Simeon Sumpter Old River Boat Captain

Photo provided by F. Kay Brown

Your old book mentioned them being related to Rev. War Sumpter.  It took me until a couple of years ago when I could talk to people on Virginia’s Facebook page, that I found that we were related to the Sumter for whom the Ft. and Sumpter SC is named.

From F. Kay Brown 3/5/19: Simeon Sumpter was born Nov. 24, 1833, in Lawrence County, Ohio, and died Jan. 3, 1917, in Lawrence County. Married Katherine Brubaker on Aug. 7, 1851, in Lawrence County, Ohio.  Son of Edmund Sumpter and Nancy Snell.  Grandson of Richard Sumpter (War of 1812 Ohio Militia) and Isa Smith.

He was brother to my great-grandmother Freeman.  Also, if you are ever going through old papers from the Civil War and see mention of a fire in South Point that took the life of a mother and some of her children, I would like to see that.  While in Civil War, Simeon asked for leave to return home as he got a telegram that his wife and children were dead in a fire, and one was deadly ill.

More stories about Simeon Sumpter

The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, OH 30 Nov 1878 p8

The United States Court was occupied yesterday in hearing a case against Simeon Sumpter, indicted for navigating the Ohio River with a ferry boat at South Point without either pilot or engineer.  It is said that the boat is a miniature concern and that the engine is managed from the pilot’s house.  The jury will be heard soon.

Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, 30 Nov 1878

In the case of the United States vs. Simeon Sumpter, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.  The defendant was charged with running a ferry boat without a licensed pilot or engineer.

RIVER CAPTAIN DEAD

Daily Intelligencer Wheeling WV 5 Jan 1917

Huntington, W. Va., January 4th, Captain Simeon Sumpter, 83, of Chesapeake, Ohio, opposite here on the Ohio side of the river, is dead at his home in that town.  Captain Sumpter is a pioneer citizen of this vicinity and well known up and down the Ohio River among steamboat men.

CAPTAIN SUMPTER DIES AT CHESAPEAKE HOME AT A VERY OLD AGE

Daily Register Friday, January 5, 1917

Captain Simeon Sumpter, of Chesapeake, Ohio, Union veteran of the Civil War and widely known river man, answered the last call early Wednesday evening at his home on the Ohio side. He died following a stroke that the aged man suffered Sunday last. The Captain, aged 82 years, was well known and loved by his many friends throughout the tri-state region. He is a pioneer resident in this section of the country, having resided in Lawrence County from his birth until his death Wednesday evening, says The Huntington Advertiser.

The life of Captain Sumpter was punctuated with activity on behalf of his fellow man. Born near the mouth of Symmes Creek, he was raised within sight of Huntington. As a lad, he was naturally inclined toward the waters of the old Ohio, and before his death, this inclination led him to enjoy a wide reputation as a riverman.

Education was prized in the early days when Captain Sumpter was but a lad. Taking advantage of his parents’ offer to furnish books, the Captain educated himself. At eighteen, he opened one of the first schools ever established in Lawrence County, Ohio, of which institution he was a teacher until the outbreak of the Civil War.

To the call of the Union, Simeon Sumpter answered. Rushing at the first news of the war to Maysville, Kentucky, the boy became a recruit in the Tenth Kentucky Cavalry, Company F. After serving with this brave contingent for two years, the Captain. Then a First Lieutenant returned to eastern Ohio, where he organized for the Eighty-eighth Ohio, an infantry company, being made a “Captain.”

At the close of the war, the Captain returned to his old home at Chesapeake. The call of the waters was upon him. Within a few years after his return, he became a master engineer and master pilot, operating on Ohio, Big Sandy, and Guyan Rivers. Before his death, Captain Sumpter was the pilot of the ferryboat “City of Huntington,” which plies between this city and the Ohio shore. He operated packets on all three rivers.

Captain Sumpter enjoyed the distinction of being a great-great-grandson of the famous General Sumpter of the Revolutionary War fame. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and before being handicapped by age, he was prominent in Masonic and Odd Fellow circles. He is survived by five children, two sons and three daughters, nineteen grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. The sons and daughters surviving are W. H. Sumpter of Chesapeake; Don E. Sumpter of Proctorville; Mrs. Emma K. Ferguson of Chesapeake, Mrs. A. Smith of Idaho, and Mrs. Mollie Anna Welling of Huntington.

Funeral arrangements have not been perfected, all details being held up until Mrs. Smith, the daughter in Idaho, is heard from.