Ripley: The Tale of Amelie Welles Pumpelly, Part 2

The Pumpelly family 1914 Left to right  Nursemaid, little Amelie, Mrs Pumpelly,
Raphael Pumpelly II; Ralph Pumpelly III  nursemaid and Ripley.

To read Part 1, go here. Amelie Welles Pumpelly was born on May 10, 1910 in New York City. The
oldest child of Raphael Welles Pumpelly and Amelie Sybil Huntington Ripley, she led a charmed young life until the separation and divorce trial of her parents in 1925.

UPDATE: My thanks to Amelie and John Henry Bates' daughter, Grace Ann, for clarifications to this article.

Raphael and his wife were incredible extravagant and they managed to get themselves into a lot of

John's brother Ad's Worker's Theatre
Publicity, 1933

hot water financially beginning in 1918. Amelie's mother reportedly gave a lot of money to what was termed a
"sect" out of her personal money, helping lead to their financial straights (she was Christian Scientist). Raphael and his sister Margaret were members of the Baha'i faith.

Raphael ended up with custody of his three children after a strong case was made that Mrs. Pumpelly had neither the knowledge or wherewithal to manage them. Raphael had been struck penniless after the divorce trial and led the children to their next stop. In 1925, he moved "into a cave he and Page (his former business partner) constructed 20 years earlier on Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire. They survived by gathering fruits and nuts and trapping small game." Raphael went in got a job within a year and rebuilt his family's fortunes as a stockbroker.

Amelie Pumpelly's involvement in the Baha'i faith led to her meeting of John Henry Bates. Bates, an African-American, was the son of  Addison Bates, a porter, and Grace Brown. John's father died when the seven children were still young, sometime after 1910.  His father's people had been slaves in Dinwiddie, Virginia. John's brother, Addison, Jr. "Ad" was a noted carpenter of beautiful furniture, dancer, choreographer, artist, CPUSA-led union activist, and key player in the Harlem Renaissance. He also owned his own gallery in Harlem.

John Bates photo by Gordon Parks, Life Magazine, Aug 25, 1952

John boxed in the late 1920s and early 1930s under the name "Brooklyn Johnny Bates." According to Grace Ann Bates, "My father became a carpenter because his boxing career ended after he was in a car accident and had to have his jaw wired. He with his brothers Ad and Lenard had a very successful business in furniture and cabinet design using fine woods."

I would guess when the two married, it shocked society, but not those who followed the Baha'i faith's belief in the "oneness of the human race." They were married in Manhattan on August 1, 1935.

Grace Ann Bates said, "...mother did graphic designs for posters for the labor union. She was an artist-painter. It was at the end of the Harlem Renaissance that they met so many African American artist and writers were their friends."

They counted among their friends the likes of author Ralph Ellison. On one of the early visits of many to the family farm in Waitsville, Vermont, Ellison was inspired for the first time with the thought, "I am an invisible man." He began writing the first draft of his book during that visit. Regardless of their political affiliation, they continued practicing their faith, first in Haiti, where they attempted to build fellowship and then, in the late 1940s, to Mexico City, Mexico. According to the Baha'i newsletters I went through, it seems the pair worked well together on their mission and in life.  And such a different existence from family empire-building great grandfather WY Ripley's life. I wonder what he would have thought of it all.

In 1951, while living in Mexico City, Amelie died of a coronary thrombosis at the age of  41. She was buried in Panteon Jardin de Mexico Cemetery. Along with John, four daughters survived her.

John returned to Harlem after Amelie's death. He continued his friendship with Ralph Ellison, who at last had published his classic piece of literature, Invisible Man, and won a US National Book Award for Fiction. In the August 25, 1952 issue of  Life Magazine, John Bates was the model for the Gordon Parks photo essay on the Invisible Man (pp 9-11). I believe John died in 1975 in New York.

Death of American Abroad
Amelie Welles Pumpelly Bates
03 Nov 1951
Mexico City, Mexico

Ripley: The Tale of Amelie Welles Pumpelly, Part 1

Raphael, Amelie, and Ripley Pumpelly

This is not a complete story - nor does it even begin to touch on what I suspect was a fascinating and non-conforming life, but I wanted to get it started before I forget many of the details. I would love to hear from one of her surviving children - I understand there is at least one daughter still around.

