The Church of the Brethren in northeastern Ohio, Part 26

Author: Diehm, Edgar Graybill, 1891-1976
Publication date: 1963
Publisher: Brethren Press
Number of Pages: 389


USA > Ohio > The Church of the Brethren in northeastern Ohio > Part 26


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27


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1952). Because of poor health, he retired from the pastoral ministry in 1952, making his home in Warrensburg, Missouri, until the time of his death on February 18, 1956.


FREDERICK BENJAMIN WEIMER, son of John and Elizabeth Weimer, was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on December 25, 1840. He was received into the church in 1860 in Greene County, Pennsylvania. On September 25, 1860, he was married to Julia Ann Murray; they were the parents of nine children. Brother Weimer was called to the ministry in the Jacobs Creek congregation in 1865, advanced there in 1867, and ordained to the eldership in the Chippewa church, Northeastern Ohio, on October 3, 1890. He preached in the Jacobs Creek congregation in the free ministry from 1865 to 1888 and in the Chippewa congregation from 1888 to 1913. Brother Weimer served as elder in the Sugarcreek congrega- tion, and in the Freeburg church from 1900 to 1904 and was assistant moderator in 1899 and 1900. He was on the district home mission board for several years, and was on the Standing Committee in 1894. He conducted many evangelistic meetings and was active in the building of the East Chippewa and Beech Grove churches. He died on December 12, 1913; Sister Weimer followed on November 11, 1918.


GLEN WEIMER, son of George and Blanche (Fox) Weimer, was born in Union City, Indiana, on April 6, 1904. He was baptized December 28, 1917, in the Union City congregation. Brother Weimer married Clarabel Kauffman on May 10, 1925; a boy and a girl were born to them. Called to the ministry in the Logan, Ohio, church in 1926, he was advanced in the New Carlisle church and ordained to the eldership in the Springfield church. These churches have been under his pastoral care: Donnelscreek, Ohio (1926-1929); Maple Grove, Ohio (1929- 1935); First Congregational, Belding, Michigan (1935-1938) ; Mayflower Congregational, Lansing, Michigan (1938-1943) ; First Church of the Brethren, South Bend, Indiana (1943-1950) ; Timberville, Virginia (1950-1953); Arlington, Virginia (1953- 1962); Uniontown, Pennsylvania (1962-). A co-compiler of Manual of Worship and Polity: Church of the Brethren, he has


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also contributed many articles to Brethren periodicals. In the summer of 1962 he directed a peace seminar in Berlin, Germany.


RICHARD WENGER, a native of Pennsylvania, began his pastorate at the Canton First church on Au- gust 1, 1961. Brother Wenger is a graduate of Elizabethtown College and of Bethany Biblical Seminary. He and Mrs. Wenger have three children. Since his graduation from Bethany Biblical Seminary in 1950, he served as pastor at Cincinnati, Ohio; Olympia, Washington; and in the newly established Larch- Richard Wenger mont congregation near Sacra- mento, California. While serving as a pastor in the District of Northern California he held membership on various district boards.


A. RUTH WHITACRE was born to J. C. and Emma (Shockley) Beahm on December 10, 1897, in Brentsville, Virginia. She was baptized in the Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, congregation in 1910. Sister Whitacre was graduated from Blue Ridge College with an A.B. degree in 1924 and has pursued graduate study in Ohio University. She was married to Jesse W. Whitacre on June 3, 1925; four sons were born to the union. Called to the ministry in West Virginia in 1942, Sister Whitacre was permanently licensed in the Old Furnace church in that state in 1943 and was ordained in July 1962. Besides assisting her husband in all his pastoral duties, she has been president of women's work in West Virginia; a delegate to the Annual Meeting several times; an alternate on the Standing Committee; the director of vacation church schools in a number of congregations; the teacher of a course in evangelism at Bridgewater, Virginia; a leader in a women's camp in Northern Indiana; and a leader in teacher training schools in the Western Maryland, First West Virginia, and Northeastern Ohio districts.


