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

Searching for Daniel Pumpelly

Note: This entry was first posted in my Embryo blog 10/14/08

A few weeks ago I had never heard of Eola, Oregon. And, judging from the responses of my friends, neither had anyone else around here. So I was surprised to learn that during pioneer days an effort was made to establish the state capital in Eola.

Since moving to Oregon City a year and a half ago, I have been on a quest to determine if any of my relatives made it across the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon. One possibility was brought to my attention by my brother Ray. A pioneer by the name of Daniel George Pumpelly left Missouri with his wife and children in 1862 headed for Oregon. According to the 1870 census, they made it to Eola in Polk County.

I have written elsewhere about my ancestors, specifically the Pumpellys, but my focus right now is on Daniel, his wife Julia Sears Pumpelly, and their eight children: Zanetta, James, Barnard, Amanda, Marcellus, Jemima, Emma and Selena. I am trying to determine when they arrived in Eola as well as where and when they died.

I started by doing what any diligent 21st century researcher would do: I googled Eola. It still exists, six miles west of Salem, near a ninety degree turn in the Willamette River known as Eola Bend. The current population is 61, up from 47 in 2000. I checked mapquest and downloaded a satellite image. It looks like a trailer park. Wait a minute! Did they have trailer parks in 125 years ago, or maybe the covered wagon equivalent?

My first question concerned the origin of the name of the town. I have heard the story of a place called Enola, in Clackamas County, which lies just north of Zigzag River and west of Devil Canyon. The name Enola was made by spelling Alone backward, named by a homesteader who had a home that was quite isolated. I wondered whether Eola was Aloe in reverse.

Actually, the village of Eola was founded in 1851 by A.C.R. Shaw, famous for moving the first flock of sheep across the Oregon Trail. But he didn’t call it Eola. He called it Cincinnati. Apparently, the town’s appearance on the bend of the river resembled, in his mind, the city by that name in Ohio. Another famous pioneer, Abigail Scott Duniway, taught school in Cincinnati in 1853.

The town was platted in 1855 and the name changed to Eola when it was incorporated by the territorial legislature on January 17, 1856. The name comes from Aeolus, god of the winds in Greek mythology. An influential local music enthusiast, Lindsay Robbins, disliked the name Cincinnati and offered the new name because he was fond of the Aeolian harp. As plans were being made for Oregon statehood in 1859, an effort was made by local residents to establish the state capital in Eola.

Source: Oregon Geographic Names, 4th edition (updated 1974, original 1928), by Lewis A. McArthur.

For an interesting article on the Aeolian harp, go here: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF10/1070.html

Click here to hear an Aeolean wind harp:
http://www.harpmaker.net/windharp.htm