BIOGRAPHY: James M. SHUMAKER, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 249-51
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JAMES M. SHUMAKER, ex-sheriff of Cambria county, was born July 8, 1851, in 
Fairfield county, Ohio, and is a son of Simon and Mary (Bower) Shumaker. He is 
of German origin, but his family was among the early settled ones in Berks 
county. The founder of the family in this country was John Shumaker, the great-
grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He came from Germany to the United 
States in 1742, and settled in Philadelphia for a time, and then removed to 
Berks county. A wooden spoon and fork, brought by him to this country, are much-
prized heirlooms in the possession of John Shumaker, the uncle of the subject of 
this record. John Shumaker (grandfather) was born in Berks county. He was reared 
in that county, married there, and became the father of seventeen children, and 
spent his life in the county of his nativity. In that county was born Simon 
Shumaker, on March 10, 1810. He was reared in that county, and worked in the 
woolen mills of that section at different times, and was also engaged upon the 
Erie Canal, from Williamsport to Havre-de-Grace, Maryland. Later, he became a 
manufacturer of woolen goods. In 1846 he removed to Fairfield county, Ohio, and 
returned to Pennsylvania in 1854, where he spent the remainder of his life, 
dying May 30, 1880. He was twice married. His first union was with Mary Walton; 
and his second was with Elizabeth Bowers, a daughter of Peter Bowers, of 
Lycoming co. She was born in that county in 1824, and is yet living. To this 
marriage were born six children, three boys and three girls. They are as 
follows: Annie, deceased, was the wife of John Ramsey, of Clinton county, 
Pennsylvania; Thomas J., of Williamsport, this State. He entered the Civil War 
at the age of sixteen years, served three years and six months, took part in 
twenty-seven engagements, and is at present a foreman in a woolen mill at 
Williamsport; Emily, wife of John Shoemaker, of Clarkstown, Pennsylvania; 
Rebecca, wife of Peter Marshall, of Heberon, Lycoming county; James M., subject; 
John S., who is unmarried, and lives with his mother at Muncy, Lycoming county, 
Pennsylvania.
     James M. Shumaker had but few advantages for securing an education. He 
attended the common schools during the winter months, and worked during the 
summer months to help support the family, until he was sixteen years of age. At 
that age he left home, and began the battle of life single-handed and alone. 
Although he had but limited education with which to wage this battle, yet he had 
that which is perhaps better than a knowledge of Latin, Greek, and the 
“ologies.” He had a good trade. He had learned the trade of a woolen worker, so 
when he came to Johnstown in 1874, he soon secured employment in the woolen 
mills of Wood, Morrell & Co., as foreman of the spinning rooms. He remained with 
that company eight years. Carefully husbanding his earnings, he had saved 
enough, in 1882, to engage in mercantile pursuits. He purchased a store situated 
on the corner of Washington and Clinton streets, Johnstown. Here he was 
successfully engaged until that fatal 31st day of May, 1889, when everything he 
had was carried away by the “Great Flood.” After that calamity, he was for some 
time actively engaged in the work which was made necessary by it. From the 
report of the secretary of the Johnstown Flood Relief Commission, we take the 
following as giving a clearer idea of Mr. Shumaker's connection with the burial 
of the unknown dead: “From a conversation with Herman Baumer, of Johnstown, as 
to the best means of identifying as many as possible of the large number of 
unknown bodies, originated the idea of removing from their scattered resting-
places all the bodies, and interring them at one place. Having carefully 
considered all the details, the matter was referred to the Commission, and their 
secretary was given authority to carry on the work to completion. From the 
cemetery company of Grand View, was secured a beautiful plot of ground of about 
twenty-two thousand square feet, high up above the ruined city, for which was 
paid only enough to warrant the perpetual care of the ground, the deed being 
held by the mayor of Johnstown, as trustee. A committee was formed, known as the 
Committee on the Reinterment of the Unknown Dead, of which committee Mr. 
Shumaker was made secretary. He afterwards took full charge of the work, seeing 
in this a possibility of finding his lost wife. He gave the work his undivided 
attention, and although thirty-six bodies were identified during the progress of 
the work, yet it is to be regretted that his hopes were not realized, and that 
he is yet ignorant of her last resting place." He was also on the committee that 
purchased the tombstones, marking the graves of the unknown.
      Mr. Shumaker is a staunch republican, and in the autumn of 1891 was 
elected sheriff of Cambria county, by a majority of five hundred and seventy-one 
votes, although the county was Democratic by some eight hundred votes.
      On June 28, 1877, he married Lena Streum, and to this union were born: 
John S.; James G., who died in 1885; Edith May, Irene G., and Walter S., all of 
whom were lost in the flood, except James G.
      He married, as his second wife, November 12, 1891, Antonia Lambert, and 
four children, Mabel, Warren, Donald E., and Esther, bless this union.