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JESSE W. WHITACRE, son of A. J. and Lacy Ann (Abe) Whitacre, was born in Mineral County, West Virginia, on October 9, 1901. He was baptized in the Old Furnace congregation August 25, 1912. On June 3, 1925, he married Ruth Beahm; they have four sons. Brother Whitacre was called to the ministry April 9, 1921, and ordained to the eldership December 18, 1927, in the Old Furnace church. He served this congregation in the free ministry for six years. His pastorates have been Georges Creek, Pennsylvania (1925- 1928) ; Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (1928-1930) ; Greencastle, Pennsylvania (1930-1934); Shamokin, Pennsylvania (1934- 1938) ; Reading, Pennsylvania (1938-1939); Wiley Ford, West Virginia (1947-1948) ; Old Furnace, West Virginia (1948-1951) ; Black River, Northeastern Ohio (1951-1953); Maple Grove, Western Maryland (1953-1956) ; Blue River, Northern Indiana (1956-1959). Since 1959 he has given all his time to evangelism. As of October 1962 he had held two hundred twenty-eight evangelistic meetings. He has held various offices in the districts in which he has lived and has been a member of the Standing Committee three times.


ALBERT CASSEL WIEAND, son of David and Elizabeth (Cassel) Wieand, was born in Wadsworth, Ohio, in 1871. He was baptized in the Beech Grove congregation in 1884. On June 16, 1909, he was married to Katherine Broadwater; to this union three sons and two daughters were born. Brother Wieand was a profound student of the Bible; a dedicated and challenging teacher who blessedly affected the thinking and the life of the church; and a man to whom prayer was not only theory but a precious reality. He was called to the ministry in the Chippewa church, Ohio, in 1893 and was ordained to the eldership in McPherson, Kansas, in 1895. His education was secured at McPherson College, the University of Chicago, the University of Jena, the University of Leipzig, Boston University, Yale University, Harvard University, Columbia University, Juniata College, and Manchester College. Brother Wieand was Annual Conference moderator, writing clerk, and reading clerk; a member of the General Sunday School Board, the secretary of the General Educational Board, and a member of several Brotherhood committees. He was a teacher at White's Biblical


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Seminary in New York City; professor of English and education at McPherson College for three years; a trustee of McPherson; one of the founders and the first president (twenty-six years) of Bethany Seminary; a teacher in the seminary for forty-one years. Among the books written by him are The Prince of Peace, A Child's Life of Christ, The Prayer Life and Teaching of Jesus, Gospel Records of the Message and Mission of Jesus Christ, and The Gospel of Prayer. He traveled in Europe, the Holy Land, Burma, and India, visiting Brethren missions in the latter country. Death came to him at La Verne, California, on July 24, 1954.


JOHN B. WIEAND, son of Theodore C. and Ella (Beashore) Wieand, was born near Wooster, Ohio, on September 27, 1896. At the age of eleven he became a Christian. He received an A.B. degree from Findlay College and a B.D. degree from Bethany Biblical Seminary (1927). He began his ministerial service in the self-supported (free) ministry at the Chippewa church. Along with his pastoral work he did district field work in Western Canada from 1933 to 1936; and in Southern Illinois, from 1936 to 1946. Churches which he has served are Chippewa, Oak Grove, and Bellefontaine in Ohio; Bow Valley, Alberta; Decatur, Illinois; Peru, Indiana; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; and Libertyville, Iowa, where he now is. His wife, M. Viola Wieand, has worked with him, and the accomplish- ments achieved came about because of their mutual dedication and effort.


