J. P. Bumphrey, Neponset, was born December 18, 1835, in Pottsville, Penn. His father, Stephen Bumphrey, was a native of Berkshire County, Mass. He was a farmer by occupation; he came to Pennsylvania in 1835; the next year he came to Putnam County, Ill., and in 1837 he removed to Centre Grove, in Bureau County. There he farmed till 1845, when he removed to LaSalle County, Ill., and from there to Cedar Falls, Iowa. He died in 1854, near Dubuque, Iowa, while on his was to Bureau County. His father was a native of France, and was a gallant soldier in the Revolutionary war. Julia Packingham, a native of Massachusetts, was the mother of our subject. She died in 1844, in Centre Grove. She was a daughter of James Packingham and is the mother of four children that are now living, viz.: Mrs. Elizabeth Osman, James P., our subject, C. Henry, of Henry County, Ill., and Albert, a resident of Kansas.
Our subject was educated in the common schools of Bureau County, where he farmed; He also farmed seven years in Henry County, Ill., and lived five years in Iowa, returning to Bureau County in 1857, and has been a resident here ever since. He was married September 21, 1862, in Kewanee, Ill., to Mrs. Elizabeth Moon (nee Elizabeth Studley), born March 7, 1937, in Scott County, Ill. She is a daughter of William Studley, the old pioneer of Neponset Township. She is the mother of eight children, viz.: William H. Moon and Louvina Moon, children by her first husband, George Moon; Alice J., Henry A., Frank P., James C., Luella and Grace. Mr. and Mrs. Bumphrey are active members of their Community, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically Mr. Bumphrey is a Republican; he is a useful citizen and has filled town offices; at present he is President of the Board of Village Trustees.
Source: History of Bureau County, Illinois, H. C. Bradsby, Editor. World Publishing Company Chicago 1885