Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 882 - 883

CHARLES J. MUMA, a wide-awake and intelligent citizen of Delano Township, and a prominent farmer and stock-raiser, has his home upon section 9. He is a native of Keene Township, Ionia Co., Mich., born Nov. 13, 1847, and is the son of Peter and Aminda (Lane) Muma, both of whom were natives of Brantford County, Canada.

            The paternal great-grandfather of our subject was a native of Germany, who came to this country in Colonial times, and settled in Virginia, and those who are familiar with the history of our country know that there were no more patriotic citizens during the time of our struggles for independence than were the German settlers. The great-grandfather of our subject, like many others of his countrymen, in response to the calls of patriotism, entered the Continental army, and participated in many of the battles that marked that epoch in our National history. Jacob Muma, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Virginia about 1775, and after the close of the Revolution moved with his father to Canada, where he was living when the war with Great Britain broke out in 1812. Jacob Muma then came to the United States and entered the American army, leaving his family in Canada. He was an active participant in the battles of Lundy's Lane, where Gen. Winfield Scott laid the foundation of his reputation, and after the close of the contest Mr. Muma went from the battle-field on a visit to his family. While there some British soldiers undertook to capture him, but he outwitted them, but on reaching the river found that his regiment, with the balance of the American army, had recrossed it, and he had to borrow a boat to get over the stream, and on reaching this side turned the boat loose.

            In 1846 Jacob Muma and his son, Peter Muma, the latter the father of our subject, removed to Michigan, where the grandfather took up land with his army warrants. At that time not a tree had been cut on the place, and it lay a portion of the vast primeval forests that then covered the greater part of the Peninsular State. Here they literally hewed out their homes and reared their families, and here our subject's father died in 1861. He was born in 1824, and was the father of six children, one of whom died when about fifteen years of age. The other five are still living, viz.: Adelma, Mrs. H. O. Wyman, living in Western Nebraska; Charles J., our subject; Mary, the wife of George Marshall, a meat dealer in East Saginaw, Mich.; Peter, a farmer near Pleasanton, Cal.; and Clare Bell, Mrs. Clark, living in Nebraska. The name of the dead one was Rose. Jacob Muma, the grandfather of the gentleman of whom we write, died in Canada in 1875, at the age of one hundred years, whither he had gone to live with a son.

            The subject of this personal narration, like many of the children of the pioneers of Michigan, had but few facilities for acquiring an education, but he made the most of those which he had, and by considerable industry acquired a fair amount of schooling. Being the eldest son, after the death of his father, he had the responsibility of supporting his mother and the family until he was eighteen years of age. At that time he commenced life on his own account, and worked by the month for about four years, after which he commenced on a 40-acre farm which he had purchased, and regularly started in the vocation of a farmer, to which he had been trained. He was united in marriage, Sept. 3, 1871, with Miss Sarah Chapman, a native of Humphrey Center, N. Y., born Nov. 25, 1854, and daughter of William and Mary Chapman. Her ancestors were of the hardy yeomanry of Old England that settled on the rock-bound coasts of New England in Colonial times. She has one sister, Alice, who married James McKay, and is living in Michigan. Mrs. Muma's father was one of the "brave boys in blue" during the great Rebellion, and was wounded, and shortly after the war died from the effects thereof. Her mother married again, to Arastus Wheeler, and by the second marriage had four children.

            In the spring of 1872 the subject of this biography disposed of his property in Michigan, and during the summer of that year purchased his present farm of 160 acres, on section 9, Delano Township, for which he paid $465. He did not remove to it, however, until 1878, but has brought the place since that time to perfection in cultivation, and by this means, aided by the rapid increase in values, has made it worth over $10,000. He is extensively engaged in the breeding and raising of Clydesdale horses, in which he is meeting with merited success. He is a thoroughly esteemed and respected citizen of the township, and a strict temperance man. In his politics he is entirely independent of party lines, and dares to follow the dictates of his own judgment.

            Mr. and Mrs. Muma are the parents of two children, as follows: Rose, who was born Dec. 3, 1872, and died in Michigan, Aug. 9, 1873; and Della, who was born Dec. 26, 1874. The latter is a better scholar to-day than were most of the teachers when her father went to school. In 1886 our subject and his wife adopted a boy, who was born March 21, 1886, and who has been known since that time as George Muma.

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