Saturday, April 2, 2011

Emma Pumpelly (1847 - abt. 1925)

A barge floats down the Missouri river, not far from Sedalia, where Emma and Alonzo Speer lived in 1920.

Note: This blog entry was first posted in my Embryos blog 10/21/08

Emma A. (Amelia) Pumpelly (Pumpelle) was the 4th child of Daniel George and Julia (Sears) Pumpelly. Emma (listed in the 1920 census as Amelia A.) was born in Ohio in Nov 1847. She is not with her parents in Eola in 1870, but was certainly marrying age by then.

The names of all of the Eola residents in 1870 were manually searched. There were no Emmas between the ages of 21 and 23, or Emmas of any age born in Ohio, living in Eola at that time.

Emma maried Alonzo Ellis Speer, b. Nov 1840, birthplace MO, probably in Polk County, OR, before 1869. Emma Pumpelly probably married in Oregon and moved back to Missouri. Their first child, George is listed as born in OR. However, I have not been able to locate any such place as "Belgian Branch, Oregon." Perhaps Emma never left MO with her family in 1862, but she would have been quite young to leave behind. She and Alonzo possibly met as children and she moved back to Missouri with him after they married.

In the 1900 census, Emma is living in Washington township, Clark County, Missouri and is listed as being the mother of 8 children, all 8 of them still living in 1900. Alonzo is still going strong, at age 79, in the 1920 Sedalia, Missouri, census. Emma is with him in 1920, listed as age 72.

The children of Alonzo E. and Emma A. (Pumpelly) Speer:

i. George Alonzo Speer, b. 18 Nov 1869, Belgian Branch, Oregon, d. 21 Oct 1920 Illinois
m. abt 1889 Mary Lucinda Grindle, b. 16 Mar 1871 Missouri, d. 28 Nov 1952 Iowa
-- b.1890, Floyd I. Speer (Missouri)
-- b.1893, Edith Blanche Speer (Missouri)
-- b.1896, Forest Lilian Speer (Missouri)
-- b.1901, Lyde Lee Speer (Missouri)

ii. Florence A. Speer, b. 21 Apr 1874, Clark County, Missouri

iii. Albert Speer, probably b. between 1875 and 1878, m. Emma Raine.

iv. Bonnie Speer, probably b. between 1875 and 1878

?. Brent Speer, born Nov 1879, listed as "boarder & farm laborer" in the 1900 census, whereas the others on the page listed below are recorded as "son". So Brent Speer may or may not have been their child. If he was their child, that would make 9 children instead of 8, as recorded in the census data.

v. James (?) or Thomas (?) Speer, b. unknown

vi. Shelton G Speer, b.June 1881, MO

vii. Otto Speer, b.June 1884, MO, m. Grace Mary Herberths

viii. Ezra Speer, b.Feb 1892, MO

The following entry is in the 1900 census for Washington, Clark, Missouri:

Alonzo Speer, age 59, birthplace MO
Emma Speer, age 52, birthplace OH
Brent Speer, age 20
Shelton G Speer, age 19
Otto Speer, age 15
Ezra Speer, age 8