View source for Mumaw, Henry A. (1850-1908)

Henry A. Mumaw (1850-1908), an influential Mennonite (MC) layman, physician, and early educational leader in the [[Mennonite Church (MC)|Mennonite Church]], was born near Winesburg, [[Holmes County (Ohio, USA)|Holmes County]], [[Ohio (State)|Ohio]], 27 January 1850, the son of George Mumaw and Catharine Brenneman, second of eight children. On 27 June 1872 he married Malinda Blosser; they had three children. He graduated from the Smithville (Ohio) High School, attended Alliance College, Alliance, Ohio, and taught in the public elementary school near his home for a time, also in certain business schools at Wooster and [[Wadsworth (Ohio, USA)|Wadsworth]], Ohio. He moved to Elkhart about 1878 and was for a time employed in the shop of the [[Mennonite Publishing Company (Elkhart, Indiana, USA)|Mennonite Publishing Company]]. In February 1886 he was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College in [[Chicago (Illinois, USA)|Chicago]] and practiced as a homeopathic physician in [[Nappanee (Indiana, USA)|Nappanee]] and Elkhart, Indiana, also for a time at Orrville, Ohio. He died on 1 April 1908 at Elkhart.

Mumaw's interest in publication led him to found the <em>Words of Cheer, </em>a Sunday-school paper for children, which he published for two years, 1876-1878, at Orrville, then sold to the Mennonite Publishing Company at Elkhart. It was still published under the same name at Scottdale, PA in 1957. His interest in education led him to establish several business schools, most of them of short duration: Elkhart and English Training School (later called Elkhart Normal School) in 1882-1885; Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry, and Art in 1894, from which he withdrew in 1898 to found Elkhart Normal and Business College in the same year. The latter has continued in operation to date as the Elkhart Business College. The [[Elkhart Institute (Elkhart, Indiana, USA)|Elkhart Institute]] was taken over in 1895 by the [[Elkhart Institute Association (Elkhart, Indiana, USA)|Elkhart Institute Association]] and made a church school, which was moved to [[Goshen (Indiana, USA)|Goshen]] in 1903 to become [[Goshen College (Goshen, Indiana, USA)|Goshen College]]. Mumaw was the first president of the Elkhart Institute Association, and his son-in-law [[Kolb, Aaron C.(1871-1937)|Aaron C. Kolb]] (d. 1937, married to his daughter Phebe, who lived in [[Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario, Canada)|Kitchener]], Ontario) the first secretary.
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