My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM C. SHUMBERGER. About the year 1830 a young man named Simon Shumberger settled in the lower end of Cumberland county and learned the tailoring trade. He married Mary G., a daughter of Jacob and Christiana (Firoved) Seiler, and made his home in that part of the county during the rest of his life. He was a kind-hearted genial man, and a very useful member of the community in which he lived. He had a large family and among his older children was a son named George, who married Catherine Miller, and, like his father engaged at tailoring, and always resided in the lower end of the county. He is still living and for many years has been holding the position of constable in Hampden township.

George and Catherine (Miller) Shumberger had children as follows: Simon H.; Mary, who married Reuben Eshleman; Lizzie, who married Alonzo Tuckey; George W., who married Sallie Simmons; Ellen, who married Solomon Weavodan; Nettie, who married George Waggoner; William L., who married Aggie Martin; and Flora, who married Pierce Fiester. Simon H., the oldest of these children, was born in Hampden township in 1847. He was educated in the common schools of his native district, and followed the avocation of farming. He married Lydia Eckert, daughter of John and Sarah (Swarner) Eckert, by whom he had the following children: William C., the special subject of this sketch; Martha F., who married R. F. Roth and is living in East Pennsboro township; and George Richard, who died at the age of twenty-two years.

William C., whose name heads this biography, was born Dec. 27, 1874, in Hampden township, Cumberland county, and attended the public schools of that locality until he was eighteen years of age. A short time after he left school he went to the west and spent two years at Franklin Grove, Lee Co., Ill. In 1895 he returned to his home in Hampden township, and in 1896 married Catherine E. Hoffer, daughter of Jacob and Susan (Plough) Hoffer, of West Pennsboro township. After marrying he located near Leidigh’s Station, in Monroe township, where he farmed six years. He then quit farming and entered upon the lumber business at which he has been engaged ever since. In 1903 he removed from his home near Leidigh’s Station to Churchtown, in order to be more advantageously located for the wholesaling and retailing of lumber. To William C. and Catherine (Hoffer) Shumberger the following children have been born: Wilber Hoffer, Silva May, Martha Florence and Lee William. Silva May died in August, 1904, but the others are at home with their parents in Churchtown. Mr. Shumberger and his family belong to the Lutheran Church, and socially are rated among the best people of their community.

In politics Mr. Shumberger is a Democrat, as were his paternal ancestors for generations before him, but in no sense a partisan, and is known best as an enterprising progressive business man and a highly respected citizen.