CAPTAIN SUMPTER DIES AT CHESAPEAKE HOME AT VERY OLD AGE

Daily Register
Friday, January 5, 1917

Captain Simeon Sumpter, of Chesapeake, Ohio, Union veteran of the Civil War and widely known river man, answered the last call early Wednesday evening at his home on the Ohio side, death following a stroke which the aged man suffered Sunday last. The Captain, aged 82 years, was well known and loved by his many friends throughout the tri-state region. He is a pioneer resident in this section of the country, having resided in Lawrence County from the time of his birth until his death Wednesday evening, says The Huntington Advertiser.

The life of Captain Sumpter was punctuated with activity in behalf of his fellow man. Born near the mouth of Symmes Creek, he was raised within sight of Huntington. As a lad, he was naturally inclined toward the waters of the old Ohio, and before his death this inclination led him to enjoy a wide reputation as a river man. In the early days when Captain Sumpter was but a lad, education was something to be prized. Taking advantage of the offer of his parents to furnish books, the Captain educated himself, and at the age of eighteen, he opened one of the first schools ever established in Lawrence County, Ohio, of which institution he was a teacher until the outbreak of the Civil War.

To the call of the Union, Simeon Sumpter answered. Rushing at the first news of war to Maysville, Kentucky, the boy became a recruit in the Tenth Kentucky Cavalry, Company F. After serving with this brave contingent for two years, the Captain, then a First Lieutenant, returned to eastern Ohio, where he organized for the Eighty-eighth Ohio, an infantry company, being made a "Captain".

At the close of the war the Captain returned to his old home at Chesapeake. The call of the waters was upon him, and within a few years after his return, he became a master engineer and master pilot, operating on the Ohio, Big Sandy and Guyan Rivers. Prior to his death, Captain Sumpter was pilot of the ferryboat "City of Huntington", which plies between this city and the Ohio shore. He operated packets on all three rivers.

Captain Sumpter enjoyed the distinction of being a great great grandson of the famous General Sumpter, of the Revolutionary War fame. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and before handicapped by age, he was prominent in Masonic and Odd Fellow circles. He is survived by five children, two sons and three daughters, nineteen grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great great grandchildren. The sons and daughters surviving are: W.H. Sumpter of Chesapeake; D.E. Sumpter of Proctorville; Mrs. Emma K. Ferguson of Chesapeake; Mrs. A. Smith of Idaho and Mrs. Mollie Anna Welling of Huntington.

Funeral arrangements have not been perfected, all details being held up until Mrs. Smith, the daughter in Idaho, is heard from.