Henry McClelland Zundel

HENRY McLELLAN ZUNDEL, eldest son of Albert Martin and Susanna (Baughman) Zundel, was born on the Elizabeth Eisaman homestead, "Zionville Settlement," Harrold's, Hempfield township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, August 16, 1862, and has resided there and in the vicinity of Grapeville and in Greensburg ever since.

His paternal and maternal ancestry immigrated from Germany to this country about a century and a half ago and settled in Westmoreland county. They suffered the privations of the early settlers' lives, and began the struggle amid primeval forests abounding with savages. They went to work with the undaunted courage and characteristics of their race, and filled the forests and drove back the redskins. They changed forests to garden spots in the rich soil they selected, and almost contemporaneous with their homes they built school houses and churches, so that thrift, education and religion might go hand-in-hand. "Zionville Settlement," now known as Harrold's, is one of the very earliest in the county, and antedates Greensburg, whose first settlers attended church in the house built by these ancestral pioneers who came from Germany and eastern Pennsylvania....

Henry M. Zundel attended the public schools. Like his progenitors, he started at Harrold's, for it is there he began school life. Not content with the advantages afforded on his native heath, he attended the Normal school at Delmont, under the charge of I. E. Lauffer and E. H. Bair, Esqs., and in Greensburg under Professors Chamberlain, Ryckman, Eveigh, Lauffer and others. He also attended the Greensburg Seminary, in charge of Rev. Lucien Cort and Professor E. H. Dickinson, and others. He taught public school for some nine terms at Agnew's, Grapeville, Millersdale and Harrold's, of Hempfield, and was for two years principal of the Ludwick borough public schools. He conducted a normal term for teachers at Adamsburg. He was a most successful teacher, and held a professional certificate. He was an organizer of the old-time literary societies, those long remembered and useful adjuncts to practical education. He was a ready debater, and his natural enthusiasm was most beneficial to the success of these institutions. The position of teacher, whilst it brought its honors and had much to commend it, was not sufficiently remunerative to encourage a long devotion to it, and he reluctantly left the profession for other pursuits in life.

He embarked in the newspaper business with Darwin Musick and D.P. Stahl, then publishers of the Greensburg Daily and Weekly Record, purchasing a one-third interest. After devoting almost a year to newspaper work as advertising manager and reporter, he sold his interest to Musick & Stahl, and accepted a position with the firm of L. Keck & Co., and had charge of the advertising with this popular and hustling firm for about five years. He then accepted a position as advertising man and special reporter to the Greensburg Press, under the proprietorship of H.J. Brunot, Sr. He served here for five years, and when the Greensburg Press Publishing Company was formed and incorporated he was for a time its manager. He was for several years employed with the Greensburg Tribune in the same capacity, was with the Record and Press. He had the hustle and the regard for the minutiae that makes the successful newspaper from a financial standpoint. He possessed too much of the milk of human kindness for the forceful editor, but outside of the sanctum he was invaluable.

His positions on newspapers afforded him an excellent opportunity to study the varied and ever varying phrases of mercantile life. In this school he was an ardent student, and from its manifold branches he could make a careful and judicious selection. He embraced the opportunity, and today we find him at the counter or in the counting room. In February, 1902, the old established furniture store of Cyrus F. Barnhart was purchased by him, associated with his brother-in-law, Gustavus A. Wineman, and is conducted under the firm name of Zundel & Wineman. This firm continued until June 1, 1905. when the interest of G. A. Wineman was purchased by Jacob E. Wineman, a brother, who formerly resided at Youngwood. The store is today one of the largest and best equipped furniture and carpet houses in the county and deservedly enjoys a large patronage.

Mr. Zundel has always been active in educational work. His experience and success as a teacher pre-eminently fitted him for school supervision. The citizens of the Fifth ward, Greensburg, elected him a member of the board of education, to whose duties he gave years of official service. For two years he was the financial secretary of the Westmoreland county Directors' Association, and took a prominent part in its deliberations. He served on the local committee on buildings and grounds during the building of the present magnificent high school edifice, one of the finest in the state. He was likewise interested in the building of the Fifth ward school building. The erection of these buildings, completed as they were without a rumor of suspicion, and amid the plaudits of the taxpayers and patrons, is an honor that shines all the brighter in a day when corruption stalks so boldly through the land with popular revolution on its heels.

In church and Sunday school work he was ever active. He organized the old Lutheran (Zion) Sunday school at Harrold's; also the Harrold's Lutheran and Reformed Union Sunday school; the Holy Trinity Sunday school at Jeannette, and was its first superintendent; also the Rodabaugh Sunday school, and assisted in organizing the First Lutheran Sunday school in Greensburg, of which he was the superintendent for some eight years, when he first introduced the highly satisfactory system of financial records in the congregations, and was the recording and financial secretary as well as trustee for years.

Mr. Zundel was one of the foremost in the organization of the Greensburg Merchants' Association, and has been its secretary from the beginning. He was toastmaster at the banquet given the State Convention in 1904, and delegate to the State Convention in Philadelphia, 1905. He is also a member of the Pittsburg Mercantile Association. In the Fire Department he has been president of Hose Company No. 3 for years. In the lawn fetes he had charge of the three given, yielding a net revenue of $1,500, and of one of the whole department, realizing $1,600. He was delegate to conventions at New Castle, Philadelphia, Erie, and Jeannette. He is intimately connected with the Firemen's Relief Association, and was one of its organizers. He has always been considered the newspaper man of the department, and has charge of its advertising and printing supplies.

Mr. Zundel is a past grand of Westmoreland Lodge, No. 840, I. 0. 0. F., of which he was for several years secretary; also past archer of Greensburg Conclave, No.174, Improved Order of Heptasophs, of which he was for some six years financial secretary; also a member of Greensburg Council, No.82, J.0.U.A.M.; also a member of the Greensburg Council, Order of Americus, now the Grand Fraternity.

In politics Mr. Zundel has always been a Democrat, but the office of school director is the only one he ever sought. He is not blinded by partisanship nor led to give his support to men and measures simply because they bear the party stamp. He never indulged in factional disputes among his political associates, but always cautioned harmony. Of unchallenged integrity, inherited from an honorable and active ancestry, he could ill afford to tread the mire of party politics. He has secured all the honors sought, and held fast to the teaching of his fathers. The Zundels have done their part in not only building up this "Wonderland," but they helped to season its citizenship with the enduring salt of patriotism and probity.

Mr. Zundel married Elizabeth Amanda Wineman, daughter of Andrew and Carolyn Wineman. They are the parents of five children, one son and four daughters, as follows: Bertha Margaret, Carolyn Rugh, Edwin Albert, Anna Catharyn, Mary Martha.