John A. Mumford
John A. Mumford was born in Miami County, O., Oct. 9, 1843. He is a. son of Richard and Mary (Long) Mumford, who were married in Maryland. Came to Miami County, O., about 1840, where Mrs. Mumford died in 1852. Mr. Mumford died in Shelby County in 1880.
The Mumfords are of English descent, the Longs of German extraction; but when they came to the United States is not known to us, John A., when a boy only fourteen years of age, had a genius for mechanical tools, which was discovered by his skill in the making implements and machinery about home. A carpenter in his neighborhood offered him $10 per month if he would work for him at the trade, which he did at the above wages for two months, when his progress was such that he received one dollar per day. He only worked at his trade about one year, when G. C. Anderson, of Sidney, who was running a woollen mill, offered him a place in his mills. This was in 1858. He remained in the mills during 1858 and ’59. In 1860 he returned to his trade at which he worked until in the spring of 1861. At the first call for volunteers he was the fifth to offer himself for enlistment; but the company was disbanded before being mustered. He then immediately went to Hamilton, Ohio, and enlisted in an artillery company; but this also did not complete an organization, and he came to Troy, Ohio, and joined the 11th O. V. I., and was mustered on the first of June, and served his full time of enlistment for three years. After his discharge he worked for the Government as a carpenter until the close of the war when he returned to Sidney, where he has lived since that time. Nov 26, 1866, he married Mary Fares, of Sidney. After his marriage he rented a saw-mill, which he ran until the fall of 1882, when he emabarked in the boot and shoe trade, at which he is engaged at the present time Mr. and Mrs. Mumford have had born to them three children, viz., Minie A., born Aug. 15, 1868; John F., born Oct. 9, 1870, and Charles D., born July, 1873.
From History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883