Chumbley, Joseph G.

CHUMBLEY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/28/2021 at 23:29:30

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.649

JOSEPH G. CHUMBLEY
Joseph G. Chumbley, who owns and operates a finely improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 30, Otter Township, has been closely identified with the farming interests of Warren County ever since he attained to the years of discretion. He was born in Pulaski County, Virginia, December 7, 1851, the son of William Allen and Nancy P. (Glasgow) Chumbley. Both parents were likewise natives of this county, the father having been born here in 1813. His parents died when he was a child and, according to the custom of the times, he was bound out to James Rankin, with whom he re­mained until he was twenty-one years of age. He was reared in the family and received a fair common school education in the subscription schools. At the age of twenty-one he married Miss Nancy P. Glasgow and located on a farm in Virginia, which he leased. This he operated for a number of years until 1860, at which time, through the influence of some friends located at Indianola, he emigrated to this county, locating in what was then Washington but is now Lincoln township. Here he rented land, but he was not spared to his family for a sufficient length of time to make much headway in his work, as he was called to his eternal rest on the 29th of April, 1862. He was a devout Presbyterian, an indulgent father and husband, and a hard-working citizen. His wife, Nancy P. Glasgow, was a daughter of William and Sallie (Patterson) Glasgow, who were also reared in Pulaski County and were of Scotch descent.
At the time of her husband's death Mrs. Chumbley was left with a family of six sons and two daughters, as follows: James W., John C., Sarah L., Sam­uel C., Robert C., Joseph G., Winton H. and Lucy. The sons all remained at home until the youngest of them was twenty-three years of age. The family resided in Lincoln Township until 1871, when they removed to Otter township and purchased two hundred and eighty acres of land in section 18, that being the family home until 1880. Conditions being unfavorable, however, they gave up that farm and settled with their creditors, after which they rented land for some ten years. The family gradually became broken up but three of the sons, James W., Winton H. and Joseph G., of this review remained with the mother until later and they, by industry and integrity, gained another good home of four hundred acres in sections 30, 31, and 32 Otter township.
The partnership of the three brothers continued until the spring of 1905, when a division was made of the property. The mother died November 20, 1889, at the age of seventy-four years. The children of this family are as follows James W., who was born in 1842, resides with his brother, Joseph G. He owns and operates a farm of eighty acres in Otter Township. John C., died in In­dianola in 1893, at the age of fifty-seven years. He had mainly engaged in farming though for some twenty years he was superintendent of the cattle barn at Omaha, Nebraska for the distillery there. He left a widow, who now resides in Indianola and is married again to J. O. Pierce. Sarah L., who was born in 1846, married Achilles Brazelton. She died in 1881 aged thirty-five years, leaving two children, Nannie, who married a Mr. Adamson and resides in California, and Winnie, who is now a trained nurse in Des Moines. Samuel C. was born in 1848 and has resided in Clark County, Iowa, for the past ten or twelve years, where he owns a farm. He married Miss Jane Clary and unto this union have been born eleven children. Lucy is the wife of William McCampbell, a farmer residing in Indianola. They have one daughter, Maude, at home.
Joseph G. Chumbley received his education in the district schools of War­ren County. He has ever taken an active interest in the industrial, social and political affairs of the community and has been a leading spirit in many of the progressive movements there. He and his brothers were the first to in­terest themselves in securing the rural mail route No. 1, and in order to put the movement through, they gave bonds for three hundred dollars for the first one hundred boxes and were influential in prevailing on others to take them. His main energies, however, have been devoted to his farming interests, in which he has been most successful, as he now owns two hundred and forty acres of land.
Mr. Chumbley was married in 1875 to Miss Esther L. Pierce, a native of Gallia County, Ohio, where she was born in 1856. Her parents were William and Martha (Martindale) Pierce, both of whom are now deceased. They removed to Warren County in 1870 and it was in this County that the mother died, but the father died in Ohio. Mrs. Chumbley was one of twelve children, several of whom are now residing in.Iowa. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Chumbley have been born nine children, namely: Mary E., is the wife of G. G. Amos, a farmer residing in Otter Township, and they have four children, Nellie, Nora, Howard and Charles. Lucy is the wife of G. H. Bown, residing on a farm in Otter Township, and they have four sons, John, William, Joseph and Thomas. Nora is the wife of C. C. Morrison, also a farmer of Otter Township, and they have two sons, Clarence and Robert. James W., engaged in farming in this town­ship, married Miss Edith Bown and unto this union have been born two children, Lois and Lucevia. Robert C. is married to Miss Muriel Hess and resides in Otter Township. He is an auctioneer, by profession, being familiarly known as "Doc" Chumbley, and has been associated in business with A. R. Guy, of Indianola. Joseph P., Nannie, Thomas and Alvor reside at home with their parents.
The independence of thought and action that is so characteristic of the Scotch-Irish race race is illustrated in the different political opinions of the mem­bers of the Chumbley family, Joseph G. giving his allegiance to the Republican Party, while five of his brothers are Democrats. He has served and is at present a trustee of Otter Twnship, and is now a candidate for county commissioner. Both Mr. and Mrs. Chumbley are members of the Methodist Church.