UPDATE: Thanks to the kindness of Amelie and John Henry Bates' daughter, Grace Ann, for clarifications to this piece.

RIPLEY > William > RIPLEY, John > RIPLEY, Joshua > RIPLEY, Joshua II > RIPLEY, Joshua > RIPLEY, Nathaniel > RIPLEY, William Young > RIPLEY, Edward "Ned" Hastings, BG > RIPLEY, Amelie "Sybil" Huntington m. PUMPELLY, Raphael Welles >  PUMPELLY, Amelie Welles

William Young Ripley, of Rutland, Vermont, was a major player. He owned a huge marble business and had interests in numerous business ventures including banking. He had a slew of highly successful children, who in addition to having their own skills and talents, also had the money behind the Ripley name to clear their path in life. WY Ripley's youngest son, Ned, was described by one source as far more whimsical than his serious brother William, but he too was successful. During the Civil War, he quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a Brigadier General and making a mark quite impressive.

After the war, he returned to Rutland to assist in the operation of the marble quarry business, but his father died and it was eventually sold. Ned moved to NYC, still unmarried, though quite eligible and handsome. He moved among the highest echelons of New York society and finally married Amelie Dyckman Van Doren, a member of an old and wealthy Dutch-American family at the ripe old age of 39.

Raphael II & father Raphael Pumpelly

Ned spent the next decades in major building and construction projects and founded a US-Brazil steamship line and traveled frequently to South America. Some of these projects flopped and some were successful, but it helped his wife's family was able to back some of his ventures. In some quarters, it was suspected that he did not always act in good faith.

His family - his wife "Minnie" (they did like their nicknames), and daughters, Alice "Ahlo" and Amelie "Sibyl" lived the good life in Manhattan all through Ned's financial ups and downs. One of the things he inherited from his father, was the family farm in Mendon, a bit east of Rutland along the Woodstock highway. It was there he also built cottages for his daughters to entertain and practice keeping house. They would use this farm as a getaway spot during their lives and it would play a role in his granddaughter Amelie's life as well.

His daughters, Ahlo and Sibyl, managed to get engaged about the same time and had a grand, Manhattan double wedding. Ahlo's groom was Alexander Ogden Jones, son of Mahlon Ogden Jones and Vera de Trofimoff, the Princess de Trofimoff of Russia. Alexander was an artist, farmer, and held a Ph. B from Yale and resided at 74 Park Ave. After their marriage, in 1920, he purchased the orchard and vineyard and pecan groves at Niagara, in Pinehurst, North Carolina, in the Sandhills, where they spent part of their time each year.

Sibyl's choice in spouse also had a lot of cachet. Raphael Pumpelly II was the son of Professor Raphael Pumpelly and Eliza Frances Shepard. Professor Pumpelly was a noted geologist who graduated in 1859 from the Royal School of Mines in Freiburg, Germany. He began his career in directing Arizona silver mine operations and worked as a consultant for the government of Japan. He spent much of his life traveling the world, working for various governments and business entities on various mining issues. He became the first Professor of Mining at Harvard. They resided in Newport when in country.

Samarkand farm

Raphael Wells Pumpelly finished three years at Harvard prior to traveling with his father on an archaeological expedition to Central Asia in Samarcand.  He was of a quite handsome and striking stature. As a child, he had traveled extensively in Europe and Asia with his father.  After his marriage, they also purchased land in the Sandhills, like brother-in-law Ogden Jones, and he hoped to settle down to life as a gentleman farmer after his marriage. He partnered with an old Harvard chum to buy 500 acres near Eagle Springs in 1910 and he later bought his chum out of his share. By 1913, the couple had three children, Amelie, the purpose of this story, born in 1910, Raphael Ripley Pumpelly (1911-2006), and Ripley Huntington Pumpelly (1913-1967). Raphael lived it up big, even in the Sandhills of Eagle Spring, North Carolina, building a beautiful mansion he named Samarkand manor (named for the country he visited as a boy which so intrigued him).  This account of the divorce proceedings stated:

"However, years of lavishness sapped the farm’s entire earnings. By 1918, two years of failed peach crops, coupled with the collapse of both the peach and real estate markets crippled the Pumpellys financially, driving them deeper into debt. Samarkand Manor, a correctional facility for troubled women, was erected on 300 acres of land sold by Pumpelly to the state that year.

