BIO: Isaac BAUMAN, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson OCRed by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ _____________________________________________________________ >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 38-40 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ ISAAC BAUMAN, a prominent citizen, a well-known poet, and a writer of more than usual ability, long identified with literary work and publishing interests in Pennsylvania, was born in Ephrata, Lancaster county, May 19, 1829, and died in Upper Allen township, Cumberland county, Aug. 24, 1900. The Baumans came originally from Germany and were among the earliest settlers of Lancaster county. Different branches of the family, under the name of Bowman. are living in that county today. Joseph Bauman, father of Isaac Bauman, was born in Lancaster county and moved to Upper Allen township, Cumberland county, in 1830. He bought the present homestead and farm at that time and also established a printing business at Shepherdstown, carrying on both printing and farming until 1861. when he retired on account of increasing age. An interesting relic of his early work, which is still held by the family, is an old Franklin hand press which has been in its possession for more than eighty years. For three generations Baumans have worked on that press, Joseph having brought it with him to Shepherdstown, and it was previously owned by his father. In his early youth Joseph Bauman was employed in a paper-mill at Ephrata, Lancaster county, all his life having been associated with the printing business in some connection. He was a man of strong spiritual beliefs and conscientiously belonged to the sect known as the Seventh-Day Baptists. The old monastery belonging to that sect, and known as the "Sisters and Brothers House," still stands in Ephrata and, although out of use for many years. is still an object of interest to visitors, who are interested in the locality or in historical research and come long distances to view it and learn its story. Joseph Bauman married Mary Bitzer, who was born in Lancaster county and died in 1876, aged eighty-two years. His death took place in 1862, at the age of seventy-three years. They reared a remarkable family, every member showing unusual talent in some direction: (1) Jesse, the eldest, was an inventor and machinist, and established the first iron foundry in Mechanicsburg; he married Ellen Meily, and they are survived by one son, Joseph, who is a successful machinist at Dillsburg. Jesse Bauman died in 1894 at Dillsburg, at the age of seventy- CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 39 nine years. (2) Harrison. the second son, married Rachel Herman, lived and farmed in Middlesex township, and died in 1880 at the age of fifty-five years. (3) Isaac was the next son. Isaac Bauman was one year old when he became a resident of Upper Allen township and here learned all that the local schools could teach and also the. trade of printing, acquiring such knowledge under his father's tutelage. This trade he followed for a number of years in Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and early became a contributor to the then leading periodicals. His poems were gladly accepted for the columns of the Waverly Magazine, Peterson's Magazine and the Baltimore Sun and Yankee Blade. For a long time he wrote under the nom de plume of "Clarence May," but during his later years, when recognition was a matter of indifference to him, he signed the initials "I. B." In conjunction with the late Dr. William H. Egle, early in the fifties, he published a magazine called the Literary Companion, a magazine filled with choice original and selected matter, which had a wide circulation. Always unassuming, he was not prone to claim the credit due him, and it is recalled that upon one occasion, in 1852, when a banquet was given to Gov. Bigler at Harrisburg, on Franklin's birthday, by the printers of Pennsylvania, the then well known Frank Clifford gave the following toast to "Clarence May:" "A Gentleman deserving the name; a Poet of no ordinary genius; and a Typo [sic] who adorns the profession." Mr. Bauman was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. In politics, early a Whig, he later became a Republican and still later an adherent of the Prohibition party. *His lamented death took place as noted above. On Dec. 25, 1860, Mr. Bauman married Charlotte E. Sprenkel. The Sprenkels are descendants of old Virginia stock. Peter Sprenkel, grandfather of Mrs. Bauman, was born in Hanover, York county, Pa., and married Lydia Hoover of the same county. He was a farmer and large land owner in Dover township, where his death occurred in his seventy-third years [sic]. John Sprenkel, father of Mrs. Bauman, was born in Hanover and lived there until his marriage, when he settled in Baltimore county, Md., and engaged in the milling business. He died in middle age. In 1840 he married Leah Ettinger, of York county, who died in Cumberland county in 1885, at the age of sixty-nine years, and they had three children: Sarah married J. C. Nesbit, Esq., of Shepherdstown, and they have two children - Arthur E., a prominent druggist in Philadelphia, and Russell H., a telegrapher. John A., a teacher and lecturer, who lives in New Cumberland, formerly of Virginia, married Jennie Bailetts, of Harrisburg, and they have one son, Dr. Ward F. Sprenkel, a practicing physician in Philadelphia. Charlotte E. is the widow of Isaac Bauman. She was born in York county, Pa., March 9, 1842, and received her schooling in York and Cumberland counties. Mrs. Bauman early devoted herself to literary work, becoming a contributor to the Dollar Magazine, a well known Philadelphia publication in the sixties; to the Index-Appeal, of Petersburg, Va., and to the Waverly Magazine, her writings always possessing the clearness and interest which won her a wide audience. In 1868 she joined the Presbyterian Church at Mechanicsburg, and has always been active in its work and also in the work of the W.C.T.U., using her pen in the same cause. She is a member of the latter organization and one of its officers, and annually reads a paper before the yearly convention. She is intimately associated and 40 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. closely connected with many of the great leaders in temperance work. Mrs. Bauman can trace her maternal lineage far back, her great-grandfather Ettinger being a minister of the German Reformed Church. He lived, ministered and died in York county, and his son, Rev. Adam Ettinger, Mrs. Bauman's grandfather, was an Evangelical minister for seventy years, dying in 1876 in York county, aged ninety years. Mr. and Mrs. Bauman had children as follows: Norman died in 1882, aged twenty years. Edith married J. B. Miller, a farmer in Upper Allen township, and has two children, Ada and Xenia. May married J. A. Bucher, of Camp Hill, who holds a position with the Harrisburg Traction Company, and they have two children, Clarence E. and Norman B.