Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/203

 RUMPLE

RUNKLE

RUMPLE, Jethro, clergyman, was born in Cabarrus county, N.C., March 10, 1827. He was graduated from Davidson college in 1850, and studied at the Columbian Theological seminary, 1851:-56. He was licensed by the Concord presby- tery, July 31, 1854, was ordained in 1857, and was installed in Mecklenburg county, N.C. He was married, Oct. 13, 1857, to Jane E., daughter of Watson W. and Melinda Wharton of Greens- boro, N.C. In 1861 he was called to Salisbury, N.C, where he was still pastor of the First Pres- byterian church in 1903. He became trustee of Davidson college in 1858, and director and trustee of Union Theological seminary in Virginia, 1863; was elected a commissioner to several general assemblies, and to many important positions in the Synod and Presbytery. In 1882 he received the degree D.D. from the University of North Carolina. He is the author of: History of Rowan County, N.C. (1881), and History of First Fifty Years of Davidson College (1888).

RUMSEY, Benjamin, delegate, was born at Bohemia Manor. Cecil county, Md., 1730; son of William, and grandson of Charles Rumsey of Wales, who came to Charleston, S.C, in 1665; removed to New York and thence to Philadel- l^hia, eventually locating, prior to 1678, at the liead of Bohemia river, Cecil county, Md. Wil- liam Rumsey was a surveyor, collector of cus- toms, and a large landholder. He laid out Fredericktown, Md. Benjamin Rumsey was a member of the Maryland convention. Dec. 29, 1775, serving on the committee tiiat drafted in- structions for the deputies of the province in congress, and in the following January on the committee appointed to draw up resolutions for " raising, clotliing, and victualing the provincial forces." He was also a member of the council of safety, 1776, and a delegate to the Continental congress, 1776-78. The date of Iiis death could not be ascertained.

RUMSEY, James, inventor, was born in Bo- hemia Manor, Cecil county, Md., in 1743; son of William, grandson of Charles, and brother of Benjamin Rumsey (q.v.). He was a civil and mechanical engineer, and became superintendent of a mill owned by the Potomac company at Shepherdstown, Va., where he suggested many novel views in mechanics. Watts's new steam engine was especiallj' interesting to Rumsey, and he conceived the idea of having a boat propelled by an engine. He made his own patterns, moulds and castings, and in 1784 exhibited a boat intended for navigating rivers, which was seen by Washing- ton, Sept. 7, 1784. He received an exclusive right to navigate the waters of Maryland and Virginia for ten years from the legislatures of each state, 1784 and 1785. He built a boat propelled by a steam pump, taking in water at the bow and

forcing it out at the stern. This boat he experi- mented with on the Potomac in March, 1786. The Rumsey society was formed in Philadelphia in 1788 to aid him in his work, and later he went to England, expecting to build a boat that would cross the Atlantic in fifteen days. A society similar to the Rumsey society was formed there, and in 1792 he navigated a steam-boat on the Thames, and was intending to experiment with more models when he died. The legislature of Kentucky, in acknowledgment of his contribu- tions to the science of steam navigation, pre- sented his son, Edward Rumsey, in 1839, with a gold medal. He is the author of: A Short Trea- tise oil the Application of Steam (1788). He died in London, England. Dec. 23. 1792.

RUNKLE, Benjamin Piatt, soldier and clergy- man, was born in West Libert}-, Ohio, Sept. 3. 1837; son of Ralph E. and Hannah Isabella (Piatt) Runkle; grandson of Jacob and Euphemia Run- kle and of Benjamin Marshall and Elizabeth (Barnett) Piatt, and a descendant of Adam Run- kle, who was descended from the Lords of Run- kel of Hesse Nassau, Germany, and of Col. Jacob Piatt of the Continental army, who was a de- scendant of John Piatt, a Huguenot emigrant. He was graduated at Miami university, Oxford, Ohio, A.B., 1857; was admitted to the bar in 1859, and practised law in Cincinnati, 1859-61. He was commissioned captain, 13th Oliio volun- teers, April 19, 1861; was promoted major, Nov. 8, 1861; honorably mustered out, Aug. 18, 1862; commissioned colonel, 45th Ohio volunteers, Aug. 19, 1863, and again honorably mustered out, July 21, 1864. He served in the West Virginia cam- paign, 1861, under Rosecrans; in the Shiloh cam- paign under Buell (in which he was severely wounded and left for dead on the field), in the campaigns in Kentucky and Tennessee under Gilmore and Burnside, and in the Atlanta cam- paign under Schofield and Slierman. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the veteran reserve corps, Aug. 22, 1864; was commissioned major 45th infantry, U.S.A., July 28, 1866; was. honorably mustered out of the volunteer service, Oct. 5, 1866, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, U.S.A., for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Shiloh. March 2, 1867, and on the same day was brevetted colonel for gallant and meritorious services during the war. He was brevetted colonel, brigadier-general and major- general for meritorious services, Nov. 8, 1868, and was retired, Dec. 15, 1870, because of wounds received in duty. He was editor of the Urbana, Ohio, Union, 1873-75; attended Bexley Hall, the theological seminary of Kenyon college at Gam- bier, Ohio. 1879-80; was professor of military science and tactics in Milner Hall, Kenyon col- lege, 1879-80, and was admitted to the diaconate