Life at home proved not so peachy. The Pumpelly divorce, described as a “carnival of sensationalism,” provided nearly as much entertainment as the parties. Curious neighbors heard Amelie’s sworn accounts of the “torrid affair” with his children's tutor. Pumpelly submitted this sad account to a Harvard alumni publication 25 years after graduating: “My wife is gone, my house is empty, my property ransacked, and I have endured two years’ war with my most intimate friend and former partner.” Pumpelly, accompanied by his three children, moved in 1925 into a cave he and Page constructed 20 years earlier on Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire. They survived by gathering fruits and nuts and trapping small game.

Pumpelly, after bathing in the stream and donning his suit, caught the train to New York City where he applied for work. After a year in the cave, he found employment as a stockbroker, soon became the third highest producer in the nation and made a second fortune. Years later, his children remembered that wild year as the best of their young lives. The Samarcand property eventually passed to J.D. Parker, a wine maker and dairy farmer. He and his family occupied the space until his incarceration for tax evasion in 1955."

The Pilot, LLC, 2013  

The divorce itself was not actually finalized until 1942 in Dade County, Florida - how that happened, I will probably never figure out.

Name: Amelia R Pumpelly

Gender: Female

Spouse's Name: Raphael W Pumpelly

Divorce Date: 1942

Divorce Place: Dade, Florida, USA

Certificate Number: 9803

Perhaps it was her time living in the cave that gave young Amelie a different perspective on life that would guide her through the rest of her life. For whatever reason, she took a vastly different path, which I'll cover next in Ripley: The Tale of Amelie Ripley, Part 2.

A Little More on David Owens

I had a lot of fun working on the family of David Owens - check the tag list on the sidebar to see all
the posts related to him which cover his arrival in Iowa, move to Davison, South Dakota, and the lives of his children.

I also love that they keep adding newspapers over at NewspaperArchives.com, my favorite source of news articles. Recently, they added Iowa State Reporter, a small press that published from Waterloo.

Here are a few tidbits that look into the life of David Owens' life in Iowa. What I see is a good farmer, a wise man, a sometimes frustrated father, and a responsible, participating member of his community. It also nailed down the time of the arrival of the Owens' party in Poyner Township. And I had no idea he was a fruit grower primarily. He had some rough weather years here in Iowa. These take him all the way to just after his move to South Dakota:

PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that I have, this day, given my son, James D Owens, his time and that hereafter I will not be responsible for any debts or business engagements he may make. David Owens, Poyner Township, May 27, 1874
Iowa State Reporter May 27, 1874
===
Sheriff's Sale
State of Iowa, Black Hawk County > xx
Notice is hereby given, that on the 30th day of May AD 1874, at 10 o'clock am at the Court House, in the city of Waterloo, and county aforesaid will be sold at public auction to the highest bidder, for cash, the following described real estate, levied upon and taken by virtue of a general execution issued from the office of the clerk of the circuit court within and for the county of Black Hawk, State of Iowa, in favor of Rena Chapman and against the property of EE McStay, Charles B Case, and David Owens, to-wit:
Lot No four (4) in block No nine (9) in village of Raymond, Black Hawk County, State of Iowa, excepting the north forty-two feet (42) of said lot or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy said writ of execution and all accruing costs. GW HAYZLETT, Sheriff of Black Hawk County, Dated at the Sheriff's office, Waterloo, April 30, 1874.
Iowa State Reporter May 27, 1874
===
David Owens, of Poyner township, tells us that his section the storm destroyed the fences and quite a few and quite a number of trees. Fifteen of his large fruit trees were either entirely destroyed or badly injured.
Iowa State Reporter June 10, 1874
===
David Owens, of  Poyner township, has sold to Thompson Bros., forty barrels of apples this year. They were mostly of the gros pommier variety and as handsome as any apples ever seen in this market. Mr Owens has been one of the most successful fruit growers in the county.
Iowa State Reporter October 21, 1874
===
...In 1855, L Doud, C Chamberlin, David Owens, William Wheeler, Albert Taylor, John Helton, John Hollar, Henry Kimble, John Linderman, IT Corwin, Martin Zimmerman and James Poyner settled in the southern part of the township.
Iowa State Reporter May 26, 1875
===
David Owens of Poyner Township came in on Monday with a big egg, expecting to beat the Lester township production furnished by Enos Wood. It was not quite large enough to do that, and Mr Owens has gone back to induce his hen to make another effort.
Iowa State Reporter August 18, 1875
===
...The reports in regard to corn are just as varied. David Owens, of Poyner Township, tells us his opinion, made up from actual observation, is that the crop will not be more than half the usual yield, taking the average into consideration. The weather recently has been too cool to make a crop, for the late planted. Oats are potatoes are generally good.
Iowa State Reporter August 18, 1875
===
David Owens of Poyner, exhibited twenty varieties of apples, making a very fine show.
Iowa State Reporter October 3, 1877
===
POYNER.
Justices - J. N. Marble, J. P. Keiffer.
Assessor - James K. Winsett.
Clerk- J. J. Hoxie.
Trustees- Ed. Marble, W. S. Deitrich, David Owens.
Constables- Joseph Barker, C. Miller
Iowa State Reporter October 16, 1878
===
David Owens of Poyner township says his apple crop will be about six hundred bushels of excellent fruit. He also tells us that for the last two years he has been getting all his fuel from groves of his own raising.
Iowa State Reporter September 24, 1879
===
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MEETING, 17 Oct 1881
...The following bills were audited as follows viz:
ON THE POOR FUND
David Owens, vinegar and apples for poor house $2.37
Waterloo Courier October 26, 1881
===
David Owens, of Poyner, who has one of the large orchards of the county, informs us that the prospects now are that he will not have more than a quarter or a third of a crop. At first he expected an immense yield, but the last frost injured the fruit so that it has been dropping from the trees ever since. He also says his cherry crop will be light.
Iowa State Reporter June 28, 1882
===
The Mount Vernon, Dakota Gazette says that David Owens of this county has purchased a timber claim four miles southeast of that town.
Iowa State Reporter March 8, 1882
===
WG met David Owens of Poyner township the other day. He has for a good many years given much attention to fruit raising. he thinks the past winter killed about 70 per cent of his trees, notwithstanding a good many have budded and blossomed this spring. He says the wood is already turning black under the bark and by August will be dead. The trees that stood the winter best with him are the Haas, Duchess, Walbridge and the Perry Russett. The last he pronounces a poor thing in the way of fruit, but he has a good opinion of Walbridge, both as to fruit and tree.
Iowa State Reporter May 23, 1883
===
David Owens, formerly an old resident of Poyner township, came in Tuesday night from Dakota, where he is now living, near Mt Vernon. He has left at this office specimens of sod corn, wheat and American and Russian flax. He is loud in praise of the productiveness of the soil, and in his general surroundings, and the specimens we have from him certainly corroborates his enthusiasm. He will spend a couple of weeks among his old neighbors.
Iowa State Reporter October 16, 1884
===

The Prolific David Owens: Where They All Ended Up

Click the name to go to their story
DAVID OWENS & SARAH HOLLAR 
Founding Families of Poyner Township
A Little More on David Owens
Mapping it Out

The Prolific David Owens: His children:

Mother: Sarah Holler
Enoch Nicholas "Nick" Owens
Martha E Owens
Emily C Owens
Lucy Jane "Lizzie" Owens
    Josie Miller Must Have Liked Quirky  
    Remembering Florence Miller  
    Cappoens/LeRoy Line - Leo Linsey
    He Looked Down Upon Me And Laughed 
    Lucy Linsey and the Bridge Family
George Franklin Owens
James Dennis Owens
Sarah Edna Owens
    Back in the Bad Old Days: Bradford J St Charles
David C Owens
Harriet "Hattie" Estella Owens

Mother: Anna Eliza "Eliza" Barker*
William Lincoln Owens
Emery Ellsworth Owens
Carrie Elnora Owens
Mary Owens (died at age 3)
Infant Owens

*Information has recently come to light that Eliza may have been previously married to George W. Barker. Barker is most likely not her maiden name. George may have died or they may have divorced, but no confirmation is yet made. The timing and other biographical facts fit. For the time being, I'll let the name Barker, now associated with her, stand.