J. OSCAR WINGER, son of John and Mary Winger, was born in Grant County, Indiana, on March 31, 1891. He was baptized in 1901. Lofa Eikenberry became his wife in 1912; two daughters were born to them. Brother Winger took training in business subjects at Manchester College, then taught in those fields at Bluffton, Indiana, for four years and at Muncie, Indiana, for a like period. Called to the ministry at Muncie in 1920, he was ordained three years later. Moving to North Manchester, Indiana, in the early 1920's, he was associated with Manchester College for many years as an instructor or as a field representative. He was in demand as an evangelist


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and as a speaker for clubs, institutes, high schools, and inter- denominational meetings. The Bethel Center church and the Liberty Mills church, in Indiana, were his fields of labor for several years; then Akron, Ohio, and Nappanee, Indiana, for over a year each. In the District of Middle Indiana, in which most of his life was spent, he was a member of the missionary- ministerial board, the presiding elder of a number of churches, moderator of the district conference, reading clerk, and Standing Committeeman at various times. His death occurred on August 23, 1947, while he was conducting an evangelistic meeting. Like his brother Otho, he gave his life to the church and to Manchester College.


CLAUDE E. WOLFE, son of Walter and Clara (Jenkins) Wolfe, was born November 10, 1918, in Peru, Indiana. He was baptized in the Santa Fe church, near Peru, in November 1930. Brother Wolfe was called to the ministry in that church in May 1940 and advanced there in July 1941. He received his education at Manchester College (A.B. degree), Bethany Seminary (B.D. degree), and Indiana University (M.S. degree). June Heestand became his wife on September 7, 1941; they have three children. He was pastor of the Zion Hill, Ohio, church during the summer of 1944. Brother Wolfe served two years in Ecuador and nine months in Puerto Rico under the Brethren Service Committee. In February 1948 the Wolfes went to Ecuador as missionaries, continuing in that work for one term. After his return to the States he was the director of physical education and athletics at Manchester College from 1951 to 1962. In 1956 and 1961 he directed summer international work camps in Ecuador under Brethren Service Commission auspices. At the present he is the Heifer Project and peace coordinator in Bolivia.


ARTHUR S. WORKMAN, son of Morgan and Sarah (Shorb) Workman, was born in Wooster, Ohio, on December 2, 1864. He was baptized in Loudonville, Ohio. Brother Workman was the father of three daughters. He was called to the ministry about 1888, advanced about 1889, and ordained an elder in 1890. He served the Loudonville churches - Plum Run, McFalls,


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and Honey Creek - from 1889 to 1908. He was moderator, assistant moderator, and writing clerk at district meetings. Brother Workman died on September 21, 1928; Sister Workman on April 26, 1948.


COLUMBUS J. WORKMAN, son of Solomon and Mary Ann (Baubury) Workman, was born in Danville, Ohio, on July 31, 1856. He married Sarah E. Ross on January 3, 1878; three chil- dren were born to them. He united with the church June 4, 1879, was called to the ministry in Danville in 1879, and soon thereafter was ordained to the eldership. In the Danville church he worked in the free ministry from 1879 to 1926, and from 1916 to 1931 he was its elder-in-charge. At various times he was elder-in-charge of the Ankenytown, Loudonville, Gambier, and Cavallo churches. He died on July 19, 1938, and Sister Workman on July 7, 1939.


DAVID WORKMAN was born near Loudonville, Ohio. On December 23, 1860, he married Lavina Dickey. Both Brother and Sister Workman united with the church before their mar- riage, which was unusual in those days. For three years the young couple lived near Loudonville. They then bought the Dickey farm lying one mile south of the Ashland Dickey church, on which the 1854 Annual Meeting was held. After four years they sold this farm and purchased another near the church. In this home Brother Workman spent the remainder of his life. Called to the ministry in June 1870 and ordained an elder in the fall of 1880, he was given the oversight of the church a short time later; in this office he worked faithfully until his death in 1894. He was a pioneer in Sunday-school work and became the superintendent of the first Sunday school in the Ashland Dickey church in 1873.


MORGAN WORKMAN, with his wife, was received into the church at the 1854 Annual Meeting, which was held in a barn on the farm of Elias Dickey, five miles southeast of Ashland, Ohio. They were the means of the organization of the Loudon-


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David Workman


Morgan Workman


ville church. After the death of his wife in 1863 he set aside ground from his farm for a cemetery and a church house. In the same year a church building was erected with Brother Workman bearing two thirds of the cost. Financially pros- perous, he gave liberally to the poor and to Christ's work. He died in 1886.


