McBride - Bumpus Genealogy
Frederick Rufus Bumpus
B: 20 Sep 1859 - D: 29 March 1926
married: 19 April 1888
Elma Elizabeth Davison
B: 25 April 1866 - D: 19 Oct 1958
Frederick Rufus Bumpus Biography
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Plum Township Special -
Fred Bumpus Venango County Pennsylvania Genealogy
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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~
By H. W. Strawbridge
Frederick Rufus Bumpus
Fred Bumpus Had Many Skills, Built Several Area Landmarks
The Bumpus family can be traced back to at least the early part of the
17th Century when Edward Bompass, a native Leydener, left Holland and
boarded the ship “Fortune” at London to sail for America. Included in the
group was Jonathan Brewster. They landed at Plymouth, Mass., on Nov. 11,
1621. Edward lived at Duxbury, and later at Marshfield. He died in 1693,
and had fathered eight children. His first son was John Bumpas, born in
1636. The spelling of the name gradually changed through the years. One of
John’s great grandsons was Simeon Bumpus who was born in 1739 in Wareham,
Mass., and was a Revolutionary War veteran. He moved to New York State in
later years. His grandson was Rev. Erastus Sterling Bumpus, born probably
at Lorraine, N.Y., on May 31, 1815. He was a Free Will Baptist minister
and elder. He was married July 2, 1839, to Ann Faneta Shirley who was a
milliner.
Minister Moves to Area
They removed to Jackson Township, Venango county, where they lived several
years before moving to Mercer County where he preached, did some shoe
repairing and fruit raising. About 1875 they sold their place to a
neighbor whose house had burned, and removed to Bradleytown, Plum
Township. Here the respected man of god died on Jan. 23, 1880. While he
lived in Jackson township on the present property of Mrs. Martha Deeter,
record states that the first oil well in the township was put down on his
farm. It was drilled to a depth of 400 feet, then abandoned. In 1862 it
was completed and proved to be a two-barrel well. During his times of
residence in Jackson and Plum townships he was actively associated with
the former Plum Free Will Baptist Church located between Bradleytown and
Cooperstown.
First Called Fritz
His youngest son was Frederick Rufus Bumpus, born Sept. 29, 1859, in
Jackson Township. The old family Bible states his first name was Fritz,
but he always accepted Fred as his name. Sometimes he went by a nickname,
“Rick”. Fred grew up with a real sense of responsibility. He served as a
foreman over a telegraph crew when in his late teens. The crew strung a
line from Titusville to Warren. One day the superintendent happened along
and wanted to see the foreman to congratulate him on installing one of the
straightest lines in the state. He was vastly surprised when he learned
that the foreman was still in his teens. Fred also learned the carpenter’s
trade when very young under an area resident, Milton Rieb. He worked with
Rieb until the latter’s death in 1878. Fred once worked as an off-bearer
at the Stratton-McQueen sawmill located near the line of the Williams and
Lamberton properties above Bradleytown. While he was there the boiler blew
up. Fortunately, no one was hurt. As a young fellow he owned a nice sorrel
horse named “Tip.” This horse was very lively and smart. Once it was
standing behind Fred in the yard, apparently begging for oats. Something
scared it and it jumped entirely over Fred without hurting him. Just a
whistle and a joggle of the lines was all that was necessary to get him to
pass any other horse on the road.
Six-Year Courtship
Fred had a courtship of around six years with Miss Elma Elizabeth Davison
of Bradleytown. Their marriage took place in Franklin on April 19, 1888,
by a Baptist minister. Elma had wanted to be married by a minister of the
Presbyterian Church, her faith, but at that particular time the church in
Sunville was without a minister, and the pastor in Franklin couldn’t be
located due to it being Presbytery Week. After their wedding they had
their photograph, shown here, taken in Titusville. Elma was born April 25,
1866, a daughter of James F. and Lucinda Matthews Davison. She was one of
four children. She attended the Sunville Academy, then taught in the
schools of south Troy, Gates (Jackson Township) and Bradleytown. She also
took part in the oldtime singing schools and literary societies in her
community. She and Fred had been in the large circus tent which had blown
down in Titusville in 1885 and caused great confusion. The couple began
housekeeping in the home of his widowed mother who died a year and a half
later.
