While a resident of Rawlins, J. M. Rumsey in his activities has been by no means limited to the confines of the city. His interests have covered in large measure the chief industries and business enterprises of the state and have been important features in the progress and prosperity of Wyoming. He is now the president of the Stock Growers National Bank, of Rawlins, but is identified as well, in large measure, with various other corporate interests which have to do with the progress of the state and its substantial advancement.
    He was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, March 4, 1862, a son of J. M. and Harriet A. (Gafrey) Rumsey. His father was a well known tutor, preparing pupils for Princeton University. In his later years he became a prominent wholesale drygoods merchant of Portsmouth, Ohio.
    J. M. Rumsey pursued his education in public and private schools of his native state and entered upon his business career as a bill clerk, and advanced to assistant credit man with the Reid-Murdoch Company of Chicago, where he remained from 1875 to 1883. The lure of the west, however, caught him, and in 1884 he became a resident of Rawlins, where he accepted the position of cashier and confidential man with the J. W. Hugus Company, which was engaged in the banking business that eventually developed into the First National Bank in 1909. From the period of his arrival here, Mr. Rumsey has been closely, prominently, and helpfully associated with the banking interests of his city. In 1907 he organized and became president of the Stock Growers National Bank of Rawlins, and since 1910 he has been president of the First State Bank of Baggs, Wyoming. He is also identified prominently with the sheep and cattle industry of the state, and since 1910 has operated extensively under the name of the Carbon County Sheep & Cattle Company.
    He is also president of the Knox-Tanner Saddlery Company, a director of the Baggs (Wyoming) Investment Company, a director of the American Bankers Insurance Company of Chicago, president of the Saratoga Hot Springs Company, president and a director of the Carbon County Wool Growers Association, a director of the Mid-West Real Estate & Mortgage Bond Company of Chicago, Illinois, a director of the American Petroleum Company of Wyoming, and a factor in the successful development and conduct of other interests which have had much to do with promoting the prosperity of the state. He is a forceful and resourceful business man, possessing sound judgment and keen discrimination, and readily discriminates between the essential and nonessential factors in every business situation. His high standing in business circles is indicated by the fact that he was president of the Wyoming Bankers Association in 1914-15 and at the same time was president of the Wool Growers Association of Wyoming.
    On the 16^th of April, 1890, in Springfield, Ohio, Mr. Rumsey was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. C. Ramsey, a daughter of Dr. Josiah Ramsey and Emma (Gower) Ramsey of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Rumsey have become the parents of two children: Jean Harriet, born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1892; and Elizabeth M. born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1896. The elder daughter is a graduate of Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, and on the 9th of June, 1917, she became the wife of Claude M. Thompson, a graduate of Purdue University of Indiana, the wedding being celebrated in St. Mark's church in Denver, Colorado. Mr. Thompson is also a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University of the class of 1910, having completed the civil engineering course, and is now superintendent of construction with the Union Pacific Railway Company, his efforts in that direction covering the territory from Cheyenne to Kansas City, Missouri. He is recognized as one of the most efficient engineers in the Union Pacific service, as stated in a letter written by the president of that road.
    The younger daughter, Elizabeth M., is a graduate of Miss Emma Willard's School for Girls, at Troy, New York, a school that was endowed by Mrs. Russell Sage. She completed the course at the head of her class and was recognized as one of the brightest students that had ever attended that school. She was also graduated with high honors from the William Currier School of Expression in Boston, Massachusetts. She possesses natural talent as an actress and has been offered many remunerative positions to appear before the footlights, but has always declined, preferring to remain in the attractive home of her parents in Rawlins. She is now pursuing a course in bookkeeping and shorthand at Denver, so as to be of assistance to her father in the conduct of his business affairs.
    Mr. Rumsey is a prominent Mason, having attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite, and he was grand master in 1903. He was also grand commander of the Knights Templar Commandery of Wyoming in 1890 and is past eminent commander of Ivanhoe Commandery, K. T., and served as the chief officer in 1896. He is likewise a past high priest of Wyoming Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M., of Rawlins, and is a life member of Rawlins Lodge, No. 609, of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
    Mr. Rumsey is today one of the wealthy men of Wyoming, occupying a most prominent position in business and banking circles. His start in life was a modest one, although he had as a basis a broad college training. Readily recognizing the opportunities which have come to him and utilizing them with discrimination, he has gained a place among the strongest factors in the management of interests which have not only had to do with the development of his private fortune but with the progress of the state.