George W. Lumley Biography


	This biography appears on pages 820-821 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	GEORGE W. LUMLEY, who maintains his home in the city of Pierre, 
comes of distinguished ancestry and is himself a native of the Isle of 
Wight, England, where he was born on the 9th of January, 1851, being a 
son of James R. and Clara (Faithfull) Lumley. The father died in 1874, 
at Sutton, Surry, England, and the mother is still living at Bexhill-
on-sea, England. The father of the subject, Major James Rutherford 
Lumley, was for many years first assistant adjutant general in Bengal, 
under his father, Major General Sir James Rutherford Lumley, K. C. B., 
for many years adjutant general of the English army in Bengal. The 
mother of the subject was a daughter of Major General William Conrad 
Faithfull, C. B., who was likewise in the military service of England 
in Bengal.  

	George W. Lumley secured his early educational discipline in 
France and Belgium, where his parents resided during his childhood 
days, and from the age of eight to that of sixteen he was a student in 
a private college near Dover, England. In 1869 he matriculated at the 
London University. In 1870-71 he was clerk in the office of the 
secretary of state for India, in the city of London, and in the spring 
of the latter year he came to the United States, being for the ensuing 
two years in the employ of the wholesale dry-goods house of Jaffrey & 
Company. In 1873 Mr. Lumley came west to Red Willow county, Nebraska, 
this being before the organization of that county, and he continued to 
be identified with the business and industrial in terests of that 
section for the ensuing decade, having been concerned in the newspaper 
and banking business at Orleans, Nebraska. In 1883 he came to 
Vermilion, South Dakota, and organized the Clay County Bank, disposing 
of his interests in the same in 1887. In 1884 he effected the 
organization of the Douglas County Bank, at Grand View (later at 
Armour), South Dakota. In 1891 he gave up his residence in Douglas 
county and located in Pierre, South Dakota, where he soon identified 
himself in a prominent way with the raising of cattle and horses, his 
place being known as the Pierre ranch. In 1902 he brought about the 
organization of the Pierre Ranch and Cattle Company, and the same now 
controls the Pierre ranch and the Spring Creek ranch, as well as the 
Little Bend ranch, the company controlling an aggregate of eight 
thousand acres of land and leasing an additional ten thousand acres. 
This is of the best agricultural and grazing land in the state, and is 
well stocked with high-grade horses and cattle, while the company is 
interested in a grazing lease of about three hundred and sixty thousand 
acres, which fact indicates the magnificent scope of the industry with 
which our subject is so prominently identified in both a capitalistic 
and administrative way. He is president of the Pierre Ranch and Cattle 
Company; his eldest son, George W., Jr., is vice-president of the 
company and superintendent of the Little Bend ranch; his second son, 
Harry C., is secretary of the company and superintendent of the Pierre 
ranch; his third son, William C. F., is assistant cashier of the First 
State Bank, at Beaver City, Nebraska; and the youngest son, Robert W., 
is superintendent of the Spring Creek ranch. Mr. Lumley is a staunch 
advocate of the principles of the Republican party and is known as a 
progressive and public-spirited citizen. He is an appreciative member 
of the time-honored order of Freemasons, belonging to the lodge and 
chapter, and being past senior warden of the former, while he had the 
distinction of being the first Mason initiated in Douglas county. South 
Dakota, in which county he also organized the first banking 
institution, while his eldest son was the first white child born in the 
town of Orleans, Harlan county, Nebraska. He is a man of indefatigable 
energy and determination, and this is best evidenced by the success 
which has attended his efforts in connection with industrial and 
business enterprises of wide scope and importance.  

	On the 6th of May, 1871, in London, England, was solemnized the 
marriage of Mr. Lumley to Miss Anne Amelia Rudderham, of Wisbeach, 
Cambridgeshire, and of their four sons due mention has been made in a 
preceding paragraph. Mr. Lumley is a member of Trinity Episcopal 
church, at Pierre, South Dakota, in which he holds the office of 
warden. Mrs. Lumley is now recording secretary of the State Federation 
of Women's Clubs, state delegate to the National Federation of Women's 
Clubs, to meet in St. Louis in May, 1904, and is worthy matron of 
Capital City Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Lumley is also now 
secretary of the capital committee of the Pierre Board of Trade, which 
has in charge the campaign against the removal of the state capital 
from Pierre, which question will be submitted to the voters of the 
state in November. 1904.