OBIT: Freeman Wilson POORBAUGH, 1941, Deeter's Gap, Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

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FREEMAN WILSON POORBAUGH

Father of Six Takes Own Life
Shot Faithful Dog First and Then Himself With a .22 Rifle

  A searching party made up of neighbors found the dead body of Freeman Wilson 
Poorbaugh, 43, of Deeter's Gap, Tuesday morning, in a woodland plot some 
distance from his home where he had gone the day previous to shoot an aged pet 
dog.  Mr. Poorbaugh's body was found lying face down, with a .22 calibre bullet 
hole in the left temple.
  In reconstructing the cause of his death at the inquest held in the victim's 
little store at Deeter's Gap, Tuesday afternoon, it was made known that he had 
been suffering from a heart condition for several years.
  Mr. Poorbaugh left his home at noon on Monday with an aged family pet dog and 
a .22 calibre rifle.  He informed Mrs. Poorbaugh he intended to dispose of the 
old dog by taking it out in the woods and shooting it.
  Apparently he had shot the dog and was returning to his home when he decided 
to end his own life.  He had lain down on the ground, removed his spectacles and 
hat, then propped the rifle against a small tree, and pulled the trigger with 
the thumb of the left hand.
  Freeman Poorbaugh is survived by his father, Uriah Poorbaugh, of Berlin, his 
widow, Mary Miller Poorbaugh, 33, six children, all at home, Betty, Peggy, 
William, Richard, Donald and Beverly Ann.
  These brothers and sisters also survive: Frank of Buffalo Mills, R.D.; George, 
of Garrett, R.D.; Cecila, Wife of Henry Miller of Fairhope, R.D.; Annie, wife of 
Charles Lafferty, Buffalo Mills; Emma, wife of Earl Miller, Somerset.
  Funeral services were conducted at the Johnson Funeral Chapel, in Berlin, 
Thursday afternoon at 2, by the Rev. F. W. Petrea, minister of the Schellsburg 
Mt. Zion Lutheran Church.
  Interment in the Berlin I.O.O.F. Cemetery, under the direction of Johnson and 
Son, Berlin morticians.

Meyersdale Republican, April 10, 1941