JOSEPH T. WORKMAN, son of John and Lucretia (Dewitt) Workman, was born in Knox County, Ohio, on October 15, 1847. He married Lucinda Grubb on October 5, 1873; three children were born to the union. Brother Workman was called to the ministry in the North Bend church, Danville, Ohio, in 1892. His wife died December 30, 1923, and he on January 5, 1933.


CARL E. YODER, son of Henry A. and Lydia (Shumaker) Yoder, was born in Bourbon, Indiana, on July 30, 1909. Baptized on December 30, 1923, in the Mount Pleasant congregation near Bourbon, he was called to the ministry May 29, 1938, in


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Bremen, Indiana. Brother Yoder received his education at McPherson College (B.S., 1940) and Bethany Seminary (B.D., 1943). In 1943 he married Lillian V. Moyers; they have two boys. Brother Yoder's pastoral services have been given at Osceola, Indiana (1943-1946) ; Mansfield, Ohio (1946-1947) ; and, since 1961, at Lebanon, Virginia.


JOHN YODER, son of John and Susan (Mast) Yoder, was born in Millersburg, Ohio, on December 11, 1861. He married Ida E. Maxwell in January 1883; four children were born into their home. Brother Yoder was baptized in Berlin, Ohio, in 1888, called to the ministry at Baltic in 1893, advanced in the Black River church in 1900, and ordained to the eldership there in 1913. He preached at Black River in the free ministry for many years. Sister Yoder died in April 1936. Brother Yoder married Mrs. Ella Heistand Ekleberry on April 29, 1938. His death date is not known.


DALE ARDYS YOUNG, son of Menno and Minnie (Rau) Young, was born in Ohio on June 8, 1916. He was baptized in April 1929 in the Hartville, Ohio, church. Brother Young married Marguerite Kolar on March 9, 1947; they are the parents of two sons and two daughters. He was graduated from Kent State University (B.A., 1940); Oberlin Graduate School of Theology (B.D., 1953); Columbia University (M.A., 1954, and Ed.D., 1960). Licensed to preach by the Springfield church, he was ordained to the ministry in that congregation in September 1951. From the time of his ordination until July 1952, Brother Young served as the interim pastor of the Canton First church, Ohio; from 1952 to 1953 as pastor of the Akron First church, Ohio; summer of 1954 at Dixon, Illinois; summer of 1955 at East Nimishillen, Ohio. Earlier in life he worked on the railroad, farmed, taught in high school, and took an adminis- trative part in civilian public service. After being the dean of men at Shepherd College, West Virginia, for several years he became the dean of men at Manchester College in 1961.


DAVID YOUNG, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Rhode) Young, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on June


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19, 1828. He married Catherine Mishler on June 28, 1849; they had six children. Brother Young was baptized in the Spring- field congregation, Ohio, in 1853, called to the ministry in 1858, advanced in 1863, and ordained to the eldership in 1875. He shepherded the Springfield congregation in the free ministry until 1907. He was a member of the Standing Committee in 1886. Sister Young died on July 10, 1907. In that same year Brother Young united with the Old German Baptist Church.


HENRY S. YOUNG, son of Simon and Catherine (Sprankle) Young, was born in Stark County, Ohio, October 13, 1849. He was married to Anna Royer on September 3, 1871; they were the parents of three children. Brother Young was called to the ministry in 1881 in the West Nimishillen church, and there he was made an elder and served his entire ministerial career until his death on May 30, 1915. He was a member of the district mission board during the location of the Akron City church. Sister Young died February 6, 1907. Brother Young married Anna Mishler on February 12, 1908.


MENNO S. YOUNG was born to Samuel and Maryann (Smith) Young near Mogadore, Ohio, on June 10, 1875. He was baptized near Mogadore in 1891. Brother Young attended Buchtel College and Manchester College. Called to the ministry in the Springfield congregation in 1902, he was advanced in 1905 and ordained to the eldership in 1915. He worked as a free minister in the Springfield congregation following his election. Brother Young married Viola Rau on May 21, 1901; four children were born to them. He died August 25, 1953.


