New Rump Immigrant discovered

Previously I have written a lot about my 3rd-great-grandparents, August Christian Wilhelm Rump and Anna Sophie Diederike Hinrich Rump, who emigrated to America about 1867-1868, arriving at New York (at least Mrs. Rump and the children), and somehow winding up in Huntsville, Alabama by 1870.  I had heard family stories about them for years before finally finding records of the family in Germany that let me extend their tree back two more generations, including finding birth records of August's siblings and cousins from German church records.

Using Ancestry DNA, I found a couple of Americans with Rump ancestry who had a common DNA match with me, but they were not from the Rump line who came to Alabama.  Looking at their Ancestry trees, they trace back to an immigrant to New Jersey, Charles Rump (1871-1951).  One person, who lists the New Jersey death certificate as his source, has a birthdate for Charles of 27 July 1871, which exactly matches the German church birth records for August's cousin Carl Friedrich Rump.  Furthermore, he lists the nickname "Carl".  Not only that, he lists the parents names as Friedrich Rump and Amelia Neckrog.  From the German records, that matches (except for spelling) Friedrich Hermann Rump and Louise Frederike Amelie Nicking.  I don't believe the person who entered this (I am waiting to hear from him.) was using the German records for this information because the spelling differs and he cites the death certificate.  So we have a multiple DNA match (from New Jersey, where I don't have any known relatives for many generations), a birthdate match, and a close name match for Charles/Carl and his parents from the US records and the German records.

So, I am pretty confident that August's cousin Carl Friedrich emigrated to America like his cousin around 1885, about 17 years later.  August became the head of a large family in Alabama and Charles in New Jersey.  I wonder if he Charles knew about August.  Interestingly, Charles' occupation on the census is variously listed as dock laborer, freight barge, and boat man (coal company).  August had been a sailor and a ship's carpenter, and their was another Rump on some of the crews with him when he was with the North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd) shipping company.  So it seems the Rumps had an affinity for sailing.

A brutal beating

I ran across this story almost by accident.  I had been to the Madison County court archives in the Huntsville library to look up another court case.  I knew the Rumps had lived here so I looked them up in the index of "loose papers" and found the names of 3 of my ancestors.  There was a lengthy deposition of a civil case, Augustus Rump vs. George Moore et al., and there were some grand jury findings (not sure of the legal term) saying my Augustus (my 4th great-grandfather), Sophia (4th great-grandmother), and Fred (3rd-great-grandfather) had been beaten by these men.  There was also an order that apparently said Augustus was liable for court costs for Mr. Moore, which I think means he lost the civil case.  (If someone can verify the legalese I'd be grateful.)

Back row: Fred, Johanna, Will Rump

Front row: Sophia and Augustus

These documents led to a discovery of a newspaper article (thanks to a kind soul on Facebook's Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness).

Oct. 23, 1881 story from the Montgomery Advertiser describing the event.

Here are my transcriptions of the documents.  A. C. W. is Augustus Christian Wilhelm Rump (1862-1923), a German sailor who immigrated about 1867.  (That is a story in itself.)  Anna or Sophia is Anna Sophia Diederike Hinrichs who came in 1868 with the first three children.  Fred is their son Friedrich or Frederick, who was brought to America at about age 5.

By the way, please feel free to comment if you have any information to contribute.

__________________________________________

The State of Alabama -- Madison County

IN THE COUNTY COURT.

Before me, WILLIAM RICHARDSON, Judge of said Court, this day personally appeared A. C. W. Rump and made oath that he has probable cause for believing and does believe, that before the filing of this complaint,

Joseph Hambrick and George Moore did assault and beat affiant with a piece [?] of wood

17 Oct 188[1] [year unclear]

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

The State of Alabama -- Madison County

Circuit Court, February Term, 1882

The grand jury of said county charge, that before the finding of this Indictment, James Soloman did assault and beat Mrs. Sophia Rump.

_____________________________________

The State of Alabama -- Madison County

Circuit Court, February Term, 1882

The grand jury of said county charge, that before the finding of this Indictment, James Soloman did assault and beat Fred Rump with a cow hide stick or whip having in his possession at the time a gun with the intent to intimidate the said Fred Rump and prevent him from defending himself.

_____________________________________________

Augustus Rump

vs.

Geo. F. Moore, [?]

