Biography of Margaret Koenig Huffman

Margaret was born at home in Smethport, McKean County, Pennsylvania on May 22, in the year of 1890. She was the youngest of three children born to Leonhard L. Koenig and Bernadina Augustine (Fluma) Koenig. Margaret grew up with her two older brothers, Richard the oldest and Leo who was born in 1880.

One day walking down main street window shopping she bumped into John Roland Huffman and was smitten with him, they started going together. After a fairly short courtship they tied a fine marriage knot.

On June 1, 1911 she was married in Saint Luke�s Episcopal Church at Smethport, McKean County, Pennsylvania, by Reverend William E. VanDyke, to John Roland Huffman.

Margaret was a telephone switchboard operator when she met John. In those days the connections between customers was done manually, through a switch board. There were a host of sockets on the board for different circuits and a host of plugs in front of the operator also for the different circuits. The operator would use the proper plug and connect it to the proper socket thus connecting the caller to the callee.

During the years 1911 to 1920 John and Margaret went back and forth between Battle Creek and Smethport. A son and daughter were born in Battle Creek, Michigan during this period of time, Leonard Riley Huffman in 1912 and Ellen Louise Huffman in 1914 and John�s father died in 1913. Around 1920 John�s family moved to Smethport.

John and Margaret were not regular church goers but their children were all baptized in St. Luke�s Episcopal Church at Smethport, the church where they had been married. Their children also attended Sunday School here on a regular basis. With her acute asthma Margaret never knew when an attack might occur, so her church and social life were very restricted.

She was in the hospital for cataract surgery, on the second eye, having previously had successful surgery on the first eye. At this time the state of the art for cataract surgery required patients to lie on their back with sand bags alongside of the head for quite a long time after surgery to promote proper healing. She was the tenacious type that would stick to her regimen for recovery with fortitude, but that was not to be. Margaret had severe asthma and lying in this position overnight, an asthma attack caused her lungs to fill with fluid and she suffocated. Margaret died at the Millard Filmore hospital in Buffalo, Erie County, New York on January 28, 1967.

She left behind: Her dear Husband John, her daughter Mrs. Palmer R. (Louise) Chitester of Coudersport, Pennsylvania, three sons, Leonard R. Huffman of Tonawanda, New York, James Cooper Huffman of Willoughby, Ohio and Bernard Roland Huffman of Depew New York; 10 grand children and four great-grandchildren.

John and Margaret had four children as follows:
Leonard Riley Huffman born in Battle Creek, Michigan on June 5, 1912
>Ellen Louise Huffman born in Battle Creek, Michigan on Aug. 2, 1914
Bernard Roland Huffman born In Smethport, Pennsylvania on Mar. 21, 1922
James Cooper Huffman born in Smethport, Pennsylvania on Sept. 28, 1924

>Margaret and John are both buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Smethport along with Margaret�s parents.   John lived to an age of 79 years 4 months and 24 days while Margaret lived to an age of 76 years 8 months and 6 days.