In the yard he had a shop in which he filed and fixed buggy wheels,
made wagon boxes, axles, spindles and even boats. During the first two
summers Fred and Elma ran the hotel at Sugar Lake, and spent their winters
at Bradleytown. Fred and J.W. Morse of Chapmanville made a steamboat and
Fred piloted it on Sugar Lake for two seasons, one of which was 1892. Fred
towed a flatboat on nice evenings, and a number of couples held square
dances on it. After the boat was dismantled Fred took the boiler and
engine and sawed wood. In 1895-96 Fred and Elma lived in a small house
which once stood north of the large house of Elma’s parents. They then
lived in Callery Junction and Evans City, Butler County, where he
constructed derricks and built walking beams and bull-wheels. After
building a derrick he would climb the derrick and stand on his head as
sort of a “grand finale”. He once built an entire bull-wheel, installed
the spokes, rim, etc., and hung it in one day. This took some busy hours.
First Central Power
He installed the first central power in the oil fields there to pump the
lines. One Bob Irwin owned the large lease on which this work was done.
Following the Butler County work, Fred then worked in the Lake Creek oil
fields building rigs for Billy Thompson. Around 1898 he worked in Sharon
in the carpentry and construction business. He built and repaired houses
for the steel mill company there. In 1900 the family moved to Rocky Grove
and remained there for nine years. He helped to build the Park Hotel,
worked at the Eclipse and constructed the lower plant of the Chicago
Pneumatic Tool Company. Fred and Elma were the parents of 10 children as
follows: Leo Shirley Bumpus, May 10, 1889; James Maxwell Bumpus, Feb. 25,
1891; Leonard Davison Bumpus, Sept. 29, 1893; Bernice Irene Bumpus, Sept.
4, 1895; two infant girls probably 1897 and 1898; Theodore Dalton Bumpus,
July 23, 1900; Nellie Marie Bumpus, July 8, 1904; Ferne Elizabeth Bumpus,
Aug. 6, 1908; and Norris Bumpus, April 1910.
Six Children Survive
Leo was married to Miss Nora Brown of Rockland on Feb. 19, 1916. They
lived at Bradleytown where she died in 1936. On Sept. 25, 1939, he was
married to Mrs. Marie Riddle of Barkeyville, and they presently live at
Bradleytown. He was employed as a machinist and a farmer prior to his
retirement. He also served 30 years on the Plum Township school board. By
the first marriage there were four children: Mrs. Bernice Noel of
Bradleytown, Mrs. Margaret McBride of Slippery Rock, Fred W. Bumpus,
deceased and Mrs. Florence Smith of Black Ash. Maxwell was married in
October 1934, to Bertha Lindberg of Johnsonburg at Ridgway. Max was a
carpenter and is now retired living at Johnsonburg. They have one
daughter, Mrs. Gertrude Walters of Pelahatchie, Miss. Leonard remained
single. He had worked in the carpentry and construction business prior to
his retirement. He presently lives in Bradleytown. Bernice married Clyde
Pringle of Oakland Township in April, 1918, in her home. She died of burns
received when an oil can exploded in Sedan, N.M., in March 1919. Mr.
Pringle was a customs officer and is now retired and living along Lake
Ontario. No children were born to this union. The next two children, the
infant girls, died in infancy. One, Catherine, lived two days. Theodore
was married in August 1927, to Miss Lillian Cannon, a schoolteacher of
Aliquippa. She died in 1960. He was married in 1961 to Florence Marquart
of Rochester, N.Y. Theodore is an inspector in the Pennsylvania Railroad
yards at Pitcairn. There is one daughter by his first marriage, Mrs. Jean
Miller of near Pittsburgh.
