Lumpkin, James W.


HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS DESCRIPTIVE OF ITS SCENERY,
AND
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SOME OF ITS PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS.

Published by Brink, McDonough & Co., Philadelphia 1879

Transcribed by: Mary Ann Kaylor

Page 141

JAMES W. LUMPKIN

Was born in Bird township, Macoupin county, November 15th, 1836. John Lumpkin, his father, was a native of Kings and Queens county, Virginia and was born in 1808. The Lumpkins are of English descent on the paternal side, and on the maternal Scotch. John Lumpkin married Emily A. Raffurty, a native of Kentucky. He moved with his brother William to Jefferson county, Kentucky. He afterwards moved to David county. In 1835 he came to Illinois, and settled in section thirty-one, town ten, range eight, Macoupin county, where he remained until his death, which occurred on the 15th of February, 1879. He was a brick mason by trade, and followed it at such times of the years as he could spare from labor on his farm. He laid the foundations of the old courthouse that stood in the public square in Carlinville. His wife died June 1st, 1876. There were but two children born to John and Emily A. Lumpkin, one boy and a girl. The girl died in infancy. The subject of our sketch is the sole survivor of the family. Both the father and mother were members of the Baptist church, the father being a deacon for many years. James W., spent his boyhood days in the schools of his native township, and attended the select schools in Chesterfield. When at the age of nineteen years he entered Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton, where he remained one year, then returned home and went to work upon the farm. On the 22d of December, 1857, he was married to Miss Elzina Bates, daughter of James and Martha Bates. Mrs. Lumpkin was born in Macoupin county. Her parents were natives of Jefferson county, Tennessee, and came to Illinois in 1833. Two children, a boy and a girl, have been the fruits of this union. Their names are Clement J. and Mattie E. Lumpkin. Both Mr. Lumpkin and his wife are members of the Baptist Church. In politics he is a democrat, and cast his first vote for Stephen A. Douglas for president in 1860. In his township he has held various offices.

He was elected justice of the peace; in which office he remained for twelve years. He has also been collector of this town since the county has been under township organization. He is also a member of the Masonic order, and has been the presiding officer of the Chesterfield Lodge, No. 445, for the past five years. His name has been used before the county democratic conventions for county offices. In 1868 his friends present him for sheriff, and in 1876 for circuit clerk, and in 1877 for county clerk, but they failed to secure for him the nomination. In any of these he would bring intelligence, honesty, and reflect credit upon his constituency. The greater portion, in fact all of is life has been passed down upon the farm or in stock-raising and dealing, in all of which he has been successful.

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