He worked for his father, both on the family farm and Brumbaugh general store, and was raised in the German Baptist Brethren, popularly called Dunkers.

A voracious reader and researcher, Brumbaugh undertook postgraduate work at both Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, earning degrees in mechanical engineering, philosophy, and the general sciences.

[7] A leading proponent of educational modernization, Brumbaugh oversaw reform of the teacher training curriculum for the state of Louisiana.

Brumbaugh had the entire public school faculty, most of whom were trained professors of either Antillean or Peninsular Spanish origins, fired and deported.

The American school teachers spoke only English while the island's primary language was Spanish, with some French and Italian speakers.

In addition, he began to edit and doctor data so as to exacerbate anything political or social by the former Spanish authorities, making it negative, out of context and proportion, in a national humiliation process that caused tremendous public outrage and protests.

A conservative and religious but usually apolitical man, Brumbaugh was nevertheless courted by the Republican Party to run for governor in 1914, after corruption and infighting marred the 1910 campaign.

During his term in office, he chided the state legislature for spending beyond its means and emphasized this point by vetoing 409 pieces of legislation.