Duty[?] to Mary & Martha Webster

Filed the 31st day of January 1881

Thomas J Taylor

Clk CC

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

The State of Alabama, Madison County, In the Circuit Court

Augustus Rump, Plaintiff

vs.

George F. Moore, et als, Defendants

Cross-interrogation profounded by the defendants to Mary Webster and Martha Webster, witnesses for plaintiff, to whom interrogatories-in-chief have been profounded.

[list of questions]

Brandon Cooper, atty for defdts.

 ...

Plaintiff nominates John Cooper Esqr and Lewis Thornton Esr or either of them of Tuscumbia Alabama to take the deposition of Anna S Rump

Amicably

David P Lewis atty for plff

Leslie Thomas J Taylor MCC (?)

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

The State of Alabama

Colbert County

The deposition of Anna S Rump a witness sworn on the 15 day Feby. 1882 at Tuscumbia in said state & County...in a certain cause therein deciding between Augustus Rump Deff. & George Moore et al. Dfdt.  The said Anna S. Rump being first duly sworn….

I am the wife of Augustus Rump.  In October 1881 a party of men seven or eight pushed open the door of my house I was in and some of them came to the bed side.  I began to cry out.  They told me to hush & asked where my husband was.  My husband got up & got in to a bed with the children.  Some of the party who came in then said let us go upstairs & another replied let us light a match.  Some of these struck a match & saw my husband in the bed with the children they then pulled him out of the children’s bed, breaking some of the slats in the effort.  I got up & made a light & looked out of the door & saw a main pointing a gun in the house.  I called out to  my son who was up stairs.  He came down & his father called on him for help & he replied he could do nothing but plead.  He went on the porch & they took him also.  My son started out of the front door first but seeing the man with the gun there, went out of the back door on the porch.  The men took my husband & son off.  I started to follow but one of them caught me by the arm & slapped my mout.  I told him I felt like I would die.  He said he would stay there with me.  He pulled his mask or disguise off of his face & asked me if I knew or had ever seen him before.  He said he was from Tennessee & that “this has cost me $500 already.”  I kept on calling on the party to bring my husband back, but the man with me would not let me halloo & told me to hush, that they were not going to hurt my husband much, that he himself would ---- for all he could & then ----- again.  We went a piece in the lawn & I kept on about my husband saying I wished they would bring him back.  The man said they would bring him back, they would not hurt him much, that as soon as he would whistle they would bring him back.  I kept on about my husband & the man said well, he would go on up the road a piece with me if I wished him to be paid he would act like a gentleman with me if I loved him like he loved me.  Then I went back to the house & told the children to put on their clothes & go with me.  The man told me I had better be quiet.  Then he went off to where the others went.  I went to next neighbors & for two young ladies Misses Webster to go home with me when I got back they had brought my husband back & were standing around the house.  The man who called himself “Tennessee Man” said it was my talking that [done?] it.  I had said nothing except to tell some of my neighbors that George Moore had tried to pull my husband off his horse to whip him.  After this was over, the man called “Tennessee Man” came back to where I was with my husband in the house & told me if I ever told anything of this they would come back & do something to me.  They had taken our ??? out which they had, but put it back saying they had stolen nothing.  When my son came back his face was swelled up & he was crying.  I asked him if the men had hurt him.  He said they did.  I saw big stripes & lumps on his back & shoulder blade.  My husband looked very badly too.  He had great big stripes all over his back too.  The stripes were bloody.  They had taken him off bare footed.

To the 2nd Intterog. In chief she saith:

The man who came pulled my husband out of bed & took him barefooted.  My son off at the time I have said about the last of the month about 3 weeks in Oct. can’t tell time exactly.  Husband worked away & would come home ???? night, think it was about his 8” (8th)

Twice in Oct.  When my husband & son were brought back by these men who took them from the house they both had been badly beaten & had stripes from their shoulders down on them.  The man who caught son by the arm when I cried out slapped me in the mouth when I tried to cry aloud.

To the 3” Intng she saith

I was about 8 men in the house there were nine when they came back in the yard & I think three in the road.  I think in all twelve.

To the 4”...

After my husband was taken off I went to Mr. Websters.  Miss Mary & Martha Webster come home with me & Jos [?] Webster & Lee Allen came after I got back.

5”

The men who committed the violence returned to the house before the ladies had come home with me.

6”

We had all gone to bed before the men came.  It was about 15 minutes before one [?] o’clock in the night.

