Biographies

Samuel Bumpus

A BIOGRAPHY

By Marlow Bumpus

2003

Updated 7/27/04

Samuel Bumpus was born in the town of Mansfield, Madison Township, Richland County, Ohio between 1839 and 1844. Several records, including marriage, military and census records, indicate this wide range of birth years. The earliest record I have is the 1850 census that has his age recorded as 10. That would place his 10th birthday at some time during the 12 months before the day the census taker came around on July 10, 1850 so, for the lack of a birth record, I will place his year of birth at 1840. The 1840 census didn't list the children or spouse by name.

Samuel's grandfather, Frederick, was born in Connecticut in May of 1764, served in the Revolutionary War, lived briefly in Vermont, married, fathered at least four sons and at least two daughters after moving to Rensselaerville Township, Albany County, NY in 1788. Samuel's father Reuben was born there in 1800. They left in 1807 and after moving around New York for a few years, Frederick moved the family to Washington township, Richland county Ohio in 1819. He was a farmer and was buried in Madison twp, Richland County, Ohio in an unmarked grave. A grave marker was erected in 1999 or 2000 at the Marlow Cemetery, in Mansfield, Richland twp. by Tim Parks that reads "Frederick Bumpus, Rev War". Frederick died in 1839 or 40 and his farm was sold at Sheriffs sale in 1843 to satisfy a debt. The Sheriff noted that Frederick's "wife Catherine agreed to sale of land". Mr. Parks was attributed with stating "Frederick was buried somewhere and needed a marker". One report has him buried in the Mansfield Cemetery but a local historian has found that that Cemetery was established a few years after Frederick died.

Reuben, a farmer, was married and had a son in Richland County in 1833 that he named Frederick. I have found no record of Reuben before that date but too many things point to his being the son of Frederick Bumpus whose wife's maiden name may have been Marlow. The name of Reuben's first wife is also unknown so she may have brought the Marlow name to the family, which is more likely. The name Marlow was used in 3 subsequent generations but spelled Marlowe in the first and third of these 3 generations. Reuben's first wife's name and every thing about that marriage remains a mystery. Reuben married Jane Wells on October 17, 1835. Jane, born in PA. in 1810, was probably the daughter of James Wells who lived in the Richland Co. in 1830. According to historical documents, the children of Reuben and Jane were; William born 1837, Samuel born 1840, Emanuel born 1843, Nancy born 1848, and Maria born 1853. Jane died, probably in childbirth, and Reuben married an Indian woman named Pricilla Colby on June 1, 1853. Reuben and Pricilla had two children in Ohio: Mary in 1855 and Isabel in 1856 and seven in Blountsville, Henry County, Indiana, where they moved to in about 1856 and worked a farm there until late 1867. Those children were: Reuben born in 1857, Betey in 1859, Edith in 1860, James in 1863, Harriet, Elizabeth and Emma's, birth years are unknown. There may have been others with any of the three wives; but I have no conclusive evidence of more. Reuben himself must have lost count by the time he moved to Indiana.

Samuel Bumpus went to school in or near Blountsville. In 1860 he was working as a farm hand on the NJ Hunt farm in Losentville Township in neighboring Randolph County, Indiana, within 10 miles from the Bumpus farm. Records indicate that Samuel was well liked and had many friends in the area and was able to keep busy as a farm hand and house carpenter. Friends described later as strong and able bodied before he joined the Army. In 1861 Samuel and some friends followed the "Boys from Blountsville" and joined the 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Samuel enlisted in Capt. Riley's outfit at Winchester, Indiana on August 20, 1861 for a 3-year term. That same day he was detailed as "Wagoner". He was mustered in at Indianapolis on September 5, 1861 and assigned to newly formed Company G. A description of Samuel was placed in his permanent military record on two separate occasions. These documents are still on file at the National Archives. The "Muster and Descriptive Role" taken in 1862 at Indianapolis Indiana reads; "Samuel Bumpus, Occupation Farmer, Eyes Gray, Hair Black, Complexion dark, 5' 8". A later record has the same description. His military records indicate that he was born sometime during the 12-month period ending on Aug. 10 1844. This conflicts with earlier census records.

