CENTRE LINES

The POORMAN Family

This column is part of a feature series which focuses on a different Centre County family each week. Five new columns will be released each month unless some technical difficulty enters the picture.

This column's focus is on POORMAN. An effort has been made to identify all persons carrying that name in the 1890 U.S. Census, using the Centre County business directory which was formed from a preliminary review of that census before the larger set of 1890 U.S. Census records was destroyed by fire. (Sadly, the postal directory does not typically provide the ages of females, but it's the best record we've got).

Three books in the Pennsylvania Room of the Centre County Library in Bellefonte deal in part with the Poorman family: they are Norman Douty's The Douty-Smith and Beck-Price Families: Correlated with Those of Crites, Hecker, Poorman, Ream and Wolfart, Robert Schadt's Echoes: Genealogies of Pennsylvania Families with Lineages to Schadt, Heinemann, Poorman, Kinley, et.al and Robert Schadt's Poorman Families in America.

There are 24 different first-name entries for Kreamer in John Blair Linn's History of Centre and Clinton County (1883). In addition, there are many references to the name in Beers' Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania (1898) with two (with an identifiable Centre County connection) having a separate profile: Daniel F. Poorman (b. 1848, s/o John and Catharine Fetzer); and Fleming Poorman (b. 1858, s/o John and Catharine Fetzer).

And, now, your ancestors' POORMAN neighbors in 1890:

In BENNER Township:

Margaret R.--Bellefonte Sidney 1

In BOGGS Township:

Abram, 31, farmer--Milesburg Lydia A. Alfred M. 20 Isaiah 30 David R. 74 Miles 37 Nancy J. Alfred T., 43, farmer--Milesburg Sarah E. Ada A. D.C., 55, farmer--Roland Catharine Bertha E. Daniel, 49, farmer--Milesburg Lucinda William 19 Daniel F., 43, farmer--Milesburg Nettie Willia M. 18 Eva M. Claude 5 Edward, 39, merchant--Milesburg Eliza Bessie M. Laura B. Mabel B. Edna G. Carl K. 4 mos. Elizabeth--Milesburg James E., 26 Thomas A. 21 Seth J. 16 Mary E. Elsie B. Joseph H. 31 Adeline T. Fleming, 32, farmer--Milesburg Ida Maud Malcolm 4 Charles 1 John F., 62, farmer--Milesburg Elizabeth J. Henry E. 24 John T. 18 Mary E.--Milesburg Michael, 54, laborer--Milesburg Sarah Fannie Lemuel 16 Frank 14 Charles 12 Matilda Frederick 8 Rosa Orin E.--Milesburg John 78 Alice Nora William H., 48, carpenter--Milesburg Mary M. Edith F.

In COLLEGE Township:

James, 43, carpenter--Oak Hall Eliza Mary E. Elizabeth

In CURTIN Township:

Joseph, 40, laborer--Romola Reuben A., 33, laborer--Romola Emma F, Clyde J Grace E. Mary E. Nancy

In HOWARD Township:

Lemuel, 35, farmer--Howard Bella Ella Carrie Lulu Samuel 2 Lizzie

In SNOW SHOE Township:

Edward H., 60, farmer--Snow Shoe Elizabeth Thomas C., 32, laborer--Cato Alice C. Orvis M. 7 Bertha William K., 29, teamster--Snow Shoe Julia

In SPRING Township:

Edward, 23, carpenter--Bellefonte Virgie Nannie E. Hannah--Axemann Harvey, 66, carpenter--Pleasant Gap Margaret A. Solomon, 46, farmer--Bellefonte Catharine Ida Edward B. 12 William H., 48, carpenter--Bellefonte Burton 20 Mary M. May E. Harry M. 11 Jessie D.

In TAYLOR Township:

David, 26, laborer--Port Matilda Carrie Alfaretta

In WALKER Township:

Joseph B., 29, laborer--Zion Mary C. Harry C. 9 Lizzie E. Clarence N. 4 William L. 1