OBIT: James O. WOLFERSBERGER, 1940, Rockwood, Somerset County, PA

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

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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JAMES O. WOLFERSBERGER

  With the passing of James O. Wolfersberger at his home in Rockwood, July 9, 
1940, Somerset County lost a sterling citizen of pioneer stock.
  A son of the late David H. Wolfersberger, James O. Wolfersberger was born in 
the village of Mineral Point at the confluence of Cox's Creek and the Casselman 
River, 70 years ago, one year before trains began running between Pittsburgh and 
Cumberland over the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad, now the Pittsburgh-
Cumberland Division of the B. & O.
  About the time trains began running through the village of Mineral Point, 
David H. Wolfersberger established a lunch counter on the south side of the 
railroad track, opposite the railroad station, for the accommodation of trainmen 
and railroad passengers.  The name of the village was changed from Mineral Point 
to Rockwood about the time that a branch line known as the Somerset & Mineral 
Point Railroad was completed from Rockwood to Somerset.  This branch line was 
afterward extended from Somerset to Johnstown, and its name was changed to 
Somerset and Cambria Railroad.
  It was after Rockwood became a railroad junction and many passengers got off 
and on trains on their way to and from the county-seat and Johnstown, that 
"Davey" Wolfersberger's lunch counter became prosperous and famous for its good 
coffee and ham sandwiches.  In the course of time the lunch counter expanded 
into a commodious hotel, known as the Rockwood House.
  James O. Wolfersberger and his elder brother, William, literally grew up in 
the restaurant and hotel business for their father put them to work behind the 
lunch counter as soon as they were old enough to wait on customers.  David 
Wolfersberger retired about the turn of the century and turned his hotel and 
restaurant business over to his sons.  All his life he was a staunch 
prohibitionist, and neither he nor his sons ever took out a liquor license for 
their hotel, nor would they sell or lease the Rockwood House to any one desiring 
to run a bar in connection with it.  They proved that a good temperance hotel 
could be profitably conducted without the sale of liquor on its premises.
  The Wolfersberger brothers continued to run the Wolfersberger lunch and hotel 
business on the same high plane as their father did, and prospered until motor 
vehicles and hard-surfaced roads gradually took local passenger business away 
from the railroads and passenger trains eventually ceased to run on the Somerset 
and Cambria tracks.  When no more passengers bound to and from Somerset and 
Johnstown got off trains at Rockwood, business fell off at the Wolfersberger 
lunch counter and hotel opposite the Rockwood depot, to such a degree that the 
proprietors were forced to lock the doors and retire.  The hotel has never since 
been reopened.
  David Wolfersberger died in 1916, William in 1931, and now James has passed 
on.  All were men of finest character and highly respected.  From the very 
beginning of the town of Rockwood, the Wolfersberger name has been one of the 
most honored in the life of the community.
  James O. Wolfersberger was an active member of the Rockwood Lutheran Church 
and a Sunday school worker until his death.  Funeral services were conducted by 
his pastor, Rev. Hohman.  His body was shipped to Reading, Pa., his widow's home 
city, for burial.  Besides his wife, he is survived by one brother, Charles H. 
Wolfersberger of Rockwood, and these nephews and nieces:  H. L. Wolfersberger, 
Somerset; Charles L. Wolfersberger, Aberdeen, Md.; Mrs. M. D. Stewart, Rockwood, 
and Mrs. Earl Ernest, Massilon, Ohio.

Meyersdale Republican, July 18, 1940