Ananias Shumaker

ANANIAS SHUMAKER, the present treasurer of Westmoreland county, is of German descent, the family name originally being spelled "Schumaker." At an early day the ancestors settled in eastern Pennsylvania, some of its members living in Bucks county. The family have nearly all been farmers, and the grandfather of Ananias Shumaker was one of the sturdy farmers of his time. He was born in Allegheny township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He married, lived and died in the same county. Their children were: John, Daniel, Jacob, Peter, Sarah and Mary. They all married and became farmers in their native county.

Jacob Shumaker, the third child of the family, and the father of Ananias Shumaker, was born in Somerset county, near Wellesburg, about 1811. He married a widow, Mrs. Polly Earnest, whose maiden name was Hoover. Her parents were Michael and Eve (Frits) Hoover, of Somerset county, Pennsylvania. They were farmers their entire lives. By Mr. Earnest she had one son and one daughter, the former died in 1902. By Mr. Shumaker she had children: 1. Mary; 2. John, died at the age of eight years; 3. Ananias, born May 22. 1842; 4. Elizabeth; 5. Catherine. All married and are residents of Westmoreland county.

Ananias Shumaker received his education in the public schools of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and followed farm life chiefly until eighteen years of age when he enlisted at Berlin, Pennsylvania, as a member of Company F. under Captain Albert Heffley, as a private. His regiment was the One Hundred and Forty-second Pennsylvania Infantry, commanded by Colonel Commons, who was killed at the battle of Gettysburg. This regiment was a part of the Fifth Army Corps and of the Army of the Potomac. Mr. Shumaker was at the battle of Fredericksburg, and with his regiment during every engagement in which they participated, to the close of that greatest of American conflicts being honorably discharged at Washington, D. C., May 29, 1865. During all these years of warfare he was fortunate enough to have never been captured, wounded, or in hospital, though several shots at various times pierced his clothing. But four or five of his comrades fared as well, for in many a hard fought battle the loss was great to his command. When peace finally came, and the "stars and stripes" were the only colors flying over a free people, Mr. Shumaker returned to his native county, and on January 29, 1866, he was married to Mary Ann Campbell, daughter of W. B. and Sarah (Harr) Campbell, farmers of Cook township, Westmoreland county. Pennsylvania. Soon after his marriage, he removed to Knox county, Ohio, where he embarked in the boot and shoe trade. After two and one-half years in business in Ohio, he sold and went west, locating at Tama city, Iowa, then a mere hamlet, but now a prosperous railroad centre. After a short time he returned to his native county, locating in the boot and shoe business at Latrobe, but after a few years he sold and became a traveling salesman for a large boot and shoe wholesale house - Graff Sons and Company, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for whom he traveled in western Pennsylvania for twenty-one years, leaving the road in 1895 being succeeded by his second son, Charles W. Shumaker who traveled for the firm until they went out of business, his term of road life extending over a period of eight years. He was one of three partners in a shoe factory at Latrobe. Pennsylvania, continuing from 1885 to 1890. Politics engaged his attention for some time, and in 1902 he received the nomination for county treasurer of Westmoreland county, there being three in the field; he showed his popularity by receiving more votes than both opposing candidates. He was elected by more than four thousand majority. Politically, Mr. Shumaker has ever been an active, working Republican. He was a member of the council of Latrobe two terms, in the place in which he had spent thirty-two years of his life. He removed to the city of Greensburg (that being the county seat) upon his election taking his seat January 1, 1903, and in October of that year, purchased the dry goods business formerly conducted by W. T. Welty, at No. 128 Main street, Greensburg. He built, in 1905, an up-to-date residence on North Maple avenue, the cost of which, including the lot, was twelve thousand dollars, providing himself and family one of the best homes in the city.

Mr. Shumaker married (first), in 1866. Mary Ann Campbell. Their children were: William Milton, born in Knox county, Ohio, October 22, 1867, now deputy treasurer under his father; Blanche, born August 16, 1870, at Latrobe, died November 3, 1874; Ella, born at the same place, April 3, 1873, now at home and acting as her father's clerk and typewriter; Charles Wesley, born at Latrobe, January 21, 1876, now manager of his father's dry goods store in Greensburg, Pa.; Ada M., born at the same place March 16, 1879, died April 14, 1886, at the age of eight years. William Milton, Ella and Charles Wesley attended school as follows: William Milton went from the Latrobe high school to the State Normal at Indiana, Pennsylvania, 1884; Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 1885. The next two years he taught in the high school at Latrobe; was bookkeeper in his father's store for a year or more, when he accepted a position in the First National Bank at Latrobe, which he held for twelve years. From there he entered his father's office as deputy county treasurer; Ella attended the Pittsburg Female College in 1889, then attended Neff College, of Philadelphia one year, and now assists in her father's office, he being treasurer of Westmoreland county. Charles Wesley attended Grove City Business College, of Mercer, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1892. He then clerked in his father's store, until he took his place as commercial traveler which place he faithfully filled eight years, until the firm ceased to exist. These children are all at home and unmarried. Mr. Shumaker's first wife died April 14, 1894, at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He married (second) Margaret H. Henderson, a native of Bedford, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Hugh John and Jane (Reed) Henderson. Her grandfather, John Henderson, came from Ireland. Jane (Reed) Henderson, Mrs. Shumaker's mother, was the daughter of Thomas and Eupemia (Moorhead) Reed. Her great-grandfather and great-grandmother were Thomas and Phebe Moorhead. By Mr. Shumaker's last marriage the following children were born: Henderson, born July 23, 1897; Margaret, born March 23, 1899. died January 16, 1900; Isabella Jane, born March 26, 1901; Theodore, born March 11, 1903, died in infancy.

Mr. Shumaker has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for thirty-five years, twenty years of which time he has served as president of the board of trustees at Latrobe. He was on the building committee when the church was erected there in 1881, and generously donated towards its building expense. He is a member of a quarter of a century standing in both the R. A. and A. O. of U. lodges, at Latrobe and belongs to the G. A. R., W. P. Williams Post No. 4., in which order he has passed all the chairs and was a delegate to the state encampment in 1886. No citizen of the county stands higher in the estimation of the people than Mr. Shumaker. He has ever been loyal to his country, his native state and county; been prompt in all his dealings, with his fellow men by the true christian spirit; is a thoroughgoing business man and an exemplary father and husband. Notwithstanding he was for twenty-one years a "knight of the road," mingling with all classes of men, subject to temptations on every hand and saw the rough side of army life in time of the rebellion, yet always maintained a manly character and continues to enjoy the respect of all about him. He is now enabled to be surrounded with the blessings of a well reared family and enjoy the fruits of his labors.

Source: Page(s) 133-135, History of Westmoreland County, Volume II, Pennsylvania by John N Boucher. New York, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906.
Transcribed February 2006 by Nathan Zipfel for the Westmoreland County History Project
Contributed for use by the Westmoreland County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/westmoreland/)

Westmoreland County Genealogy Project Notice:

These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any presentation, without prior written permission.