BIO: Ezra GRUMBINE, M.D., Lebanon County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/lebanon/ _______________________________________________ Biographical Annals of Lebanon County Pennsylvania. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1904 _______________________________________________ Pages 8-10 EZRA GRUMBINE, M. D. This is a familiar and honored name in Lebanon county, where the bearer has for many years gone in and out before the people in the busy life of a practicing physician, and has ever evidenced a disposition to sacrifice his own comfort in order to ameliorate the sufferings of others. Dr. Grumbine is not only well and favorably known in the field of medicine, but of late years has made his genius felt in the line of finance, being at the present time president of the Lebanon County Trust Company, one of the leading financial institutions in this section of the State. Dr. Grumbine was born February 1, 1845, at Fredericksburg, Pa. He traces his ancestry six generations back to Leonhart Krumbein, who immigrated from the Palatinate in Germany to this country, crossing the ocean in the ship "Brothers," and landing at Philadelphia on September 30, 1754. Settling near Schaefferstown, Pa., he reared a family of children among whom was a son who received his father's name of Leonhart. This Leonhart's son, Jacob, migrated to the northern part of Bethel township, Lebanon county, Pa., to a farm at the foot of the "Little Mountain," two miles north of Fredericksburg. Among Jacob's numerous family was one who received the name of John Grumbine, a man of short stature and kind disposition, who married Susanna Feehrer, and they had one child, John Philip Grumbine, the father of the subject of this sketch. Mrs. John Philip Grumbine's maiden name was Maria Light. Dr. Ezra Grumbine was educated in the common schools of his native village, at the Lebanon Valley Institute at Annville, at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, and at the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from the latter institution, in March, 1868, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. His preceptors in the study of medicine were Drs. Fahnestock and Grumbine at Annville, and Dr. H. K. Hartzell at Goodsville, in Lehigh county. Previous to entering upon his medical career, he taught school in Bethel and South Annville township, and for one season had charge of the school in the borough of Dillsburg, in York county, Pennsylvania. In 1869 he settled in Fredericksburg for the practice of his profession, but two years later removed to Mt. Zion, where he has since resided, enjoying a large general practice. He keeps in close touch with his profession, and is a member of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and of the local county association. He is also a member of the Lebanon County Historical Society, to whose literature he has at different times made contributions; and in 1894 he read a lyric poem in the local vernacular before the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania German Society at Reading. He is one of the earliest members of this association. Appointed postmaster by Postmastser-General Key in 1877, he served in that capacity at Mt. Zion for thirteen years. Dr. Grumbine is a gentleman of decided opinions, and has the courage of his convictions when once he has made up his mind. This was shown in the fall of 1892 when he accepted the nomination for Congress on the Prohibition platform, making a gallant losing fight. Of late years he has given considerable attention to business lines, and in 1902 became one of a party of gentlemen who organized the Lebanon County Trust Company, and was elected its president. This institution is rapidly taking rank as one of the leading financial centers of the section, owing to the careful management of its board of directors. The Doctor is a man of refined and cultivated tastes, and is not only a master of the two lines mentioned, but has evinced a decided literary bent which he has frequently indulged as a means of relaxation from his professional labors. From the fact that his verses, both in English and in the Pennsylvania German vernacular, have been copied by metropolitan journals, and that his productions have appeared in Philadelphia, New York and Boston, his friends have solicited him to have a volume of his writings published. This he may do at some time in the future. In 1868 Dr. Grumbine was married to Annie Elizabeth Beaver, eldest daughter of Dr. Daniel H. Beaver, of Fredericksburg. She was born December 13, 1849, and died in September, 1880, leaving two sons and one daughter. Harvey Carson, the elder son, was educated in the common schools of Mt. Zion, Fredericksburg and Lebanon; at Palatinate College, Myerstown; Lafayette College, Easton; and Wesleyan University, Connecticut, at which last named institution he took the degree of Ph. B. He then went abroad and finished his studies with a three- years course in the University of Munich, Germany, where he received the degree, cum laude, of Doctor of Philosophy. He is at the present time filling the chair of English Literature in the University of Wooster, State of Ohio. Thaddeus Stevens, the other son, was educated in the common schools and at Schuylkill Seminary at Fredericksburg. He served an apprenticeship as a druggist, and matriculated as a student in the College of Pharmacy at Philadelphia, but ill health obliged him to abandon the study. Bessie Shirley, the daughter, was educated at the Moravian Seminary and College for Women at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The second marriage of the Doctor occurred January 10, 1882, when he called to preside over his home, Miss Virginia S. Uhler, a native of Lebanon and a daughter of the late Captain Joseph Uhler, whose early ancestor was Anastasius Uhler, a Palatine immigrant who landed at Philadelphia from the ship "Samuel," August 11, 1732.