After muster at Indianapolis, The 8th was assigned to the South West Division and soon left on a march to South West Missouri. During that march, on Oct. 22, 1861, Samuel was again detailed as Wagoner. This is probably when Samuel and at least one other soldier contracted measles. Samuel was hospitalized at Sarcoxie, Missouri in Jasper County not far East of Carthage. I assume this is where Samuel met the Lattin family. The Lattin's moved to Carthage in 1854 from Boone County, Indiana where they had moved to from Miami County, Ohio in the early 1840's. Dimmick Lattin was born in New York State in 1800 and was a farmer until his death in Jasper County, Missouri in 1872. He was buried in the Indian/White Graveyard on his farm. George Lattin, born in 1847 or 48, ran the 200-acre farm until it was sold to the Seidensticker family in 1879. The graveyard is now known as the Indian/White-Seidensticker Cemetery. Even though most of it was plowed under, Dimmick's and some of his children's grave markers were still standing in 2002. Dimmick Lattin supported the Union and some of the family probably volunteered at the Sarcoxie Hospital, which was just a few miles from the Lattin Farm in Carthage. George Lattin served with some of the same Army units Samuel did.

The 8th moved on, leaving Samuel in the Hospital in Sarcoxie for about four months. Samuel never spoke above a whisper after that four months and was sick most of the time for the rest of his life. He was described alternately as weak, sickly, and unable to work a full day, a changed man and frustrated. He rejoined the 8th in March at Pea Ridge or Helena, Arkansas where the 8th was in combat on multiple occasions. They were in many skirmishes throughout Arkansas, South West Missouri and adjacent areas. Working their way East they join the fight at Jackson and Vicksburg Mississippi. The 8th joined "Grants Army" there, led by General Grant, that was pinned down and unable to take Vicksburg leading up to what became known as "The Siege of Vicksburg". Eventually a large group, including the 8th, floated down the Mississippi River under the cover of darkness. The Mississippi switched back on its self so that it passes the town of Vicksburg three times. At each pass, the Union troops were fired on, killing many. Once past the town they regrouped and flanked by Confederate troops on their left, battled their way to and took Jackson to the East. They then moved west to surprise the Confederate forces at Vicksburg from the rear, fighting a few battles along the way. At one of these battles, considered to be one of the fiercest of the war, the battle of Champion's Hill, Samuel was shot in the leg. He was still with the 8th after they took Vicksburg. The wound eventually became infected and he was hospitalized with "a poisoned leg" at St Louis Missouri from July through December 1863. He was moved around from outfit to outfit, in St Louis, unable to do much until he mustered out at St Louis on September 4, 1864 and returned to the family farm in Blountsville, Indiana.

Samuel worked when he could around Henry and Randolph Counties after the war until late in 1867. On September 27, 1867, Reuben, Pricilla and all 6 children still at home, were admitted to the Henry County, Indiana Poor Farm. On December 10th of that year, Samuel took Reuben Jr. and Elizabeth Bumpus from the Poor Farm, put them in a wagon and drove to Holt County, Missouri where he placed Reuben Jr. with friends from near Blountsville, John and Sarah Strough and their two small children. Reuben was 12 at the time. Reuben later prospered, married Anna Wilson in May of 1885 in Holt County, Missouri and has many descendants. I don't know what happened to Elizabeth unless she was the Eliza Bumpus that was living for a while at the Jasper County, Missouri Poor Farm (Almshouse) and listed as blind, with 6 children, all dead. She was not yet 30 years old.

Samuel went on to the Lattin farm on the Spring River in Carthage, Missouri where he apparently built an addition to their small farmhouse. I have a photograph of that house taken while the Seidensticker family owned it. They purchased it in 1879. The photograph was probably taken in the 1880's. On September 5, 1869 Samuel Bumpus and 18-year-old Catherine Isabelle Lattin were married on the Lattin farm by a minister named David Budlong. Samuel and Catherine were living on the Lattin farm in a separate house in 1870 when their first child, George James, was born. Their second child, Clara Manda, was born in 1874 and may have been born in Allen County, Kansas where Catherine's sister Amanda lived with her husband Peter Long. Peter Long was, among other things, a prosperous farmer and bar tender in the town of Humboldt, Kansas. According to his descendants living in the same house where Peter and Amanda lived, he also owned some buildings in town. Samuel was working in Carthage in early1876 while Catherine and the children stayed with the Long's in Humboldt when Catherine died. Samuel had returned the night before while Catherine was still alive. Knowing her death was near, she requested she be buried on the Lattin farm near her father so Samuel returned her body to Carthage and she was buried next to her father. It's not clear if Samuel knew of the plan but while Samuel was on that trip, Amanda Long gave his children to the Allen County Kansas "Overseer of the Poor", William Andrews. He in turn, gave them to a farmer named Jack Thompson and his wife to raise as their own. In the 1880 census, the children were on the Thompson farm with 17-year-old Elwood Baker who, in Allen County, Kansas on November 13th 1888, became Clara's husband. They lived in Humboldt and Iola, Kansas before moving to Fresno California.