Son is Carpenter
Nellie was married on Oct. 2, 1926, at Franklin to Clyde Shadle of
Fairview. Nellie was a schoolteacher and Clyde farmed at Emlenton, then at
Bradleytown. He is presently a carpenter, and they reside on the old
Bumpus place in Bradleytown. They have six children: Lewis Shadle of Erie,
Mrs. Anna Crawford of Townville, James Shadle of Greensboro, N.C., David
Shadle of near Bradleytown, Mrs. Shirley Sterns of Franklin and First Lt.
Donald Shadle of the Air Force in Turkey. Ferne was married in August
1926, at Mayville, N.Y. to Victor McCurdy of Fairview. He carpentered and
farmed. He died at Fairview in December, 1936. They had one son, Bruce
McCurdy now of Zelienople, who was later adopted by her second husband and
named Welsh. Ferne remarried on Sept. 1, 1939, to William Welsh Sr., and
they live west of Chapmanville. He is an electrician. They had two sons,
William Welsh Jr., of Meadville and Frederick Welsh at home. Norris died
in September, 1910 of a summer complaint at the age of five months. Family
historians have stated that Fred’s family was the first family of the
Bumpus line to have more than two boys. Fred Bumpus weighed around 200
pounds in his younger day, but had fallen to around 160 pounds in his late
years. He was six feet tall.
Hair Changes Color
He had white curly hair when a boy, and an interesting anecdote is
recalled in this respect. While someone was cutting his hair one day, a
lady who lived a distance south of the Bumpus home and who was noted (and
feared too) as a witch woman, called upon the Bumpus family. She told them
without any hesitation that the boy’s hair was being cut in the wrong
sign. Indeed, it never curled again, and his hair turned black. He was
gray, though, during the greater portion of his adult life. He also
sported a mustache. He was quite jovial. A member of the family also said
that one could hear him sneeze “a mile away!”. Fred was a member of the
former Free Will Baptist Church in Bradleytown, the Cooperstown IOOF lodge
and the Carpenter’s Union in Franklin, which he joined in 1900. During the
1880’s he was a member of Company E of the 16th Regiment of National Guard
in Cooperstown. He was one of four squads of eight men apiece, or 32 men
all of whom were six feet or more tall in their stocking feet. Fred had
referred to them as “four sets of fours”. They comprised what was said to
be the tallest squads of guardsmen in the state at that time. Elma was a
longtime member of the former Sunville Presbyterian Church with which she
united on May 24, 1884 under Rev. J. L. Robertson. She was installed as an
elder on Sept. 28, 1939.
Designed Floor Sander
Sometime during the early 1900’s Fred had completed plans for a floor
sander. He wrote to the patent office in Washington to get a patent, but
he never carried out the plans for manufacturing it. Some man in Franklin
whom Fred had approached about the plans became rather untrustworthy in
Fred’s opinion, so he abandoned his intentions of completing the patent.
Fred carpentered a number of local buildings. He helped to build the
Valley schoolhouse in 1889, both the Free Will Baptist (1892) and
Methodist (1910) churches in Bradleytown, the Diamond church belfry in
1909, the back part of the Conrad Rice home near Wallaceville, the raising
of Dr. Richey’s small barn in Chapmanville, the large part of the Clyde
Armstrong house at Chapmanville, the shingling of the Presbyterian horse
sheds at Sunville, and he, Leonard and Theodore assisted Bill Robinson in
constructing the large barn belonging to J.M. Shriver at Diamond in 1922.
Fred, Leonard and Maxwell started construction of a new home on their
place and they moved into it, still unfinished, in August, 1925, though
Fred was in failing health then. Fred died March 26, 1926, following an
illness of about a year’s duration. He was buried from his home on March
30 with the Methodist pastor, Rev. W.H. Turner, officiating. Interment was
in the Plum Cemetery, Jackson Township. Elma died in the same home on Oct.
19, 1958, at the age of 92, having been Plum township’s oldest resident at
that time. Although she had been failing gradually, she was seriously ill
for only a day.
Transcribed by Paula Harry
dharry@pa.rr.com
Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from
both early and late (current contributors) work.