HOLLAR FAMILY STORIES 
David Owens married Sarah Hollar. The majority of the Holler/Hollar clan lived for generations in southern Indiana, while the children of Johannes' first wife remained in North Carolina. Sarah descendants are listed above. Other Holler stories below

Where There's a Will
Israel Holler
Hollar Out: The Tragic Tale of Grant Hollar
Isaac Walter Hollar
William Holler's Not So Fortunate Kids
The Confederate Hollers: Sidney & Franklin Cicero Sipe
Yin/Yang: The Bandy's in a Minute

The Prolific David Owens: Daughter Lucy Jane "Lizzie" Owens

Polk Township, Benton County, 1875

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER  > LUCY JANE "LIZZIE" OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. This is my 2nd great grandmother and a product of David Owens' first marriage to Sarah Holler. It is also the last in the series on the David Owens children.

She was born 22 Jun 1850, in Bono, Lawrence County, Indiana, where the Owens' resided prior to their trek to Illinois and then Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa.

At age 19, on 04 Nov 1869, she married Ira Smith Miller, son of George Miller and Mary Ann Leroy.

Mary Ann provides our direct link to one of the wealthiest and one of the most prominent people of the New World, Christina Cappoens, who was a wealthy, wise, and wily matriarch in New Amsterdam in the 1600s. I hope to publish more about this family as I have time, but you can get a taste here.

Ira's family came to Iowa from Indiana prior to 1860. They settled in Benton County, a county over from Black Hawk. The young Miller's farmed in Polk Township in Benton County in the Center Point/Urbana area through the 1900 Census. Before 1910, they had picked up and moved to Jefferson Township in Butler County. This was moving from southeast of Cedar Falls over an hour to north of Cedar Falls, close to Oelwein. A pretty big move, and I haven't discovered the reason for the move.

Miller daughter Florence, her son Leo Linsey,
his son Larry Linsey and his daughter

The Millers had nine surviving children:

Emma, 1870-1954; married George Simpson
Charles, 1874-1925; never married; died of uremic poisoning
Fred H, 1877-1941; married Glennie Lott
Edith Elnora, 1879-1963; married Frank Hudson
Josephine "Josie", 1882-1954; married Charles Swanger (who married 3 times)
Florence S, 1884-1983; married Charles Linsey (my great grandmother). Read about her here.
George David, 1889-1923; married Luella May "Ella" Decker. Ella died in childbirth with their third child in 1914. Their two children's upbringing is another mystery since George died before they reached their majority.
Harriet "Hattie" Stella, 1892-1963; married (1) Charles Babcock, (2) Leroy "Roy" William Bushnell. You can read about her here
Jessie E, 1895-1975; never married.

But, by 1920, back in Benton County they were, only this time in Harrison Township. The Miller's were getting old and son Jessie lived there also working on the farm.

Quite elderly, 1930 found them moved "into town." They lived at 714 E 2nd St in Vinton, which even today is somewhat semi-rural yet still in town. Ira died in May of that year and Lucy joined him on 17 August of 1931. Lucy died in the home of her daughter, Mrs Josie Swanger in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa five weeks after she moved from her Vinton home to her daughter's care.

Like most people in the day, they lived, they farmed, they died. A story lost to time for nothing remains to tell their story but a few dry facts.

The Prolific David Owens: Son Enoch "Nick" Owens

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER  > ENOCH N. "NICK" OWENS

Siege of Vicksburg, MS 1863

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. Enoch was the eldest of the David Owens/Sarah Holler union. He was born June 22, 1844 in Indiana. The 1850 Census has the family in Lawrence County. Sarah's widowed mother, sister and husband Edna and William Wheeler, and brother John B. Holler trekked with the Owens family to Illinois and then to Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa over the course of 1854-55.