Samuel returned to Carthage and worked when he could. He lived part time with a cousin of Catherine's, George Gabriel. George was a son of Sarah Ann Lattin and Leander Gabriel. In 1880, too week to earn a living, Samuel was admitted to the Jasper County Poor farm in Carthage where he married Mary Amanda Ballinger in 1881. Samuel and Mary had two children, Lilly May on June 8, 1882 and Cora Lee , July 31, 1885. Samuel would work when he could but was not a well man by then. His new wife had TB and she stayed at the Poor Farm while Samuel was occasionally away on a job until early 1884 when the Poor Farm superintendent, James Rolston left after his obligation expired. Samuel and Mary moved on to the Rolston farm near Web City, near Carthage, where Samuel worked for Mr. Rolston. They lived there until Samuel became sick on about the 3rd day of August 1885. He was too sick to take food or drink and died on the 13th of August, just 10 days after the birth of his last child. Samuel was buried in the Rolstons Graveyard near Knights Station, Jasper County, Missouri. There was no tombstone placed at his grave. Dr. Hanna of Parshley Missouri tended to Samuel during his last illness. On the death certificate, Dr. Parshley indicated the cause of death as "Laryngitis and Cerebral congestion" In a later deposition he admitted he had no idea what the cause of death was. Though the link hasn't been found, I believe Samuel was related to one of the Rolston's.

Samuel had applied for a pension when he entered the Poor Farm in 1880 for the disease and leg wound he suffered while in the army. It was soon denied. Mary, too sick and weak to take care of herself, returned to the Poor Farm after Samuel died. The new Superintendent applied for a widow's pension in 1885, on her behalf. It was awarded in 1899 or 1900. The 20 years of investigation into its legitimacy produced a mountain of depositions and other documents acquired from people all over the Mid West. This effort to avoid giving Mrs. Bumpus a pension must have cost a fortune. These documents are also available at the National Archives. The depositions revealed most of what is known about Samuel Bumpus by his descendants, which is considerably more than his own children knew and much, much more than any of present generation of descendents knew before the documents were discovered. Mary Amanda Bumpus placed her two daughters up for adoption soon after Samuel died. They went to separate Missouri families and were soon lost to the Bumpus family. Samuel's younger brother, James, took George James Bumpus in at about the age of 15 and George worked in James's tavern as a chef, the trade he followed until he died in 1932. Records show that James returned to the Henry County, Indiana Poor Farm in 1880 and 1899 where he died on May 20, 1920 at the age of 57. James was said to have been "subject to fits".

George James Bumpus passed on to his children that he had been told he was related to the Frank and Jesse James. He told of a man coming to visit after dark on multiple occasions he knew only as "Uncle Jesse". He would sit on the man's lap and the man would always bring him a gift. Though I haven't spent much time trying to find a connection, I have yet to find one. I have studied a large database of names known to be associated to the James family. The names I found to also be associated to the Bumpus family before 1885 are; Bump, Bumpas, Colby, Logan, Marlow, Marlowe, Rolston and Wells. My meager research produced little further. Polk Wells was with Quantrell together with the James brothers. Samuel Wells also went by the name of Charlie Pitts who was killed at Haskins Slough near Northfield, Minnesota, escaping after the James/Younger gang's botched Northfield, Minnesota Bank robbery.