7”

My husband had gone to bed when these men came & asked where he was & took him out from the bed & from the house.

8”

When in the house they didn’t say anything about what they were going to do, but said where is he light match & spoke of going up stairs.  There were about 12 of them.

9” I don’t recollect anything now not told of.

___________________________________

Some notes on this story:

• I have only seen her listed as Sophia or Sophie in the American records so it is nice to corroborate her first name Anna that is in the German records.
• I did not know Augustus worked for the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.  This perhaps explains why they moved around quite a bit--in the 1870 census they are listed in both Morgan County (Valhermoso Springs) and Huntsville city.  Shortly thereafter they were in the Big Cove community of Madison County (quite coincidentally about a mile from where I live now).  By the 1880's they were in Tuscumbia.  The newspaper states this happened in Huntsville in 1881 but the deposition was apparently taken in Tuscumbia.
• It is quite interesting to find a story like this and learn so many details of something that happened over 130 years ago that no one in the family even knew about.
• On the other hand it is quite disturbing that my ancestors were treated this brutally.  (I guess it could have been worse.)
• A granddaughter of one of Fred's sisters has passed along a family story that Sophia would not let anyone in the family speak German.  Perhaps she didn't want them to be mistreated as foreigners.  (This is just speculation, I have no idea what prompted the incident.)
• It's kind of funny to me that the kind wanted it known he was from Tennessee so she calls him "Tennessee Man".
•  This quote is really creepy if Tennessee Man is referring to himself ("I kept on about my husband & the man said well, he would go on up the road a piece with me if I wished him to be paid he would act like a gentleman with me if I loved him like he loved me.")  --or is he referring to her husband?

Two Love Stories for Valentine's Day

As it is Valentine's Day I thought I would share a couple of love stories I ran across.  The first is from my own ancestry and was preserved by Nellie Grant Miller Sublett in the 1960's.

 My grandmother, Sophia Hendricks [Hinrichs originally] was born in Germany over 100 years ago [1836]. Her mother died when she was a little girl.  Her father married again soon after – a good woman in a way but she had never had any children of her own and didn’t understand that little girls in order to develop properly physically, mentally and spiritually should have lots of love and understanding.  All little Sophie’s new mother knew how to teach were obedience, manners and work, without the magic wand of love.  So little Sophie grew to girlhood missing her own mother’s love and close contact she had with her father before the new wife came into the picture.  Her three brothers, all older than she, married young. Sophie, a lovely blonde of about eighteen [born 12-28-1836], was invited to an evening of entertainment with lots of fun and dancing at a neighbor’s home two miles distance.  Sophie dressed for the party with unusual care.  One of her friends had enthusiastically confided that there was a handsome sailor that had stopped in the town with his company and that several of the sailors had been invited to the party.  She told her parents not to worry if she wasn’t at home by midnight; she was spending the night with a friend.

     The party was it’s height of gaiety with music and dancing.  The girls were vying with one another in showing the sailors a good time.  But Sophie was disappointed there was no sign of the tall handsome sailor her friend had spoken of.  The music stopped.  The merry makers were getting ready for refreshments.  The door opened and a tall, dark sailor entered the room.  The young lady who had invited the handsome strange began introducing him to her friends.  When Sophie was presented it seemed as if her heart was running away.  This was the man she had dreamed of meeting, and the sailor, well he lost no time in asking her for the next dance.  She didn’t have to spend the night with her friend, the sailor escorted her home.  This was the beginning of a beautiful courtship that climaxed with a wedding in a few short months. 

         The wedding took place in the little church [1858] where Sophie’s people had worshipped.  William Thomas August Rump [August Christian Wilhelm Rump] that was the sailor’s name and Sophie Hendricks now man and wife moved into a little home and like many other newlyweds before them began building dreams for the future.  Grandpappie (many years later we were taught to call him) was out of the navy now and began working at the carpenter’s trade.  Ten years pass . . . they were now the proud parents of three lovely children.  Joanna Louise, age nine years, who later became our mother, Frederic, age six years, and August, age three years.  They were beginning to realize a long cherished dream.  They were coming to America.  

August and Sophie Rump

And this story is not directly related to my family, but I ran across it when perusing the neighbors of the Rumps in 1870 Huntsville.  Just a few pages later on the census, I found Samuel Fordyce, a banker.  When I looked up his name, I found this story.

