Search billions of records on Ancestry.com


REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER WILLIAM LUMLEY



BURIAL SITE:

On Turnback Creek, 8 miles northeast of Miller, Lawrence County, Missouri. William Lumley’s grave is located in Section 2, Township 29, Range 26 of Lawrence County.

From Mount Vernon, take Highway 39 north to Miller, Missouri. Turn right (east) on county road DD and go 8.4 miles.

The cemetery is on the right (south) side of the road in a field and is just west of Turnback Creek. It is enclosed by a rock wall, built in 1876, with the millstone from his mill set in the wall. You will have to cross a barbed wire fence to get to the enclosed rock wall.

ALTERNATE ROUTE: From Springfield, go west on I-44 to Halltown exit. At Halltown, go north on Highway Z approximately 4 miles. Then turn left (west) on Highway DD and go approximtely 4 miles until you cross Turnback Creek. Just after you cross the creek, you will see Lumley’s grave on the left (south) side of the road.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTION AT WILLIAM LUMLEY’S GRAVE:

Tombstone: "WM. LUMBLEY / CAMPBELL’S / VA. MIL. / REV. WAR."

Marker set by DAR: "Revolutionary / Soldier / 1781-1782 / Placed by the / Rhoda Fairchild Chapter / D.A.R." [Note: the DAR symbol of the spinning wheel and distaff is also on this marker.]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

William A. Lumley (or Lumbley) was born in 1763 in Virginia. When only a boy of seventeen years of age, he enlisted as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Records from the National Archives show that he enlisted from Warren County, Virginia in 1780. He first served as a Private in Capt. Howell Myrick’s Company which was part of the first regiment of the Virginia line commanded by Colonel Richard Campbell. Myrick was later killed in the Battle of Eutaw Springs, so the company was placed under the command of Phillip Sansum. Sansum’s company belonged to the battalion commanded by Major Thomas Edmund of Sussex County, Virginia.

In an affidavit with his war pension application, Lumley stated that he served in Richard Campbell’s Virginia regiment for 18 months and was actively engaged in the battle at Guilford Court House, Northa Carolina; the Battle of Camden; the Seige of Ninety Nine; the affair at Eutaw Springs; and in many other skirmishes. He was discharged in 1782 at Salisbury, North Carolina.

He was allowed a pension on his application executed March 21, 1820. At that time he was a resident of McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee.

From Tennessee, Lumley moved with his wife Mary to Illinois and then to Arkansas. By 1837 he was living in Barry County, Missouri. On September 26, 1839 he purchased 80 acres of land in the east ½, SE 1/4 of Section 2, Township 29, Range 26 of Lawrence County for $1.25 per acre. On this property, located on the west bank of Turnback Creek, he constructed a crude pioneer home and later built a water powered mill on the Mill Branch where it flows into Turnback Creek. This was the first water mill to be built in the northern part of Lawrence County, Missouri. He operated this mill until his death on October 28, 1843 at the age of 80.

In 1921 a committee of citizens proposed to refurbish and make a more permanent memorial at this site. The committee asked for at least 500 patriotic citizens of the county to contribute at least one dollar each for the erection of a more substantial memorial. It seems that this effort never did come to fruition.

In 1928 the grave was again discovered in the cornfield with its old wall remaining. During the fall of 1928 the Rhoda Fairchild Chapter DAR of Carthage placed a bronze tablet at the site, attaching it to the old mill stone on the inside of the wall at the head of Lumley’s grave. Ozark Mountain Chapter SAR placed an SAR insignia marker and held a dedication service on November 20, 1993.


(c) Copyright 1998-2005.

Last updated May 15, 2005.


Send comments to Glenn Gohr


[rosette]View the Descendants of Revolutionary War Soldier William Lumley page on Rootsweb’s WorldConnect site


“[starball]”View the Revolutionary War Soldiers in Southwest Missouri Page


“[starball]”Back to Ozark Mountain Chapter SAR Page



URL: http://www.rootsweb.com/~moomcsam/hash.html