Fred P. Margerum of Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, president of the Swab Wagon Company, and a realtor in California, died on January 23, 1950. Only one obituary, the one from the Elizabethville Echo, mentioned his global, humanitarian achievement – working a a field administrator with Near East Relief to provide aid to tens of thousands of orphaned Armenian children in 1921 and 1922. From that one line in his local obituary, a largely untold story was researched and will be presented here in future blog posts.
First, the obituaries:
From the Elizabethville Echo, January 26, 1950:
F. P. Margerum Died Monday
Fred P. Margerum, age 70 years, died at his home, West Main Street [Elizabethville], Monday evening. He had been in ill health for some time.
Mr. Margerum was a son of Benjamin Margerum and Esther [Mathieson] Margerum and was a native of Morrisvile, Pennsylvania. He had been a resident of Elizabethville about forty years, and was president of the Swab Wagon Company and manager of the Edgemont Garage. He was a member of Salem Lutheran Church, the Ashlar Lodge, F. and A. M., Lykens, and was charter member of the Elizabethville rotary Club.
Following World War I he had served in Near East Relief work in Armenia for two years.
Survivors are his wife, Mrs. Etta [Swab] Margerum; one son, Jonas B. Margerum, Elizabethville; three daughters, Mrs. Isaac D. App, wife of the Dauphin County Superintendent of Schools; Mrs. Esther Young, of San Diego, California; and Mrs. George Halbig of Silver Spring, Maryland.
Other survivors are a sister and two brothers, Mrs. Norman Satterthwaite and Benjamin Margerum, of Trenton, New Jersey, and Raymond E. Margerum, Morrisville, Pennsylvania; nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Services will be held from the residence at 2 o’clock Friday afternoon. Rev. W. Z. Artz, pastor of Salem Lutheran Church will officiate, and interment will be in Maple Grove Cemetery.
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From the Sunbury Daily Item, 25 January 1950:
Fred P. Margerum, 70, Dies in Elizabethville
Fred P. Margerum, 70, of Elizabethville, president of the Swab Wagon Company there, died at his home Monday. He was a member of Ashlar Lodge, F. and A. M., Lykens, and the Elizabethville Lutheran Church.
Surviving are his wife, Etta Swab, a son, J. B. Margerum, both of Elizabethville; three daughters, Mrs. Isaac D. App, wife of the Dauphin County superintendent of schools; Mrs. Esther Young, of San Diego, California; and Mrs. George Halbig, of Silver Springs, Maryland; two brothers and a sister.
Services will be held Friday at 2 p.m. from the home. Burial will be in Maple Grove Cemetery, Elizabethville.
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From the West Schuylkill Herald, Tower City, January 27, 1950:
FRED P. MARGERUM DIES VERY SUDDENLY
Fred P. Margerum, manager of the Edgemont Garage, Elizabethville, died very suddenly at his home at that place, Monday night, aged 70 years, 4 months and 2 days. He had been in failing health several months.
Mr. Margerum was the son of the late Benjamin Margerum and Esther [Mathieson] Margerum and was born in Morrisville, New Jersey, September 21, 1879. He married Eta Swab, of Elizabethville, November 20, 1901, and for the past 40 years the couple resided at that place. Mr. Margerum was a member of the Elizabethville Lutheran Church and Ashlar Lodge, F. and A. M., of Lykens.
Surviving are his widow; a son, J. B. Margerum, Elizabethville; three daughters, Mrs. J. D. App, Elizabethville; Mrs. Esther Young, San Diego, California; and Mrs. George Halbig, Silver Springs, Maryland.
Services were held at the residence, 24 West Main Street, Elizabethville, this Friday at 2 p.m., Rev. W. Z. Artz officiating.
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From the Lykens Standard, 27 January 1950:
FRED P. MARGERUM
Fred P. Margerum, 70, of Elizabethville, president of the Swab Wagon Company of that place, died at his home Monday, following an illness of several months. Margerum was also manager of Edgemont Garage. He is a member of Ashlar Lodge, F. and A. M., Lykens, and the Elizabethville Lutheran Church.
A native of Morrisville, New Jersey, Margerum came to Elizabethville 50 years ago and married the former Miss Etta Swab, daughter of the founder of the Swab wagon Company.
Surviving in addition to his wife, are a son, J. B. Margerum, of Elizabethville; three daughters, Mrs. Isaac D. App, Elizabethville, wife of the county superintendent of schools; Mrs. Esther Young, San Diego, California; and Mrs. George Halbig, Silver Springs, Maryland; two brothers, Benjamin Margerum, Trenton, New Jersey and Raymond Margerum, Morrisville, New Jersey, and a sister, Mrs. Norman Satterthwaite, Trenton, New Jersey.
Funeral services will be held today, Friday, at 2 p.m., with burial in Maple Grove Cemetery, Elizabethville. Rev. W. Z. Artz will officiate.
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From the San Bernardino County Sun, California, January 28, 1950:
Fred Margerum Dies At His Eastern Home
(Special Staff Correspondence)
ONTARIO [California], January 27 [1950] — Many residents of this community will learn with regret of the death of Fred P. Margerum, past president of the Ontario-Upland Real Estate Board, which occurred Monday at his home in Elizabethville, Pennsylvania, according to word received today by W. E. Oswald, 2189 Euclid Crescent West.
Mr. Margerum, who was 7 years of age, had been in poor health for several years, but had planned a visit to California shortly before his last illness. He resided here for a number of years and was active in the real estate board during the late ’20s.
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From the Lykens Standard, February 17, 1950:
LETTERS IN ESTATE
Fred P. Margerum, late president of the Swab Wagon Company, Elizabethville, left his unestimated personal property estate to his widow, Mrs. Etta S. Margerum, according to a will filed for probate at the Dauphin County Courthouse Tuesday. His son, Jonas B. Margerum, of Callowhill Street, Elizabethville, is named executor of the estate.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.