The following story, letter and photos were sent to me in February 2011 by Donna Marie (Smith) Hughes.  Her email address is  donnamhughes@hughes.net _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Letter to "Grandmother" from Mrs. Jessie Rumberger

In January 1921, a young woman confined to a tuberculosis sanatorium wrote a letter to her grandmother. In 2010, I found that letter in a collection of her grandparents’ old papers.  I had never heard of Jessie Rumberger. Neither my mother nor aunt, who have extensive genealogy and family history records, could recall who she was, although her father and siblings were well remembered.(1)

I learned that she was my 1st cousin, two times removed. The grandmother who Jessie wrote to is my great, great grandmother. After reading her letter, I guessed that she was in a sanatorium. A quick Google search located a tuberculosis sanatorium in Cresson, Pa. A former patient at the sanatorium has a web site dedicated to the Cresson Sanatorium, (2) which contains background information for Jessie’s letter. Census and cemetery records, online research, and photographs in family history albums reveal more about her and her family.

Jessie Mary Stine was born in Matternville (Patton Township, Centre County), Pennsylvania. Her parents, Walter John and Myrtle Laura (Dick) Stine were a young couple. Her mother, called Laura, was just 17 and her father, Walter, was 22, when they were married. Jessie, the first of eight children, was born on December 22, 1896.   Jessie’s father had a small farm near Matternville and also worked at the Scotia iron ore works. Her mother kept house.

Jessie married William Budd Rumberger on March 30, 1915, when she was 18 years old. At that time, Budd was 28 years old.   Budd’s parents were William Elmer and Regina Louise (Behrers) Rumberger. Budd was born on October 19, 1886, in Benner Township, one of nine children. William Elmer was a farmer who rented land to farm. He moved his family several times, although he always stayed in Centre County. In 1880, the family lived and farmed in Patton Township. By 1900, they had moved to Ferguson Township; and in 1910, they were renting a farm in Benner Township. Both of Budd’s parents died in 1915, the year he was married.

Budd’s great, great grandparents were Jacob Krey and Elizabeth (Funk) Rumbarger, early settlers of Gatesburg (Centre County), Pennsylvania.

As a young man, Budd worked as a hired farm hand in Patton Township. By the time he married Jessie, he was a self-employed farmer working on land he had rented in Patton Township.

Jessie and Budd’s first child, Violet L., was born in 1917. The second child, Walter Elmer, was born on April 6, 1918.   In 1921, Jessie contracted tuberculosis. According to her letter, she entered the Cresson Sanatorium in November 1920.

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(1) My mother is Ina Charlotte Faye (Lutz) Smith. My aunt is Phyllis Barbara (Lutz) Barr. The grandmother who Jessie’s letter is addressed to is their great grandmother, Mary M. (McDivitt) Stine.

(2) Charles Felton, Cresson TB Sanatorium Remembered, http://www.feltondesignanddata.com/cressontbsanatoriumremembered . At this site, you can find a history of the Cresson Sanatorium, personal stories of survivors, history of the treatment of TB, and information about a reunion being planned for patients and people associated with the sanatorium.

Jessie's letter is copied below.  The original letter is displayed on the right with the transcription on the left.

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Cresson, Pa.

January 29, 1921

Dear Grandmother:

I will now ans. your letter

I received some time ago.

it is raining up here this Sun.

morning and is warm I don’t

like this kind of weather it

always makes us old TBer’s

feal [feel] bad we feal [fee] as tho we

can’t get our breathe I don’t

quite know what I will do

when warm weather comes.

I have been worried about

Bob haven’t heard from him

now for about three weeks

Mother said in her last letter

that the last time she heard

from him he was going to

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start on a 24 mile hike and

carry a 59 lb pack and a 8 lb

gun and she hasn’t heard

from him since. Mebby [Maybe] he was

played out or got sick.

I am still fealing [feeling] pretty good

had some pluiricy [pleurisy] last night

and still have a little this

morning I hope it thinks it

worth while to let up for it

isn’t very pleasant it feals [feels]

as tho something was trying

to chew my lung out.

had a letter from mother

and Daddy the other day she

talked In her letter as tho the

children were home sick to see me

My how I would like to see them

But don’t like to have them to come

here you know how children are

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and they will handel [handle] things

and stick their hands In their

mouth’s, oh well my four months

will be up on the 21 of Feb, and

then mebby [maybe] the Dr. will let

me go to see them for a day

I haven’t quite desided [decided] weather [whether]

to stay 6 months or not If I do

I guess the time will fly for

next month Is a short one.

I would be glad when the time

was up if I knew my lungs had

improved but I am afraid they

haven’t I know I am fatter

but [that] doesn’t count My examination

Is due, next month and then

I am going to ask about it they

only examin [examine] every four

months so I haven’t been

examined since I came here

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4

well I guess I will have to

close now it is cure hour

till 11:30 o’clock and the

windows are down so I

will have to lay down

how are Spicers I haven’t

heard from them for a long

time. I must try to ans.

Mrs. Clark’s letter to day to [too]

Well I will close for news is

as scarce as ever but

answer soon and try to

excuse this writing.

I will close with love to all.

Jessie

My address is

Mrs. Jessie Rumberger

Cresson

c/o PSCS5 Pa.

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She became ill again and was admitted to the Nason Hospital in Roaring Spring (Blair County), Pa. When founded in 1896, the hospital was called the Nason Sanatorium. In 1900, it changed its name to The Nason Hospital Association. The charter was issued "for the purpose of conducting a sanatorium and hospital and the training of nurses." 6

According to her obituary in the Altoona Mirror, Jessie Mary (Stine) Mattern died in 1922.(7)  Her gravestone says 1921. The Grays Cemetery listing reflects the date on the gravestone and says 1921.(8)  The gravestone appears to have been cut later when her husband William Budd Rumberger died in 1953.

There is also an inscription on the stone for her son Walter Elmer Rumberger who was killed in action in Europe during World War II: "Pvt., Co. C, 56th Inf. Batt., 12th Am. Div."