ( ? - ? ), daughter of Ward Egolf of Somerset. They produced four offspring.

Son Peter Theodore Dumbauld (1909-1975) was born on Nov. 14, 1909 in Somerset Township. He graduated from California State Teachers College and became prominent in the county in business and community service. He also received additional education at Pennsylvania State University. Circa 1934, at the age of 25, he taught school in Somerset. On Nov. 28, 1934, Peter wedded 24-year-old stenographer Mildred Rodgers ( ? - ? ), daughter of M.J. and Minnie (Rummel) Rodgers. Rev. J.F. Messenger officiated. They did not reproduce. The Somerset Daily American noted that Peter was a member of the First Christian Church in Somerset, the Somerset Rotary Club, where he was a Paul Harris Fellow, the Somerset Lodge of the Eagles, the Elks Club of Meyersdale and a director at Somerset Trust Company. In 1964, he was elected as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, serving for one term, only "the second Democrat from the county to be elected to that post in more than 100 years," said the Meyersdale Republican. "He was a leading proponent of many education bills for state colleges and supported new Route 219. He opposed stricter gun control legislation. In 1968, he served as an alternate delegate to the Democratic National convention in Chicago. He also was a delegate to the Pa. Constitutional Convention and represented the 30th senatorial district." He also taught in the Somerset and Fairhope Township schools, was a veteran of the quartermaster corps during World War II, and from 1945 to retirement in 1972 owned and operated Dumbauld's Tire service in Somerset. He also was a trustee of his alma mater, Cal State, a board director of the Pennsylvania Society for Crippled Children and Adults and president of the Trustees Association of the 14 Pennsylvania state colleges. He succumbed to death at the age of 65, in Somerset Community Hospital, on June 21, 1975. His obituary appeared in the Republican. In a fascinating irony, Peter died the very same day as his famed Dumbauld/Younkin cousin, Edwin F. Snyder, considered one of the most prominent citizens of the town of Garrett and president of the First National Bank of Garrett.

Daughter Ruth Dumbauld married Luther W. Brubaker. They dwelled in Somerset for years.

~ Son Charles D. Dumbauld Sr. ~

Husband Cemetery

Son Charles D. Dumbauld Sr. (1884-1922) was born in 1884 in Milford Township, where he spent his growing-up years. 

In July 1911, when he was 27 years of age, he married 21-year-old Edna Houseal (1890- ? ), daughter of William H. and Sarah A. Houseal and stepdaughter of Amos Rowinskey of 935 South Front Street in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, PA. Rev. B.L. Baer, pastor of the Highspire Church of God, presided over the nuptials held in her parents' residence. An announcement of the marriage was printed in the Harrisburg Telegraph and Harrisburg Daily Independent. 

The newlyweds initially resided in West Philadelphia. Reported the Meyersdale Republican, "He taught in the local schools for a few terms." Circa 1911, he was principal of the Easton School of Business. Soonafter he was hired as a stenographer in the state Banking Department in Harrisburg, Dauphin County. 

Then in about 1916, the young family relocated to New York State, where he had secured a position as an educator in the Commercial Department of the Middletown Public School. 

The couple produced two children -- Ellen L. Dumbauld and Charles D. Dumbauld Jr. -- both born in New York. 

When the federal census enumeration was made in 1920, the family resided in Middletown, Orange County, NY, with Charles' occupation listed as "teacher - public school." 

In the late spring of 1922, at the age of 35, Charles went fishing in the local Wallkill River near Middletown. Tragically, something went terribly wrong. He went into the water while fishing and drowned. The body eventually was recovered. Word was telegraphed to his parents in Somerset. Charles' father and brother Jacob, as well as the widow and children, traveled to Middletown to secure the body and ship it to the father's home in Somerset. The funeral services were officiated by Rev. W.S. Shimp, pastor of the Kingwood Church of God. Burial of the remains was in Husband Cemetery, with an obituary appearing in the Republican and a shorter article in the Harrisburg Telegraph. 

The widowed Edna appears to have returned to the Hershey community near Harrisburg, where her children attended Hershey High School. Circa 1960, she made a home back in Middletown and endured the untimely death of her adult son.

Daughter Ellen Louise Dumbauld (1916- ? ) was born in about 1916 in New York. She was joined in wedlock with Jack W. Wolfe ( ? - ? ). The Wolfes resided in Middletown, NY in 1960.

