Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Rumsey, Julian Sidney

RUMSEY, Julian Sidney, merchant, b. in Batavia, N. Y., 3 April, 1823; d. in Chicago, Ill., 20 April, 1886. He removed to Chicago in 1837, and entered the service of a firm in which he and his brother subsequently became partners. This firm, then known as Newberry and Dole, sent out in September, 1839, the first shipment of grain from Chicago. In 1852 Mr. Dole retired and the firm, which was for a time known as Rumsey Brothers, devoted itself exclusively to the grain commission business. Mr. Rumsey was identified with the history of Chicago for more than half a century. During that period he was mayor, county treasurer, and president of the board of trade. Of the latter institution he was a charter member, and through his efforts the present system of grain inspection and grading was adopted. This achievement gave him the title of the “Father of Grain Inspection.” Mr. Rumsey always took an interest in national and state politics. In 1861, during the period that preceded the civil war, he did much, as mayor, to arouse the enthusiasm of his fellow-citizens in favor of the preservation of the Union, and at the mass-meeting in Metropolitan hall a few days after the firing on Fort Sumter, he delivered a stirring address. He was a member of the first war finance committee, and of the Republican state committee the same year. During the panic of 1873 he was president of the Corn exchange national bank.