Isaac E Shumaker
ISAAC E. SHUMAKER, of Madison township, Armstrong county, is one of the best known men in the northern part of Armstrong county, and a prominent representative of a substantial old family which has been settled in that section for a century. He is a great grandson of John Shumaker, a native of Germany, who came to America some time before the Revolution with six brothers, Solomon, Adam, George, Simon, Samuel, and Daniel. George was the founder of another well-known branch of the family in western Pennsylvania. They settled first in Loudoun county, Va., whence John Shumaker came to Westmoreland county, Pa., about 1770. He purchased and cleared a large tract of land in Franklin township, making a permanent home on that place, where he died. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, in the American army, and also served during the Indian troubles in western Pennsylvania. His death was caused by injuries he had received during his army service. His wife was Mary Ann Baker, and they had two sons and three daughters, the sons being Philip and John.
Philip Shumaker, eldest son of John and Mary Ann (Baker) Shumaker, was born Jan. 25, 1784, in Westmoreland county, Pa., and died April 10, 1860. In 1814 he settled in what is now Mahoning township, Armstrong county (his brother John coming later), taking up 400 acres of land near Oakland, 200 acres of which he sold in 1824 to a favorite cousin, Philip Shumaker; he cleared and improved the 200 acres he retained, making a fine homestead, upon which he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there. He married Elizabeth Rose, who was born Nov. 18, 1790, and survived him, dying June 12, 1863. George Rose, her father, was born near Murrysville, Westmoreland Co., Pa., and was a farmer and hotel-keeper. Nine children were born to Mr. And Mrs. Shumaker, as follows: Mary, born April 14, 1812, married Adam Smith, and died in 1887; John was born Oct. 22, 1813; Sarah, born Jan. 5, 1815, died young; Joseph, born April 9, 1819, was a minister of the German Baptist Church; Isaac was born July 27, 1821; Philip was born March 2, 1825; Susanna, born July 20, 1827; married Robert Ferguson; Elizabeth, born May 17, 1831, married M. N. Hetrick; Samuel, was born March 12, 1834. The father was a Whig in politics until 1856, when he became a Republican. He was a member of the German Baptist Church.
Joseph Shumaker, son of Philip, was born April 9, 1819. By purchase he acquired 100 acres of his father�s original homestead and passed all his days on that place, dying there in December, 1860, at the comparatively early age of forty-one years. For twenty years he was a minister of the German Baptist Church, and he was one of the most respected citizens of the township in his day. He married Catharine Baughman, and they had a family of twelve children, six of whom grew to maturity: Hannah, who was twice married, first to Peter Kimmel and later to Dr. Richard T. Pollard; Isaac E; David; Maria, who married Jacob Kimmel; Elizabeth deceased; Levi, deceased; Adam, deceased; Solomon T.; Daniel L.; John, deceased, and two who died in infancy.
Isaac E. Shumaker, son of Joseph and Catharine (Baughman) Shumaker, was born April 18, 1843, in what is now Mahoning township, where he was reared and educated. Since 1864 he has been a resident of Madison township. He cleared the larger part of the farm he owns and occupies, and made all improvements which so materially add to its worth, erecting buildings, and cultivating the place in the up-to-date manner which characterizes all he undertakes. He also cleared the land where the town of Deanville now stands. For years he was one of the leading business men of that place, having a general merchandise store there for thirty-five years, and acting as postmaster at that place for the long period of twenty-nine and a half years. Meantime, for two and a half years, he owned and conducted a store near Edenburg, Clarion county, during the oil excitement. From the fall of 1865 to the fall of 1869 he was heavily interested in the huckster business, shipping to Pittsburgh, and kept several teams busy hauling his produce to the station. This was during the building of the low-grade division of the Allegheny Valley railroad and later at St. Charles (then Leatherwood). For sixteen years, from his own property of 100 acres and leased land adjoining, Mr. Shumaker was engaged in shipping fire clay to Rochester and Sharon, Pa., and Massillon and Newburg, Ohio, and during that time he also shipped iron ore to Kittanning, Pa. In 1900 he organized the Clarion Fire Brick Company, of which he is president, and the works, at St. Charles, Pa., consume sixty tons of fire clay per day, in the manufacture of a superior grade of fire brick, used exclusively for steel furnaces. Mr. Shumaker has been at the head of this concern since its organization. It was his idea to drill gas wells to furnish gas for the operation of the plane, and the company now owns and operates eleven for that purpose, at a monthly expense of one thousand dollars. He is a man of vigorous mind, with the energy and ambition to carry out his projects successfully, and the substantial position he occupies in the business world has been gained by his own efforts. His tireless industry and executive ability have enabled him to accomplish much.
On April 21, 1864, Mr. Shumaker married Lucinda Shumaker, daughter of Daniel and Catharine (Ringer) Shumaker, of Burrell township, this county, and they have had eleven children who reached maturity: Nettie, wife of William Walter; Burton; May, wife of Dr. William Rolston; L. Smith, a minister of the Baptist Church; Chalmer; Esther, wife of Ernest Kramer; Laura, deceased, who married Harry Diehl; Ernest, superintendent of the Clarion Fire Brick Works; Lillian, wife of George L. Goodhart; Albert L., and one that died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Shumaker are members of the Free Baptist Church at Deanville, which he serves officially as deacon. He is a Republican in political sentiment.
Source: Pages 915-916, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed October 1998 by Jeffrey Bish for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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