Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/373

Rh to Harvard the funds with which was founded the Ruraford professorsliip of the physical and mathematical sciences as applied to the useful arts, which was established in October. 1816. He published the results of his investigations in pamphlets, and essays in French, English, or German, many of which were issued as ' Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical" (3 vols., London, 1797; vol. iv., 1802). See "Life of Count Rumford," by James Renwick, in Sparks's "American Biography" (Boston, 1845), and "Rumford's Complete Works." with a "Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson," by George E. Ellis, published by the American academy of arts and sciences (5 vols., Boston, 1876). His daughter. Sarah, Countess of Rumford, b. in Concord, N. H., 18 Oct.. 1774; d. there, 2 Dec., 1852, is said to have been the first American to inherit and bear the title of countess. She remained in this country after her father went to England, but in January, 1796, she rejoined him in London at his request. In 1797 she was received by the Bavarian elector as countess, and was permitted to receive one half her father's pension, with the privilege of residing wherever she chose. Subsequent to the death of the count in 1814, she divided her time between London and her house in Brompton, making protracted visits to Paris of two and three years' duration, and to her residence in Concord. With her father she established the Rolfe and Rumford asylums in Concord, X. II., for the poor and needy, particularly motherless girls. She bequeathed $15,000 to the New Hampshire asylum for the insane, and |2,000 each to the Concord female charitable society, the Boston children's friend society, and the Fatherless and widow's society of Boston.

RUMlSAGUI (roo-meen-yah-ghe'), Peruvian soldier, b. in Quito in the latter half of the loth century ; d. in 1534. He was a son of one of the principal generals of a native prince, and entered the military service of the conqueror, Huaina Capac, and of his son, Atahualpa (q. v.). At the time of the invasion of Pizarroin 1532, RumiSagui was marching with 5.000 men to re-enforce the army that was sent against Cuzco, and advised Atahualpa not to receive the Spaniards in Caja- marca, but, seeing that his advice was unheeded, he retired with his army to Quito, thus escaping the defeat of the Peruvians, 16 Nov., 1532. In Quito, under pretence of electing a regency, he summoned to the royal palace the children, brothers, and principal officers of the emperor, and had them all murdered during a banquet that was given in their honor. Then, proclaiming himself independent, he began a reign of terror in Quito. When, in 1533, Sebastian de Benalcazar, at the request of the Canari Indians, marched against Ruminagui. the latter made a heroic resistance for a long time in the mountain-passes that lead to the capital. In Tiocojas a battle was fought, which resulted in favor of the Indians, but in the night an eruption of the volcano Cotopaxi began, which it had been predicted by the priests would be fatal to the empire of Quito, and the Indian army dispersed. Ruminagui, unable to defend the capital, set fire to the palace and the city, and during the confusion escaped to the mountains with the emperor's treasures, but was hotly pursued by the Spaniards, and. as the Indians despised and hated him, they revealed his retreat, and he was killed toward the beginning of 1534.

RUMPLE, Jethro, clergyman, b. in Cabarrus county, N. C., 10 March, 1827. He worked on a farm. "and studied at intervals till he was eighteen years old, when he began to prepare for college, teaching to defray his expenses. He was graduated at Davidson college in 1850, studied in the theological seminary at Columbia, S. C., and was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1857. After holding pastorates in Mecklenburg county, he was called in 1860 to Salisbury, N. C.. where he has since remained. The University of North Carolina gave him the degree of D. D. in 1882. Dr. Rumple has taken an active part in the councils of his church, and published " History of Rowan County, N. C." (Salisbury, N. C., 1881), and "History of the First Fifty Years of Davidson College" (Raleigh, 1888). His "History of Presbyterianism in North Carolina" recently appeared as a serial.

RUMSEY, Benjamin, Continental congressman, b. about 1730. His grandfather, Charles, emigrated from Wales to this country about 1665, and after living in Charleston, S. C., New York, and Philadelphia, settled in Cecil county, Md. He was the great - grandfather of James Rumsey, noticed below. Benjamin was elected by the Mary- land convention, 29 Dec., 1775, one of a committee of five to prepare a draft of instructions for the deputies of the province in congress. On 1 Jan., 1776. he was chosen one of a similar committee to report resolutions for raising, clothing, and victualling the provincial forces. On 25 May he became one of the council of safety, and on 10 Nov. he was chosen by the convention to the Con- tinental congress.

RUMSEY, James, inventor, b. in Bohemia Manor, Cecil Co., Md., about 1743; d. in London, England, 23 Dec., 1792. He was a machinist by trade, and early turned his attention to inventing, making various improvements in the mechanism of mills. In 1784 he exhibited to George Washington the model of a boat for stemming the current of rivers by the force of the stream acting on settling poles, which he patented in several states; and he obtained in March, 1785, the exclusive right for ten years &ldquo;to navigate and build boats calculated to work with greater ease and rapidity against rapid rivers&rdquo; from the assembly at Philadelphia. Subsequently he succeeded in launching a boat on the Potomac, which he propelled by a steam-engine and machinery of his own construction that secured motion by the force of a stream of water thrown out by a pump at the stern. In December, 1787, a successful trial trip was witnessed by a large concourse of people, and he was granted the rights of navigating the streams of New York, Maryland, and Virginia. The Rumsey society, of which Benjamin Franklin was a member, was founded in Philadelphia in 1788 for the purpose of furthering his schemes. He then went to England, where a similar society was organized, and he obtained patents for his inventions in Great Britain, France, and Holland. A boat and machinery were built for him, and a successful trip was made on the Thames in December, 1792, but he died while preparing for another experiment. The legislature of Kentucky presented in 1839 a gold medal to his son &ldquo;commemorative of his father's services and high agency in giving to the world the benefits of the steamboat.&rdquo; He published a &ldquo;Short Treatise on the Application of Steam&rdquo; (Philadelphia, 1788), by which he became involved in a controversy with John Fitch (q. v.).

RUMSEY, Julian Sidney, merchant, b. in Batavia, N. Y., 3 April, 1823; d. in Chicago, Ill., 20 April, 1886. He removed to Chicago in 1837, and entered the service of a firm in which he and his brother subsequently became partners. This firm, then known as Newberry and Dole, sent out in September, 1839, the first shipment of grain from