BIOS: John M. GAMBERT, Berlin, Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Candace Roth 

Copyright 2006.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/
________________________________________________

History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania; Bedford County by 
E. Howard Blackburn; Somerset County by William H. Welfley; v.3, Pub. The 
Lewis Publishing Company, New York/Chicago 1906, ppg. 426-7.

John M. GAMBERT.

John M. Gambert, of Berlin, is a grandson of John Gumbert, a native of 
Germany, who emigrated to the United States, accompanied by his family and 
his brother Jacob.  They landed in New York, July 31, 1836, and finally 
settled in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, where Jacob remained, but John 
Gumbert, at the end of nine years, removed to Carroll county, Ohio.
Peter Gumbert, son of John Gumbert, was born in 1827 in Germany and was 
eighteen when the family moved to Ohio.  For many years he farmed with his 
father on shares and then bought a farm, the purchase resulting in a change 
of the orthography of the family name.  On receiving a deed for the land he 
took it to the court house for the purpose of having it recorded, but the 
recorder of deeds refused to enter it under the German spelling, and declared 
that it must be Anglicized and spelled Gambert.  Peter objected, but the 
recorder insisted, and the deed was so recorded.  The change was legalized by 
three judges sitting as a court, and ever after that branch of the family 
were Gamberts.  After buying the farm Mr. Gambert engaged in stock dealing and 
raising.  He was a large stock drover, driving his flocks each year over the 
mountains from Ohio to Philadelphia and New Jersey.  This business he carried 
on for ten years, becoming very prosperous.  He then abandoned this line of 
industry and settled down to general farming, wool growing and stock raising, 
following these callings during the remainder of his life.  He became a very 
prominent man in his neighborhood, and in his later years settled many 
estates and filled offices of honor and trust.  He was a Republican and a 
member of the Lutheran church.
Mr. Gambert married Margaret Abrams, of Carroll county, Ohio, and their 
children were: George A., deceased; Catharine, widow of Eli Roudebush, living 
in Carroll county, has four children, Laura, Edgar, Margaret and Eva, all 
living in Ohio; John M., see forward; Emma, wife of Isaac Eulman, living on 
the homestead in Carroll county.  Mrs. Gambert died in 1897 at the age of 
seventy, and the death of Mr. Gambert occurred in 1902.
John M. Gambert, son of Peter and Margaret (Abrams) Gambert, was born January 
12, 1853, in Ohio, and received his education in the public schools.  He 
worked on the farm with his father until of age, when he became a partner in 
the farming and stock droving business.  For eleven years he carried on the 
lumber and hay business for himself, and for two years dealt in hay only, 
buying, baling and shipping.  In 1886 he came to Somerset county and bought a 
tract of two hundred and eighty acres in Jenner township, which he has since 
sold.  A little later he purchased his present farm, near Pine Hill, where he 
has since resided.  This property consists of two hundred and fifteen acres, 
with good and substantial improvements.  There is a sugar camp of five hundred 
vessels and there are also valuable orchards of apples and peaches.  The place 
is well stocked and the land is underlaid by coal.  In addition to his farming 
operatons, Mr. Gambert does a large stock business, buying, feeding and 
selling cattle and sheep, and also deals in horses.  Over and above his 
farm he owns other real estate, including a farm of one hundred acres in 
Carroll county, Ohio, fifty-two acres near the Fritz church, forty-five acres 
near Wills church, one-half interest in thirty acres, and one hundred acres 
of timber land in Gilmore county, West Virginia.
He assisted in the formation of the First National Bank of Berlin and has 
ever since been one of the directors.  He is also interested financially in 
the Berlin Gleaner, the Meyersdale Fair and Stock Association, the 
Economy Telephone Company of Meyersdale and the First National Bank of 
Carrollton, Ohio.  He is a member of the Lutheran church of Pine Hill, which 
he has served as trustee for many years.  He belonged to the committee 
appointed to superintend the building of the church recently erected, and was 
active in raising funds for that purpose.
Mr. Gambert married, October, 1887, in Ohio, Ellen Coleman, of Pennsylvania, 
born in 1855, and a member of the Lutheran church.  They have no children.  
Mrs. Gambert is a daughter of William and Matilda Coleman, the former a 
farmer of Brothers Valley township.  Mr. Coleman died in 1885, aged sixty 
years, and his widow, who is now seventy years old and in good health, makes 
her home with her daughter, Mrs. Gambert.