Samuel Fordyce was a Union officer who resigned from the army due to sickness.  Somehow he befriended a Confederate Captain Charles Mastin in Huntsville, who invited him to recover at his father's plantation.  There he met and fell in love with Sue Chaddick, who helped conceal him from capture.   Fordyce stayed in Huntsville, founded a bank, and became quite wealthy in the railroad industry.  He moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1873 and helped establish that town as a health resort.

I thought it was neat to run across a bona fide story of a Union officer who fell in love with a southern girl during the Civil War.

The wandering mariner

Ernest Paul Coburn (1895-1973)
 Myrtle Esther Rumph (1898-1971)
with my grandmother,
Flossie Coburn(1918-2002)

My great grandfather, Ernest Paul Coburn was a representative in the Alabama House for many years.  The Coburn (originally spelled Cockburn) family has maintained a tradition of military and public service for many generations, going back to Scottish settlers in the 1700's.  His wife's family are more recent arrivals from Germany and have an interesting and sometimes enigmatic history of their own.  (This is a very interesting family for me to research, since all my other immigrant ancestors that I have found so far arrived in the 1600's and 1700's, and almost all came from the British Isles.)

Fred and Ella Myhan Rumph

Paul Coburn's wife was Myrtle Esther Rumph, the son of Fred Rumph who arrived from Germany as a child.  Fred's parents were named August Christian Wilhelm Rump(h) and Sophie Hendrix.  August and Sophie are buried in Oakwood Cemetery in my hometown of Tuscumbia.  I did not know these people, but my grandmother and her siblings remembered Fred Rumph's generation, and had stories about August and Sophie.  However, these stories were not always consistent...

Fred Rumph 

August and Sophie Rump
in their later years

According to the story, August was a crewman or guard  on a ship.  Depending on who told the story, the captain was either stealing something, or testing the guards, and August shot and killed him, not knowing who it was.  Fearing for his life, he abandoned ship in America and wrote for his family to join him, which they did.

A younger August and Sophie Rump 

Now here is where family lore meets historical documentation.  In 1870 and 1880, the Rumps are found in Madison County, Alabama.  By 1900, they are living in Colbert County, where some of their descendants live to this day.  The 1900 census relates that August (A.C.W.) and Sophie (listed as Josie) arrived in this country separately in 1866 and 1867.  In 1870, August lists his profession as carpenter, which is certainly a useful job on a ship.  So these things are at least consistent with the story.  (Note for future research--their neighbors in 1870 come from a surprisingly diverse set of places, including New York, Germany, and Ireland.)

One final piece of the puzzle is found in the New York Passenger lists.  In 18 July, 1868, we find Sophie Rumpff, a 30 year-old from Oberhammelwarden, with her children John (8), Fred (6), and Auguste (10 months) arriving in New York on the ship America from Bremen and Southampton as second class passengers.   My Sophie's children at the time were Joanna (8), Fred (5), and August (12 months).  I believe this is the same family, but they erroneously recorded Johanna as John, perhaps due to difficulty understanding the accent, or transcribing a form improperly.  The ages match except August is off by a year, but that could be an error in his birthdate as later stated.


As an aside, they must have moved from the New York (in 1868) to Huntsville (in 1870) pretty quickly.  What would make an immigrant family, likely with language difficulties, move so far?  Did they have family or other connections in Alabama?  Was there a known German community in Huntsville?  Was more land available in the south?  This is soon after the Civil War--one would think that the Southern economy hadn't recovered much, but perhaps men (especially carpenters) were needed to help rebuild.  Or maybe land was cheaper here without a supply of free labor.  (One of my uncles thought that perhaps the whole immigrant story was made up to avoid being labeled a Yankee in Reconstruction-era Alabama.)

S.S. Weser

There are still further records to be found, however.  An August Rump, born 1831 in Leesum and living in Oberhammelwarden, is found on the Bremen sailor's registry on several occasions as a crewman on the Schwan and the Weser.  These ships traded with England, and at least once came to America.   Even better, he is listed as a ship's carpenter.  While the name August Rump is not that unusual, the birthplace being the small village listed in Sophie's arrival papers really cinches it and ties together the story.  One more detail of note, he was a sailor for the North German Lloyd company (still in business today as Hapag Lloyd AG), which owned the steamer America that Sophie arrived on.

This is not the end of the story, however.  In the next installment, I will tell even more of my discoveries about this immigrant family.

Rump Family.