Ida May Baker and William Franklin Munn
WILLIAM FRANKLIN MUNN, son of LAURILLA BRADFORD HOUSTON and SAMUEL A. MUNN, was born December 2, 1868 in Mount Savage, Allegany, Maryland,5429 and died December 30, 1946.456 He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland.456
He married IDA MAY BAKER on December 31, 1890 in Main Street Baptist Church, Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland.5434 She was born January 27, 1869,456 and died November 1, 1938 in Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland.5465 She is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland.456
Children of IDA MAY BAKER and WILLIAM FRANKLIN MUNN:
- MILDRED FRANCES MUNN, b. June 11, 1895, Somerville, Somerset, New Jersey;5437, 456 m. DONALD CLEVELAND MUMMA in October, 19195438; d. March 14, 1979, Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland.456
Marriage Announcements and News
Cumberland Daily Times, December 31, 18905434
A Very Pretty Wedding.
One of the prettiest weddings ever witnessed in Frostburg was that of Mr. W. Frank Munn, of Jersey City, New Jersey, and Miss Ida May Baker, of Frostburg, performed in the Main Street Baptist church this morning at 10 o'clock.
Promptly at the hour designated the happy couple arrived at the Church in a sleigh and were met at the gate by the two honorary ushers, Messrs. Harry E. Munn, of Hagerstown, and Bernard Young, of this city, who escorted them to the church door. As soon as they reached the church the beautiful strains of Mendelssohn's wedding march pealed forth, and the gay party marched to the chancel rail where Rev. James Miller united in the holy bonds of wedlock W. Frank Munn and Ida May Baker.
After the ceremony Mr. and Mrs. Munn, accompanied by a number of friends, drove to this city in sleighs, where the newlywedded couple took the noon train East for Hagerstown, where the parents of the groom will tender a reception to their friends.
Newspaper Articles
Daily Mail, March 20, 19435429
LIFE LINES
By NEWMAN
"From railroad engineer to furniture manufacturer is a big step," admits W. Frank Munn. Strange to say, in spite of the fact that Munn is best known in Hagerstown for organizing the pioneer Hagerstown Mantel and Furniture Company, he changed to the latter profession on a whim and without any training or experience whatsoever, after he had already embarked upon a promising engineering career with the Central Railroad of New Jersey.
But the success of the Hagerstown Mantel and Furniture Company, now out of existence since Munn's retirement in 1939, was a testimony of the wisdom of his second choice throughout the 34 years of its operation. During most of that time it was on government work, making custom built furniture for federal veterans' hospitals. And Frank Munn, who started without even a smattering of carpentry knowledge, eventually could operate every one of the fourteen specialized machines in the factory.
Munn was born in Mount Savage, Md., on December 2,1868. His father, Samuel A. Munn, was treasurer of the Hagerstown Spoke and Bending Company. Frank and his brother and two sisters had uneventful childhoods, with Frank obtaining as much schooling as the limited educational facilities around Mount Savage allowed, which didn't include high school.
When Frank was seventeen he obtained a job on the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The Munn family, after a four year stay in Cumberland, moved to Hagerstown in March of 1889, when Frank was twenty-one.
On October 14 of that year there occurred what Munn still claims as one of the "big days of my life." He fired the engine that carried President Benjamin Harrison and party from Philadelphia to Elizabethport, N. J., for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of Washington. President and Mrs. Harrison chatted for some time with the cab crew, and Munn still treasures the flower the latter gave him.
Even with such pleasant associations, and his consequent promotion to engineer, railroading could not hold him. After 13 years with the New Jersey Central he began to assist his father in the Hagerstown Spoke and Bending Company. In 1905, "because I wanted to be my own boss," and because he had always enjoyed working in wood, Munn organized the Hagerstown Mantel and Furniture Company in the former steam engine works building in the west end. When this burned a few years later, the factory was moved into the Church street building which had housed the Spoke and Bending Company, which was by this time put out of business by the advent of the automobile.
Munn can draw amazing contrasts between the furniture of today and that on the market thirty years ago. "Good furniture," he points out, "was then of solid oak, mahogany, cherry, walnut or other woods, very substantial and all very finely carved. Veneering was unheard of, and prices, even considering the good wood and the labor, were cheap in comparison to prices of the best veneers today."
Munn married Ida Baker, of Frostburg, in 1890. They had been married for 48 years when she died in 1938. Munn has one daughter, Mrs. Donald Mumma, of this city, and two grandchildren. Since 1924 he has been an active member of the Shriners.
On his spare afternoons, Mr. Munn assists on the gasoline panel of the local rationing board. His legion of friends keep him well entertained at his home on Broadway, which street he has "inhabited," he points out, since his family first came to Hagerstown.
"Hobbies? My hobby," says Frank Munn with a smile, "is figuring out where I'd drive to if I had the gas!"
Obituaries
Cumberland News, November 3, 19385465
Mrs. Ida Munn Dies
Mrs. Ida Munn, a native of Frostburg, and wife of W. Frank Munn, died Tuesday at her home on Broadway, in Hagerstown. She was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Baker, of Frostburg.
Surviving besides her husband are a daughter, Mrs. Donald C. Mumma, of Hagerstown, and two sisters, Mrs. Effie B. Thomas, of Frostburg, and Mrs. Edward L. Betz, of Kansas City, Mo. Burial will be in Hagerstown.
Census Records
| Date | Location | Enumerated Names |
|---|---|---|
| August 4, 18703424 | Allegany County, Maryland |
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| June 18, 18803426 | Mount Savage, Allegany, Maryland |
|
| June 11, 19005432 | Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland |
|
| April 23, 19105431 | Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland |
|
| January 2, 19205436 | Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland |
|
| May 1, 19305435 | Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland |
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