There are in
every community men of great force of character and exceptional ability,
who, by reason of their capacity for leadership, become recognized as
foremost citizens, and bear a most important part in the development and
progress of the locality with which they are connected. Such a man is
Mr. Mumford, who has for several years been prominently identified with
the business and political interests of Starrucca, Wayne county.
Mr. Mumford was born December 3, 1840, at the old Judge Mumford
homestead in Starrucca, and is representative of one of the oldest and
most prominent families of the northern part of Wayne county. The
Mumford family is said to be of Welsh origin, and the first of its
members to cross the Atlantic to the New World located in Rhode Island
about 1700. One branch came to Wayne county, Penn., in 1793, and made a
settlement in Mt. Pleasant township. Jirah Mumford (the grandfather of
our subject) located permanently at Starrucca, and in that vicinity
purchased several thousand acres of land, on which he engaged in
lumbering. He married Polly Baker, of Orange county, New York.
James Mumford (our subject's father) was born in Wayne county, and
on reaching manhood married a relative, Miss Mary A. Mumford, by whom he
had the following children: Oliver, who was killed in the war of the
Rebellion; Olive, wife of V. M. Keen; Mary Adelaide; Matilda, wife of
Col. George B. Osborn, now a resident of Honesdale, Wayne county; Warren
W.; Hattie, wife of Daniel Cargill; Clarence G., who married Miss Susie
Avery, and now lives in Albany, N. Y.; Clinton D.; and Thomas J..
In the public schools near his childhood home Warren W. Mumford
began his education, and later he attended the school at Prompton, Wayne
county, then conducted by County Superintendent Terrell and Prof.
Briggs. After teaching for a time he entered Montrose Academy, and in
1862 attended the Normal School at Millersville, Penn., completing his
training with a course in the business college at Binghamton, N. Y.. In
1863 he joined a company raised to aid in the defense of the State
against invasion from the South, remaining a member of the same until it
was disbanded, after the threatened danger was passed.
In 1865 Mr. Mumford became a partner of Major E. P. Strong, in a
mercantile establishment at Starrucca, and for many years they carried
on business under the firm name of Mumford & Co.. Major Strong then
sold his interest to Col. George B. Osborn, and the name was changed to
Mumford & Osborn. After the death of his father Mr. Mumford withdrew
from the firm in 1873 in order to take charge of the estate. The
following year he was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate
for the State Legislature, and, notwithstanding the county was then
Democratic, he was triumphantly elected, receiving all but three of the
votes cast in the borough of Starrucca. At the close of his term in the
Legislature he resumed merchandising, having erected a new business
block for that purpose. In 1876 he also became interested in the
manufacture of wood alcohol, or naptha, and other chemicals, with his
brother C. D. Mumford, and constructed the first works of the kind in
Wayne county, doing business under the firm name of Starrucca Chemical
Co.. He is still interested in that industry and also conducts his
store in Starrucca.
In 1868 Mr. Mumford was united in marriage with Miss Laura A.,
daughter of Theodore Swift, of Ulster county, N. Y., who was a
representative of a well-known and prominent family founded in
Connecticut at an early day. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Mumford
are Lorena, now the wife of Reuben Taylor, who is engaged in teaching at
Niagara Falls, N. Y.; Hattie E.; Jennie E., wife of A. C. Crosby, of
Starrucca; Minnie, a successful teacher of Sayre, Penn.; Henry W., who
is now attending college in Rhode Island, preparatory to enter the legal
profession; and Iva Louise.
Mr. and Mrs. Mumford are leading members of the Baptist Church, and
socially he is one of the charter members of Starrucca Lodge, K. of H.,
also belonging to Susquehanna Lodge, F. & A. M., and to Great Bend
Commandery, K. T.. Being one of the most popular and influential
citizens of his community, he has been called upon to serve in a number
of official positions. Since 1874 he has continuously and most capably
filled the office of school director, and was instrumental in securing
the adoption of the grade-school system now in vogue, which has resulted
so beneficially to the borough. He also secured the erection of the
excellent school building now in use. Mr. Mumford is emphatically a man
of enterprise, positive character, indomitable energy, strict integrity
and liberal views, and is thoroughly identified in feeling with the
growth and prosperity of his native county.
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