Son Charles D. Dumbauld Jr. (1917-1960) was born on Sept. 7, in Middletown, Orange County, NY. He was only a boy when his father drowned, and he moved with his widowed mother to Hershey, Dauphin County, PA, where he graduated from high school. The United States Census of 1940 shows him living in New York City, as a bachelor lodger in the home of Italian immigrant Antony Gerbino, and earning a living as a clerk in a teacher's union. He was married and the father of six -- Edna L. Dumbauld, Susan I. Dumbauld, Charles W. Dumbauld, Jerry R. Dumbauld, Jack E. Dumbauld and Larry T. Dumbauld. From about 1942 to 1957, he dwelled in Hershey, Dauphin County, PA, where he was employed for 15 years at the Middletown (PA) Air Depot in Dauphin. Then in 1957, he moved to Palmyra, in Londonderry Township, Lebanon County, PA. At the age of 42, having suffered for years from "atherosclerosis" -- a buildup of fatty substances on the artery walls -- he contracted an infection of his urinary tract and was admitted to the Harrisburg Osteopathic Hospital. He further went into respiratory failure and died there on Aug. 5, 1960. An obituary was published in the Lebanon Daily News. Interment of the remains was in Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens in Swatara Township.

~ Son Jacob G. Dumbuld ~

Son Jacob G. Dumbauld (1887- ? ) was born in about 1887 in Milford Township. 

As a young man, he migrated to Colorado, and in 1910, at the age of 23, lived with his widowed uncle Jonathan "Beecher" Dumbauld on a farm in Larimer County, CO.

~ Daughter Lavenie Mary "Venie" (Dumbauld) Younkin ~

Daughter Lavenie Mary "Venie" Dumbauld (1889-1982) was born on Jan. 12, 1889 in Milford Township. She wed a cousin, Charles E. Younkin (1891-1978), son of William "Henry" and Rachel (McClintock) Younkin. See their link for more.

~ Daughter Ruth Evelyn (Dumbauld) Schrock ~

Daughter Ruth Evelyn Dumbauld (1898-1990) was born on April 6, 1898 in Milford Township. 

On June 24, 1921, she was jonied in wedlock with Richard Ernest Schrock ( ? - ? ), son of Edward Schrock. Their engagement had been formally announced nine months earlier in September 1920 at an event hosted by Elizabeth Reed. At the time, said the Meyersdale Republican, Richard was employed in Shoemaker Bros. store. Rev. A.H. Hayes officiated at the nuptials, held at the Somerset Presbyterian Church. 

They resided in Somerset and had one son, Rodney Kenton Schrock. 

Evelyn worked as a clerk and later as a news reporter for the Somerset Daily American. She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church and a member for 68 years of the Trinity Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. As well, she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and was regent of its Forbes Road Chapter. 

Richard was a member of the American Legion. They also were supporters of the Somerset School's Education Foundation. 

Evelyn passed away at age 91 in Conemaugh Valley Memorial Hospital on Jan. 16, 1980. She was laid to rest in the Husband Cemetery.

Son Rodney Kenton Schrock (1932-2017) was born on Jan. 20, 1932 in Johnstown, Cambria County. In about 1960, he wedded Marian Elizabeth Bowman ( ? - ? ) and they remained together for 57 years until the separation of death. They produced a son, Lynn A. Schrock. Rodney served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. Later, he joined AT&T as a repairman and retired in 1989 at the age of 57. He belonged to Lodge 358 of the Masons, the Somerset County Shrine Club, Amateur Radio League and Calvary United Methodist Church. As a member of the Antique Wireless Association, he authored articles for the organization's magazine. He also was a member of the Somerset Historical Society and Berlin Historical Society and the Sons of the American Revolution. Rodney died at the age of 85 in The Patriot in Somerset on Dec. 12, 2017. Rev. Arnold T. McFarland officiated at the funeral and interment in Husband Cemetery, with additional rites provided by the Somerset County Honor Guard. In an obituary, the family asked that any memorial contributions be made to Meals on Wheels.

• Grandson Lynn A. Schrock ( ? - ? )

~ Daughter Mabel (Dumbauld) Sechler ~

Daughter Mabel Dumbauld (1880-1979) was born in about 1880 in Milford Township, Somerset County. 

When she was 22 years of age, on June 11, 1903, she married 28-year-old clerk Allen U. Sechler ( ? - ? ), son of George and Minerva Sechler. Rev. J.C. Cunningham led the nuptials. 

The couple did not reproduce. 

Mabel died at the age of 99 on Nov. 22, 1979 in the United Methodist Church Home in Quincy, PA. Her remains were returned to Somerset for funeral services in the First United Methodist Church, led by Rev. John Cox. She was laid to rest in Somerset County Memorial Park, and an obituary was printed in the Somerset Daily American.