George James Bumpus married Mary Dillon. She was about the same age as Clara Manda Bumpus and they would have gone to school together as the Dillon family was living in the same town. Clara probably introduced Mary to her brother. George and Mary Bumpus had two children, Marlowe in 1895 and Georgia in 1907. They moved to Fresno, California in 1917, about the same time as the Dillons and Bakers, after about 25 years of traveling from job to job, or in the words of their son Marlowe, " to all the 48 states but Maine and to most of those in a covered wagon". George James was a member of the Shriners and appears to have been the head chef at most if not all of their conventions. This would put him in a deferent city every year. George James Bumpus opened a restaurant in Selma in 1917, just a couple of miles from Fresno and cook there until he died in 1932. Mary lived on well into her 80's.

Clara Manda added an A to her middle name and went by Amanda the rest of her life. She and Elwood Baker had a son, Orland, who was in the 1st world war, and may have had a daughter. Clara is said to have committed suicide after her husband died. They were living in Fresno, California and were there in 1917 when Clara mailed a post card to her brother and were there when the 1920 census was taken. The letter caught up to brother George upon his arrival in Fresno.

Jeremiah Mathew Dillon

A Biography

By Marlow Bumpus

March 29 2004

My great Grandfather, Jeremiah Mathew Dillon, was born somewhere in Ireland in 1842 or 43 to Jeremiah and Margaret Dillon. In 1850, toward the end of the potato famine when Jeremiah was 7 and his older brother David was 13, the family immigrated to America. The Dillon's landed in New York and were there when the census enumerator counted them in the Eastern Division of the First Ward of New York City. Jeremiah Sr. was 36 and Margaret was 35. Living in the same house was a family by the name of Dean. They were John 30, Mary 24, Ellen 1 and a fellow named Charles Cayhill. The new Irish emigrants were not liked then, not even by the American born Irish. Times were tough and there was not much work. Many of the Irish of the day joined gangs of New Irish and Old Irish that had a deep hatred toward one another and battles were fought. The New Irish stuck together in the run-down tenements. Many of them migrated west early on and started new settlements. Many worked the many mineral mines of California, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and other points "out west" There was one mining town in Colorado in the last half of the 19th century that was almost all Irish. It was founded by an Irishman who would only hire Irish.

I'm not sure where Jeremiah's family moved to or when they left New York I suspect they were the Dillon family recorded in the 1880 census in Dakota County Minnesota and that Jeremiah Mathew joined the army serving in the Civil War for the Union, mostly in the Mid Western States around Missouri Kansas and Arkansas.

After the war Jeremiah worked at whatever he could and moved often to stay employed. Such was his pattern the rest of his life. At some point he met Clara Olive Gardner who was born in Effingham, Illinois, July 3, 1857. They were married in Clarksville, Arkansas on June 15, 1871. Clara described Jeremiah Mathew Dillon as having "blue eyes, auburn hair, curly or wavy, medium sized, 5 ft. 5 to 8 inches tall, maximum weight, 160 lbs." She claimed he worked as a "bookkeeper, engineer, saloonkeeper, merchant and jack-of-all-trades". Clara said her father deserted the family after the war and that she eventually took her younger sister and moved to Louisville, Kentucky leaving her older brother Frank and sister Elizabeth on the family farm.

Jeremiah and Clara Dillon were living in Joplin, Missouri in late 1874 when Mary Ellen was born. The twins; Oma and Nova were born in Arkansas in 1876. They were back in Missouri in 1878 when daughter Olive was born.

In 1880 the census taker found Jeremiah and Clara, or Olive, as she preferred, in the young town of Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Arkansas. "Eureka Springs A Pictorial History" published in 1975 by the Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library Association reviles that a pioneer settler, Dr. Alvah Jackson, first located the site of Eureka Springs in the Ozark Mountains of North West Arkansas. He had been searching for the "Indian Healing Springs" for many years and felt he had found them in 1856 in the mountains west of Berryville Arkansas while he was hunting. He claimed to witness the healing of his young son's eyes after they had been bathed in water from the spring. Feeling the water had healing powers, he began to make use of it in his practice. The spring remained hidden in the wilderness until 1879 when people began coming by the hundreds, in search of "the healing water". The Midwestern Plains Indians had been using the "Great Healing Springs" for centuries. The town grew to become a tourist town, which it remains today, and is still visited for it's healing powers by people from all over the world.