Enoch, or Nick as he was called, enlisted at age 18 on 24 Sep 1862 serving with Company C, Iowa 31st Infantry Regiment. He served with his unit until 27 Jun 1865 when he was discharged at Louisville, Kentucky. That unit engaged in the following battles. Not many of this group died in battle, but over 20% died of disease during their service:

Siege of Vicksburg
Battle of Lookout Mountain
Battle of Missionary Ridge
Battle of Resaca
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
Battle of Atlanta
Battle of Jonesboro
March to the Sea
Battle of Bentonville

Enoch in 1870 was living in the home of his grandmother Lucy and her second husband Rev Nathan Poyner, founding member of the community. For a time he was a railway engineer, but he had purchased some of his own land to farm. He would not stay in these parts, as was the case with the children of  many of the original group, and moved on back to Brown in Washington County, Indiana.

On 03 Nov 1874 he had married Eliza Ella Russell, daughter of George and Bethire (Barnard)

Enochs stone at Maple Hill Cemetery
He died at the end of 1916; stone error of 1917

Russell. In about 1884, they moved on from Indiana, to Wayne County, Illinois. During the rest of his life, he primarily farmed. They had two children:

Pearl was born in about 1875 and who would later marry Andrew David Weller and move to Rose, in Carroll County, Ohio. After Andrew's death in 1841, would move to Stark County in 1844.They had no children.

Son Sebert, who we can presume was born between 1877 and 1894, and for whom I've located no information, was living in Brazil in South America at the time of his father's death, according to Nick's obituary.

Ella died 29 Nov 1893. Nick remarried on 17 Sep 1896 to Mrs. Para Lee (Shaw) Brown. Nick died 27 Dec 1916 in Fairfield. Mrs Owens died 28 Mar 1926 in Big Mound, Wayne County.

The Prolific David Owens: Daughter Harriet "Hattie" Estella Owens

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER  > HARRIET ESTELLA OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. Hattie was the last girl born to David Owens and Sarah Holler. She was born in 1861 in Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa. The month following her father and his third wife's departure for Mt Vernon, South Dakota, she married James Fleming Reynolds, originally from Michigan and son of Anthony J. and Frances Reynolds on 01 May 1884 in Woodbury County, Iowa. In the 1885 Iowa Census they resided in Rutland Township in Woodbury County.

According to his obituary, they spent some time in Davison County, South Dakota and James was both a bank president and an operator of a hardware store, and quite prominent in the development of Davison County, though I cannot confirm this independently.  I can confirm the birth places and dates of the four sons which helps with the timeline:

Claude Anthony Reynolds born 12 May 1885, Woodbury County, Iowa
James Leonard Reynolds born 21 Nov 1886 in Kingsley, Plymouth, Iowa
Dr. Earl Owen Reynolds born 10 Apr 1890 in Mt Vernon, Davison, South Dakota
Romaine Russell Reynolds, born 16 Jul 1899 in Davison County, South Dakota

So, for the sake of this piece of research, they lived in Davison County from at least April 1890 to July 1899. Because by 1900, they were living in Dodge, Union County, Iowa farming and in 1910 they had moved on. living on Crouter St in Scott, Montgomery County, Iowa living with son Claude and his wife Minnie, and two of Claude's brothers, James and Romaine.

Between 1910 and 1920, they arrived in Greenfield, Adair County, Iowa.  And, in the 1925 Iowa Census, they lived in Buchanan, Page County, Iowa. FindaGrave 67585755 indicates he died in Braddyville, Page County, but again, I can't find the supporting documentation to confirm that. The obituary says they lived in Braddyville 26 years, but that's just not right.

James died 21 Jul 1928, probably in Braddyville. Harriet began traveling between Greenfield and Braddyville and later Creston visiting her sons. She died 03 May 1950.  Again, there is no confirmation she actually died in Braddyville. They were, however, both buried there.

If you have supporting data to prove anything listed in the obituary, I'd love to know more!