DAVID
C. STAMBAUGH. - - A battle-scarred veteran of the Civil war,
David C. Stambaugh, who has been a revered citizen of Sharon for more
than twenty-six years, represents a family which has played a large
part in the progress of Hickory township and Mercer county since the
settlement of his father on the Hickman farm in 1824. He a son of
Samuel and Margaret (Hodge) Stambaugh, the former of whom was a native
of Perry county, Pennsylvania, who removed to Trumbull county, Ohio, at
the age of sixteen. For seven years he was engaged in the
transportation of goods from the eastern markets to the Western
Reserve, and for a time during the war of 1812 served in the wagon
train engaged in hauling army supplies from Detroit, Michigan. His
first wife, whom he married in Ohio, was Miss Rebecca Ritter, who
bore him seven children. In 1824 he removed with his family to Mercer
county and purchased the Hickman farm, and on December 24, 1827, while
still occupying it as the family homestead, he lost his first wife by
death. In 1829 he married Margaret Hodge, daughter of
Robert Hodge, of Pymatuning township, who bore him nine children.
The father died February 28, 1860, and his widow passed away in 1881.
David
C. Stambaugh was born on the old homestead in Hickory township,
September 8, 1841, and received his education in the immediate
vicinity. At the death of his father he became a self-supporting member
of the community, and was one of the first in Mercer county to respond
to the presidential call for troops to suppress the Rebellion. On April
23, 1861, he enlisted in Company R, Tenth Regiment, Pennsylvania
Volunteer Infantry, Reserve Corps, his term being for three years, or
during the war. He was first placed under fire at the battle of
Drainsville, Virginia, on the 20th of December. 1861, and was in the
thick of the seven days' fight before Richmond. It was during the fifth
day of these fierce engagements, June 30, 1862, that he was severely
wounded in the left arm. The first clash of armies had occurred at
Mechanicsville, four miles from Richmond, on the 26th, the second at
Gaines Mills. on the 27th, and on June 28 and 29 the Tenth Pennsylvania
formed a part of the Union forces held in reserve. On the 30th, at
Charles City Cross Roads, it went into action with characteristic dash,
and, although wounded ill this engagement, Mr. Stambaugh marched all
night to Malvern Hill, participated in the battle there the following
day and on the 2nd of July continued in the Union advance to Harrison's
Landing. On the following day he was placed aboard a hospital ship and
sent down the bay to Hampton Roads; was thence removed to the
Portsmouth Naval hospital and, two months afterwards, was sent to the
Harwood Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia. He was honorably
discharged from the service on the 28th of November, 1862, but being
incapacitated for further military duty returned to his home.
Having
spent a few months ill the recuperation of his shattered health, Mr.
Stambaugh, in the summer of 1863, engaged in the manufacture of lime at
Sharon, but in the fall of that year joined a colony of emigrants who
were California-bound, by way of New York and the isthmus of Panama,
After spending about a year on the Pacific coast he returned to Sharon,
where he established a coal business. This he conducted until 1872,
when he bought a farm near the Clarksville road and operated it for
about seven years. In 1878 Mr. Stambaugh removed to New Castle,
Pennsylvania, and formed a partnership with L. B. Gibson, William
Blaney and his brother, Daniel, in the conduct of a woolen mill, in
December, 1881, the plant was disposed of, first selling the machinery
and later the real estate. The partnership was dissolved and Mr.
Stambaugh purchased the farm upon which he now resides in he following
spring. His land now lies within the borough of Sharon, and as he has
platted most of it to city lots, of which he has sold about seventy,
his investment has realized a fine competency for him and his family.
Mr. Stambaugh has always been firm in his adherence to Republican
principles, has been for years an active member of the Sharon Post No,
254, Grand Army of the Republic, and also belongs to the P. H. C.
On
March 9, i86ç, Mr. Stambaugh wedded Miss Betty Ann Blaney, daughter of
James and Eliza (Templeton) Blaney. The father, who was a native of
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, was born in 1806, spending his boyhood
days in the locality of his birth. After his marriage he removed to
Butler county, where he hewed a farm from the timber, only to remove to
Mercer county, in the autumn of 1872, and again commence that task of
the pioneers. The development of the homestead in Hickory township was
left, however, to younger hands and brains, for the father passed away
in March, 1876. The wife and mother survived him until 1892. when she
followed him to the unknown in her seventy-fifth year. This couple had
eleven children, eight of whom reached maturity-four sons and four
daughters-of whom Mrs. Stambaugh is the third. By her marriage to David
C. Stambaugh she has become the mother of thee following six children:
Earl XV, who married Mary L. Miller; Jessie May, now the wife of Wesley
Morris; William Blaney; Mary Eliza, who married John S. McClurg; Della
E., who is a well known kindergarten teacher; and Fannie J. Stambaugh,
who is living at home.
Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, pages 610-611
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