The census enumerator counted thousands including the Dillon family in Eureka Springs by the time he showed up in 1880. Many were living in small wood framed housed on the side of a steep hill and the main street was named Mud Street, probably for good reason. The previously mentioned history of Eureka Springs includes a photograph taken in 1880 of almost the entire town and shows major progress with some larger buildings, some under construction, as high as four or five stories and several businesses along Mud Street. I assume Jeremiah moved to this boomtown for a job.

The family was back in Missouri when Frank was born in 1882 but in October of 1886 James was born in Arkansas. Jeremiah's last child, David, was born in Missouri in December of 1889. That's a lot of moving around but not unusual for the time if one wanted to stay employed. 1889 is the year Jeremiah was killed in a mining accident, probably in Missouri. Wasting no time, on Christmas day that same year, Clara Olive Gardner Dillon married John W McGuire in Eureka Springs.

John McGuire was also a hard working laborer who worked in the mines and smelters in the area where Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri come almost together. John and Clara had three children, Minnie in 1893, Sidney in 1894 and Albert in 1901. They lived in Iola Kansas in 1900 and were living in Fresno California by 1920. John and Clara both died and are buried in Fresno.

Frank Dillon moved to Dinuba, California about the time his mother did. He raised his family and died there.

Nova Dillon married Henry Shea in Iola, Kansas in about 1900. They moved to Edmonds Washington, owned and ran an apartment house and raised their family there.

David Dillon may have joined the Navy as George Marlowe Bumpus inherited his "Navy Colt"

One of the Jeremiah Dillon's daughter's married and moved to Texas but I don't know where in Texas or which daughter.

Having retired, Frank Dillon's son John is living in Fresno California and his sister is living in a near by town. John remembers being told by his father that Jeremiah had to shoot squirrels to feed his family at times. John Dillon has been a great help in researching the life of Jeremiah Dillon and continues to research the Dillon, McGuire and Bumpus families. Without his efforts and knowledge of the family, this biography, as brief as it is, would not have been possible.

John W. Earles

Among the well known citizen's of Webb City connected with its mining interests is John W. Earles, who was born in Lawrence County, Ohio June 13, 1839. His father, William Earles, was a native of Virginia and married Artie Brammer, who was a native of Ohio. They settled on a farm and passed their lives in Lawrence County. The paternal grandfather, Charles Earles, was of English ancestry and lived in Virginia, where he married Mary Ferguson. The maternal grandfather was James Brammer, whose mother was a Lee, and he married Sarah Seamands.

John W. Earles attended the common schools of his locality and later Ewington College in Gallia County, Ohio and during the succeeding four winters, taught school in his district. On the 24th of October, 1861, Mr. Earles enlisted and was mustered into the United States service at Camp Diamond, Ohio as a private of Company G, 53rd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Colonel Jesse J. Appler and later Colonel Wells S. Jones, commanding, while Captain George K. Hosford commanded the company. He never missed a fight or skirmish in which his regiment participated, and performed most faithful and meritorious service, earning high commendation, as is evidence by his promotion from a private to the rank of captain. He was wounded in the right arm slightly by a gunshot at Pittsburgh Landing, April 7, 1862 and at Dallas, Georgia had his belt plate stove in by a sharpshooter. He received his honorable discharge at Fort McAlister, Georgia on the 24th of December, 1864. Mr. Earles is a valued member of Logan Post, No. 6, GAR and has a fine record as a soldier.

Returning to Ohio, Mr. Earles was elected sheriff of Lawrence County in the fall of 1865, on the Republican ticket and served two years. In 1867, he was appointed United States deputy marshal by General Kikenlooper, in which position he also served for two years. In the latter part of 1869, he went west as far as Kansas, where he was engaged in farming until 1875, when he came to Jasper County, Missouri and engaged in mining. He became part owner of some very valuable property, which was later sold very advantageously for thirty-five thousand dollars. With his partners he is now engaged in opening up the Maud B. mine, which is proving the most productive of any of the mines on the Conner tract. In 1871, Mr. Earles was married to Miss Mary J. Hatfield, of Greenfield, Indiana and daughter of Thomas J. and Elsa Lee (Williams) Hatfield. Four sons have been born to our subject and wife, namely: George T., William J., Frank J., and Fred C.

Source: Biographical Record of Jasper County, Missouri, pages 352-356. Chicago: Lewis Pub. 1901

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