Edward Rumsey

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Edward Rumsey (November 5, 1796 – April 6, 1868) was a lawyer and politician from Kentucky who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1837 to 1839.

He was born in Botetourt County, Virginia, and moved with his family to Christian County, Kentucky as a child. He studied law with John J. Crittenden and practiced in Greenville, Kentucky, as well as in Muhlenberg and nearby counties. Rumsey entered politics in 1822, serving in the Kentucky House of Representatives, where issues around the Old Court-New Court controversy were debated.

In 1832 he married Jane Merrihew Wing, and they had two children. Rumsey was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth Congress and served March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1839. On February 9, 1839, he gave a passionate speech urging that his uncle, James Rumsey, be recognized as the inventor of the steamboat and that a gold medal be awarded to James’s only child. The House approved the resolution, but the Senate did not.

Tragedy struck in spring 1838 when his two young children died of scarlet fever, and Rumsey retired from public life at the end of his term. He returned to practicing law in Greenville and lived there until his death in 1868. He was buried in the Old Caney Station Cemetery near Greenville.

There is a note about a town named Rumsey in McLean County, Kentucky. It was initially intended to honor Edward, but he declined, so the town was named for his uncle James Rumsey instead.