Member Biography

Jacob Drumheller 

Seal
Sessions Office Position District Party
1828-1829       10 Democrat
1829-1830       10 Democrat
1830-1831       10 Democrat
1831-1832       10 Democrat

COUNTIES: Luzerne, Columbia  


Biography

02/11/1790 - 06/11/1857


Jacob Drumheller (D10) Columbia and Luzerne Counties, 1828-1832

Early Life: 

Jacob Drumheller, born February 11, 1790, Berks County, Pennsylvania; founded, Hazleton, 1809, married, Mary Kinnard Drumheller, 1815 (d.1847), children, William, Aaron, John, Eliza Drumheller Shirley, Caroline Drumheller Rhoads, Stephen, Mary Ann, married, Lovina Thomas Drumheller, children, Jacob Alonzo, Alice, George W.; moved, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania; engaged, surveying, farming; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1828-1832;  justice of the peace, Sugar Loaf Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, twenty years; co-owner Hazleton Coal Company, 1836; died, June 11, 1857 (aged 67), Conyngham, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania; interment, Conyngham Union Cemetery, Conyngham, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 10th district, Columbia and Luzerne Counties, 1828-1832. 

Justice of the peace, Sugar Loaf Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, twenty years.

Legacy: 

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the "Warrior Trail" was widened and became the Berwick Turnpike. Later, a road was built to connect Wilkes-Barre to McKeansburg. This road intersected with the Berwick Turnpike at what is present-day Broad and Vine Streets, in downtown Hazleton. An entrepreneur named Jacob Drumheller decided that this intersection was the perfect location for a rest-stop, so in 1809, he built the first building in what would be later known as Hazleton. Though a few buildings and houses began to be built nearby, the area remained a dense wilderness for about 20 more years. Aside from small-scale logging, the area offered little else.

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members D"Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Jacob Drumheller (1790-1857) - Find a Grave Memorial