Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 504] an engineer on the W. N. Y. & P. R. R., in whose employ he has been for the past twenty-one years, resides at No. 6, Croton Avenue; he was born in Erie, Pa., Oct. 29, 1845, and is a son of Nicholas and Catherine (Rupert) Mumbaugh, both natives of the Rhineland, Germany. Catherine came to this country with her parents, the grandfather accompanying them also; she died in 1885, at the age of sixty-three. Nicholas Mumbaugh emigrated from Germany in 1841, and after coming to the United States lived for the first six months in Buffalo, N. Y., the Queen City of the Lakes, and from there went to Erie, Pa., where he lived five years, during which period our subject was born. From Erie he moved to Youngstown, Ohio, where he continued to reside until his death in 1890, at the age of seventy-three years. Our subject's father was a man of excellent parts, and was finely educated, being an especially good linguist, conversing fluently in French, German, English, and Spanish. Professionally, he was a bookkeeper, but was also skilled and well-versed in all phases of landscape gardening. Of eleven children born to him and his wife, nine survive, most of whom live in Youngstown, Ohio.
Of this family of eleven, Jacob was the second in order of birth. He was an infant when his parents moved to Youngstown, and in that town he grew up, and received a public school education until he was thirteen years of age, when he began driving a team, at which occupation he was engaged for four or five years. He then had a little taste of railroad life, serving one year as a brakeman. He next served an apprenticeship of a year and a half in the bolt works in Youngstown, and continued with the firm as journeyman one year, when he went to Pittsburg and worked at his trade five years. Becoming seriously ill, he returned home, where his sickness and convalescence kept him sixteen months. Upon recovering his accustomed health in 1867, he accepted the position of fireman on the Westerman railroad, where he remained two years, after which he came to New Castle to be the engineer for the New Castle Coal & Mining Co., with whom he remained nearly seven years. Then after a very short employment in the oil country, he was engaged by the W. N. Y. & P. R. R., Aug. 16, 1876, as an engineer on its lines, and ever since has had his name on that cqmpany's pay-rolls. The long term of service testifies to the estimation in which he is held by his employers.
Mr. Mumbaugh was married in Sharon, Pa., March 17, 1871, to Mary E. Skiles, a native of Sewickley, Pa., and a daughter of William and Susan (Smith) Skiles. Mrs. Mumbaugh is a member of the M. E. Church. In his politics, our subject is a liberal Democrat, and is always ready to vote for a man of another party, if he thinks that by so doing he can elect a better man. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Oil City Division, No. 173; Knights of Pythias, Western Star Lodge, No. 160 of New Castle. He has been in but one very severe accident, and that occurred seven miles north of New Castle, but he was fortunate enough to escape without serious injury, other than a shaking up and a few cuts.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
Previous Biography | Table of Contents | Next Biography
Explanation/Caution | Lawrence Co. Maps | Lawrence Co. Histories
Updated: 11 Jul 2001