William Ellis Schumaker Papers

This collection of family material was assembled by William Ellis Schumaker into separate scrapbooks captioned in the first-person about each individual or family group as if they were narrating the events of their life.

The album related to his father Albert John Schumaker details a typical family from the point of immigration from Germany through the life of a firefighter from Toledo, Ohio. Elements of the narrative cover school years, having to start work as a delivery wagon driver at an early age due to the death of his father, John Schumaker, his job as a streetcar driver, and later his career with the Toledo Fire Department. Descriptions also include the economics of the depression, family life, and leisure activities.

The album devoted to his mother Adeline Anna Murray Schumaker follows a similar pattern, tracing her family from Sandy Creek, New York, through her relocation to Toledo, Ohio where she eventually married Albert John Schumaker. Contents of her narrative center more on raising her family, with interesting information on how she faced the challenges of wartime rationing with a large "Victory Garden" and raising chickens for eggs.

The related Fastnacht Family of Wood County, Ohio, associated with William E. Schumaker through his maternal grandparents, is followed through their original settlement in Erie, Sandusky, and finally Wood County, Ohio. The scrapbook, as all of them in the collection, contains original documents, photographs, clippings, and artifacts related to each person.