Governor from a Valley

Did you know a governor of Pennsylvania was teaching in this county's one-room schools before he was old enough to vote?

Martin Grove Brumbaugh was born in Penn township on 14 April 1862, son of George B. and Martha P. Brumbaugh of Marklesburg. The family had been here a long while: his great-grandfather Jacob bought land in Woodcock Valley and lived out his life on it, and a remote ancestor, Hans Heinrich Brumbaugh, had come from Germany in the first half of the seventeen hundreds.

He taught country schools in 1877 and 1878. He was fifteen. He graduated from Juniata College in 1881, studied at Millersville, taught at his own college until 1884, and was then elected county superintendent of schools, re-elected in 1887, six years in the post.

Then he kept going: a post-graduate year at Howard University from 1890, then the University of Pennsylvania.

He was governor of Pennsylvania from 1915 to 1919, right through the war.

Before this happened

The county histories on file were printed in 1847, 1876, 1883, 1897, 1909 and 1913, so none of them can describe an event of 1919. What they can do is describe this same place and these same firms beforehand. These passages are background, not corroboration. Each names the book and the position in the text so it can be checked. Spelling is as printed.

At the January sessions in 1772, the Bedford county court appointed viewers for a road "leading from the Standing Stone or Hart's Log, o HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY by Boquet's sprii^ and up Woodcock valley to the crossing of Yellow creek, and from thence to join the great road near Bloody Run." No report was made by the viewers and new ones were appointed, who likewise failed to report. A third set of viewers also failed to report and, in April, 1774, John Piper, Richard Long, John Mitchell, Samuel Anderson, and James Little were appointed. They laid out a road and made report the following July. One branch of this road ran from a point near the mouth of the Standing Stone creek to Boquet's spring (McConnellstown) and the other from Water Street narrows, on the Frankstown branch of the Juniata, to intersect the first at Boquet's spring. This was one of the first roads in Huntingdon county. Another early road in that county was one built in 1774 from Silver's ford, on the Juniata river, to intersect the road at Burnt Cabins. It was thirty-three feet wide and started from the Juniata about a mile above the mouth of Aughwick creek, ran past Robert Clugg^e's mill and crossed Aughwick creek north of old Fort Shirley. During the Revolution little attention was paid to road building, but upon the return of peace a number of highways were projected and some of them opened into roads which are still in use.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 689,809 of the scanned text

The route from the intersection of the two branches was through Woodcock Valley, passing near the houses of James Piper and John Piper to the "great road about fifteen perches above Bloody Run." Computing the measurement of the several lines we find the distances according to the return of this road survey, from the intersection of Allegheny and Third Streets in the Borough of Huntingdon to be as follows: To Boquet's Spring at McConnelstown four miles and two hundred and ninety-five perches to the crossing of Yellow Creek, thirty miles and two hundred and ten perches; and to Bloody Run, now Everett, thirtyeight miles and two hundred and thirty-six perches; all somewhat short of the actual distances. This route was ordered to be opened to the breadth of thirty-three feet, and confirmed as a public road. 41 On the 12th day of July, 1773, on a petition of a number of the inhabitants of the county, Benjamin Elliot, John Ramsey, John Walker, Gaven Cluggage, Lawrence Swope and James Carmichael were appointed to view and lay out a road from the mouth of Aughwick Creek to the great road leading from Bedford to Baltimore.Historic Huntingdon, 1767-1909 · character 67,667 of the scanned text

The route from the intersection of the two branches was through Woodcock Valley, passing near the houses of James Piper and John Piper, to the " great road about fifteen perches above Bloody Run." Computing the measurements of the several lines we find the distances, according to the return of this road survey, from the intersection of Allegheny and Third Streets, in the borough of Huntingdon, to be as follows: To Boquet's Spring at McConnellstown,! four miles and two hundred and ninety-five perches ; to the crossing of Yellow Creek, thirty miles and two hundred and tén perches; and to Bloody Run, now Everett, thirty-eight miles and two hundred and thirty-six perches; all somewhat short of the actual distances. This route was ordered to be opened to the breadth of thirty-three feet, and confirmed as a public road. On the 12th day of July, 1773, on a petition of a number of the inhabitants of the county, Benjamin Elliot, John Ramsey, John Walker, Gaven Cluggage, Lawrence Swop, and James Carmichael were appointed to view and lay out a road from the mouth of Aughwick Creek to the great road leading from Bedford to Baltimore.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 214,402 of the scanned text

Checked 2026-09-09 · County history, independently fact checked

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