WILLIAM UMBURN, of Bethel township, Armstrong county,
superintendent of the plant of the Philadelphia Gas Company, Station No. 3, at
Banks Farm, is a native of Somerset county, Pa., where the Umburns settled
many years ago. His grandfather,
Henry L. Umburn, was a farmer in that county.
He was of German descent, and his wife, Rebecca (Burkey), was born in
Scotland, of Scotch ancestry; she came to the United States with her parents
when a child, and attained the age of ninety-three years.
Lewis Umburn, son of Henry L. and Rebecca (Burkey) Umburn, was a native
of Somerset county, but eventually settled in Indiana county, Pa., where he
followed farming. He married
Susan Ripple, who was also born in Somerset county, and both lived to old age,
Mr. Umburn dying when about seventy-eight years old, and his wife when about
seventy-three. They were members
of the Lutheran Church at Indiana, Pa. Their
family consisted of nine children, six sons and three daughters, namely: Henry L., was killed while serving in the Civil war as a
soldier from Pennsylvania; Josiah married Susan Crum, of Long Island, N. Y.;
Hiram R. was twice married, first to Della Gibson, subsequently to Anna
Earhart; Elizabeth married William Crayton; Lovina is unmarried; William is
mentioned below; Urias died in childhood; Elmer McClelland died in childhood;
Emma J. married Charles McGee.
William Umburn was born May 30, 1856, near Davidsville, Somerset
county, where he attended a German school until eight years old.
His parents then moving to Indiana county he obtained the rest of his
schooling there. When a boy of
fourteen he commenced to learn the carpenter�s trade, and by the time he had
reached the age of seventeen was a journeyman.
In 1875 he went into the oil country, and found employment running an
engine, being thus engaged until 1904 in Butler, Washington and McKean
counties. He has since been in the employ of the Philadelphia Gas
Company, for whom he first worked at Zollarsville, Washington Co., Pa.,
building a station there. In
April 1905, he was promoted to his present position, being superintendent of
Station No. 3, at Banks Farm (post office Kelly Station), in Bethel township,
in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania.
On June 21, 1878, Mr. Umburn was married to Margaret Ann Swauger, of
Indiana county, daughter of William and Ann (Landis) Swauger, and four
children have been born to them: William
Lewis, born June 14, 1879, is an electrician, and is now located at
Clarksburg, W. Va.; Frank, born April 16, 1881, is a carpenter, at Los
Angeles, Cal.; Fred Alfred, born April 10, 1886, died June 12, 1908, at the
age of twenty-two years; Margaret Hazel was married Sept. 15, 1909, to H. W.
Hancock, a steel mill worker at Brackenridge, Pa., and has one child, Edwin
Martin, born Oct. 18, 1910. Mrs. Umburn and her daughter are members of the Presbyterian
Church, Mr. Umburn is a Lutheran in religious connection.
He joined the I. O. O. F. at Amos, W. Va., becoming a member of Lodge
No. 110, and was made a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Gilmore,
McKean, Co., Pa. In politics, he
is a Republican.
