Henry Cook Mumbrue (February 15, 1828April 8, 1898) was an American

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

operator, businessman, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

pioneer. He served in the

Wisconsin State Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...

(1877–1878) and

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

(1876), representing Waupaca County. He was at one point the richest resident of Waupaca County, but his riverboat business was wiped out when train lines arrived in the region. His name is often abbreviated as

Background

Mumbrue was born in the village of

Tyre, New York Tyre is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 1,002 at the 2020 census. The town is named after the Lebanese city of Tyre. The Town of Tyre is located in the northeastern part of the county, northeast of Geneva ...

, on February 15, 1828; he was educated at the

Falley Seminary Falley Seminary (1836-1883) was a school in Fulton, Oswego County, New York. It was named in honor of Mrs. M. E. Falley, who gave the institution . History The Fulton Female Seminary was incorporated by the New York State Legislature May 25, 1836, ...

in Fulton, New York. He became a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

and

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

maker by trade. He came to Wisconsin with his family in 1849, and settled at Winneconne where in 1850 he opened a horse-powered

factory. He engaged in steamboating for several years on

Lake Winnebago Lake Winnebago ( mez, Wenepekōw Nepēhsæh, oj, Wiinibiigoo-zaaga'igan, one, kanyataláheleˀ) is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At 137,700 acres it is the largest lake entir ...

and the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

and

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

rivers. Mumbrue came to Waupaca County in the 1850s, one of several Mumbrues who settled in the area, and took up farming. In late 1872 he bought an established

drug store A pharmacy (also called "drugstore" in American English or "community pharmacy" or "chemist" in Commonwealth English, or rarely, apothecary) is a retail shop which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacis ...

in the city. Mumbrue continued throughout his subsequent career to explore various forms of business:

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

s, lumber mills,

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

(buying and selling), as well as

dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and forme ...

and

general merchandise General line of merchandise or general merchandise is a term used in retail and wholesale business in reference to merchandise not limited to some particular category. General merchandise stores (general stores) address this sector of retail. Acc ...

. is associated with various firm, including Mumbrue and Dayton; Mumbrue, Baldwin and Co.; Mumbrue and Rosche; Mumbrue and Oertel; and Mumbrue and Woodnorth (a dry goods store in the 1870s). In approximately 1873-1874 he had a house built in the then-popular

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

style, but sold in 1878. That two-story house, with a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

, is still standing at 404 S. Main Street in Waupaca.

Public office

He held various municipal offices in Winneconne; in 1854 he was elected

clerk of courts A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court, administer oaths to witn ...

for Waupaca County, and held municipal offices in that county as well. He was elected a member of the assembly for 1876 as an "Independent Republican", part of the Reform Party, a short-lived

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

of Democrats,

reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

and

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, and

Grangers The Grange, officially named The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, is a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and ...

formed in 1873. He won 1,083 votes against 784 votes for the incumbent, regular Republican George H. Calkins. He was assigned to the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

and

manufactures Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a range ...

. He was elected to the 21st Senate District (

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

Portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

and Waupaca

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

) as a "Liberal Republican" in 1876, succeeding Liberal Democrat Willis Silverthorn (also part of the Reform movement) who was not a candidate for re-election. Mumbrue polled 5,362 votes against 4,990 for former Republican Assemblyman

Thomas McDill Thomas Hazeltine McDill (July 18, 1815January 14, 1889) was an American businessman, Republican politician, and pioneer of Portage County, Wisconsin. He served four years in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Portage County. Biography Th ...

. He was assigned to the joint committee on claims. The Assembly had been

redistricted Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each decennial census. The U.S. Constitution in Ar ...

, and he was succeeded in portions of his old district by Asa L. Baldwin and Hannibal Dixon, both Republicans. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1878, and was succeeded by Republican

John Azor Kellogg John Azor Kellogg (March 16, 1828February 10, 1883) was an American lawyer, politician, and Union Army officer from Wisconsin. He was one of the founders of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. Early life Born in Bethany, Penns ...

. In 1879 he was elected as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of the City of Waupaca. In 1884, when J. H. Woodnorth (Mumbrue's former partner in dry goods) was appointed register of the

United States Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department o ...

Menasha, Wisconsin Menasha () is a city in Calumet and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 18,268 at the 2020 census. Of this, 15,144 were in Winnebago County, and 2,209 were in Calumet County. The city is located mostly in Winn ...

, Mumbrue was appointed Woodnorth's deputy, and served four years. He was confirmed in 1893 (under Democratic President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

, newly returned to office) as

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

in Waupaca and as of 1896 was in office at a salary of $1,600 ''per annum''.,"Post-Offices and Postmasters: Wisconsin: Waupaca" in, United States Civil Service Commission. ''Official Register of the United States'', Volume 2. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1896; p. 416 but was replaced after the 1896 presidential election brought McKinley supporters into power by Adelbert Penney, who had bought Mumbrue's old house on Main Street in 1890.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mumbrue, Henry 1828 births 1898 deaths Farmers from Wisconsin Businesspeople from Wisconsin County clerks in Wisconsin Date of death unknown Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly People from Tyre, New York People from Winneconne, Wisconsin Wisconsin city council members Wisconsin Reformers (19th century) Wisconsin state senators Wisconsin postmasters People from Fulton, Oswego County, New York 19th-century American legislators People from Winnebago County, Wisconsin 19th-century American merchants