MILDRED YOUNG, the daughter of Ira R. and Susan (Carper) Young, was born in Portage County, Ohio, on September 5, 1913. Her baptism occurred on November 7, 1925, in the Hartville church, Ohio. She was graduated from Manchester College in 1935. Sister Young has been a teacher of home economics at Marlboro Township school, Stark County, since 1935. She has the distinction of being the first laywoman to serve on the Standing Committee (1957) from Northeastern


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Mildred Young


Ohio. Sharing in other activities of the district has been carried on as a member of the board of Christian education, 1945-1951; the secretary- treasurer of woman's work, 1950- 1956; a member of the district meet- ing program committee, 1956-1959; a junior high camp director, 1952- 1955; a trustee of Camp Zion, cur- rently. She is the organist and an active member of the Hartville church.


WALTER M. YOUNG, son of David and Susan (Roop) Young, was born in Carroll County, Maryland, on August 9, 1895. He was baptized in the Pipe Creek, Maryland, church in August 1924. His marriage to Elizabeth Geiman took place on October 12, 1915; four children were born into their home. Blue Ridge College granted him an A.B. degree in 1925 and Bethany Biblical Seminary a B.D. degree in 1941. Brother Young was called to the ministry in the Meadow Branch church, Maryland, on September 9, 1920; advanced December 10, 1920, in the Westminster church, Maryland; and ordained to the eldership November 1, 1931, in the New Philadelphia, Ohio, church. He has pastored these Maryland churches: Meadow Branch and Westminster in the free ministry from 1920 to 1921; Pipe Creek and New Windsor from 1921 to 1925; Meadow Branch, in the free ministry, from 1926 to 1929. Other parishes have been Martinsburg and Johnsontown, West Virginia (1925-1926) ; New Philadelphia, Ohio (1930-1935) ; Maple Avenue, Canton, Ohio (1935-1938) ; Lansing, Michigan (part time, 1938-1941, and full time, 1941-1948) ; Sterling, Illinois (1948-1954) ; Astoria, Illinois (1954-1959); Sugar Ridge, Michigan (1959-). He has held a wide variety of offices in the districts in which he has lived. His interest in church history led him to write History of the Church of the Brethren in Michigan, which was published in 1946; the book evolved from a study made for his seminary thesis.


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JACOB DANIEL ZIGLER, a native of Churchville, Virginia, was born to David and Elizabeth (Bowman) Zigler on November 2, 1889. He united with the Elk Run, Virginia, congregation on November 26, 1898. Elected to the office of deacon in the Elk Run church in 1905 and to the ministry there in 1906, he was advanced in 1915 in the Bridgewater church, Virginia, and ordained to the eldership in the Owl Creek, Ohio, congregation. On October 4, 1910, he was married to Laura V. Cline; six daughters were born to them. Brother Zigler is a graduate of Bridgewater College with a Th.B. degree. In the free ministry he served Elk Run (1906-1914), Bridgewater (1914-1916), and Lebanon, Virginia (1916-1927). Devoting all his time to the pastoral ministry, he has been at Owl Creek, Ohio (1927-1934) ; White Cottage, Ohio (1934-1946); Alliance, Ohio (1946-1957) ; Richland, Ohio (interim, 1962). In this district he was the acting moderator in 1946, the assistant moderator in 1952, the reading clerk in 1929, a member of the mission board from 1944 to 1953, and a member of the Standing Committee once. He has held many evangelistic meetings. Sister Laura Zigler died on February 20, 1923. He married Bertie Huffer on April 9, 1924; two boys and a girl were born to them. Retired from full-time pastoral service, he is now living in Alliance; he has been in the ministry for fifty-five years.


CHARLES EDWARD ZUNKEL, son of Walter Richard and Matilda (Walters) Zunkel, was born in Atwood, Colorado, February 26, 1905. At the age of four he was baptized in the Methodist church but in November 1920 he united with the Church of the Brethren at Sterling, Colorado. Brother Zunkel is a graduate of Manchester College (B.A. degree) and of Bethany Seminary (B.D. and honorary D.D.). He married Cleda Pearl Shull on June 12, 1928; two children were born to them. Called to the ministry in Sterling in April 1923, he was advanced in South Bend, Indiana, in April 1924, and ordained to the eldership in Pleasant Hill, Ohio, in June 1932. His pastoral charges have been Michigan City, Indiana (as a seminary student, 1932-1935) ; Pleasant Hill, Ohio (1928-1932) ; Danville, Ohio (1935-1939) ; Lima, Ohio (1939-1944) ; Wenatchee, Washington (1944-1948); Mill Creek, Virginia (1958 -). Brother Zunkel was a member of the Northeastern Ohio board


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of Christian education from 1936 to 1939 and the editor of the Northeastern Ohio Herald in 1939, and has carried many responsibilities in the other districts in which he has lived. He was a member of Standing Committee a number of times; of the General Education Board from 1942 to 1947; of the General Brotherhood Board from 1947 to 1948, being again elected to it in 1962; of the Brotherhood staff from 1948 to 1958 as the executive secretary of the Ministry and Home Mission Commission. In 1959-1960 he was the assistant moderator of the Brotherhood; in 1961 he moderated the Annual Conference at Long Beach, California.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


My first obligation is to Ora W. Garber, book editor, the Brethren Press. His contribution might well have been acknowledged by placing his name on the title page as editor. Without his assistance this history would never have materialized.


George S. Strausbaugh, a member of the historical committee and the designated counselor to the editor, prepared the district calendar, the outline of the district meetings, and the index. He also read all the proofs.


The Foreign Mission Commission and the Ministry and Home Mission Commission of the General Brotherhood Board made available considerable information. Kenneth I. Morse, editor of the Gospel Messenger, furnished the editor with a copy of the Pennsylvania Dutchman which contained an interesting article on the activities of Henry Kurtz prior to the time at which he united with our Brother- hood. Otis Bowman, of Louisville, Ohio, provided the editor with information dealing with the activities of Henry Kurtz in the Canton, Ohio, area. He loaned the editor the books published there.


The historical committee cooperated in every possible way. The pastors of the churches, many individuals in the various congregations, and the district boards and officers furnished much information. George Snyder, representing the Youngstown Arc Engraving Com- pany, worked diligently with the editor. Willis Kurtz took many of the group pictures. The district executive secretary, Gordon Bucher, gave valuable assistance.


-E. G. D.


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INDEX


Alley, Howard L., 66. Anderson, Charles, 62, 237.


Angeny, Edward, 108, 160, 237.


Annual Meetings in Northeastern Ohio, 221, 222. Arnold, Whitmore, 131, 238.


Baird, Glen, 104, 238.


Baldwin, L. M., 133, 239.


Bantz, Wilbur, 133, 239.


Beach, Guy K., 21, 23, 99, 145, 240.


Beach, Paul, 23.


Beahm, William M., 22, 23, 45, 241.


Beery, Isaac R., 100, 145, 241.


Bendsen, Victor C., 104, 242.


Bixler, William, 22, 26, 106.


Block, Ervin F., 82, 242.


Blough, John H., 75, 243.


Board of Christian Education, 184-186.


Bollinger, Gideon, 54.


Bollinger, Russell, 46, 149, 244.


Bosler, Billy, 75.


Bosserman, Willis, 146, 244.


Boundary lines, 174.


Bowlby, Glenn H., 66, 245.


Bowman, Walter, 57, 164.


Brethren Service, 186, 190.


Browand, Henry, 122. Brown, P. J., 58, 119.


Brubaker, Clair, 23.


Brubaker, Dan G., 22. Brubaker, D. M., 141, 245.


Brubaker, Harvey, 22, 127, 246.


Brumbaugh, Daniel A., 84.


Brumbaugh, Daniel M., 246.


Brumbaugh, Elmer I., 20, 107, 126, 247. Brumbaugh, Grayce, 103. Brumbaugh, Henry, 90. Brumbaugh, Lewis, 92.




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