Jonathan Bumpus died 1847 and Martha Chubbuck died 1845, Wareham, Mass.

Jonathan Bumpus was born about 1769, likely in Wareham, Mass. He is my 5^th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis’ side of the family. Bumpus is also seen spelled as Bumpas, Bump and Bompasse. For years I believed Jonathan was the son of Thomas Bumpus and Mercy Stewart, but that now appears incorrect. Paul Bumpus, Historian General of the Mayflower Society, is working on updating the Bumpus Genealogy and believes Jonathan's parents were incorrectly transcribed on his death record  and were Jos & Mercy, not Thos & Mercy. This means that Joseph and Mercy (Haskins) Bumpus are the more likely parents. Exactly how Joseph descends from Edward 1 Bumpus/Bompasse isn’t known with certainty. Don’t you just hate when there is one iffy generation in an ancestral line?

What I do know is Jonathan was born about 1769 and married Martha Chubbuck on 7 January 1790 in Wareham. I haven’t been able to find Martha’s parentage. There were early Chubbucks in Hingham, some later in Wareham and also a slight variation on the name, Churbucks, in Wareham.

Wareham Congregational Church, Images of America

I have seen information online that has Martha, daughter of Benjamin Chubbuck and Ruth Besse, born Wareham 1741, married Nathan Muxhom and Jonathan Bumpus. This is impossible as the dates are way off for a woman born 1741 to marry Jonathan as her second husband. She is also called Martha Chubbuck, not Martha Muxhom, at her marriage to Jonathan.If anyone has information on Martha’s parents, I would love to hear from you!

Based on her age at death, Martha was born 29 February 1764.

Jonathan and Martha had eight known children, likely all born Wareham:

Olive P. born 16 July 1790, married Shem Bumpus, died Wareham 28 September 1864

Etsil born 12 April 1794, married Lucy Smith, served War of 1812, died Wareham 1 December 1851

Jonathan born 2 March 1795, married Ruth Pierce, died Wareham 19 September 1874

Hosea born 20 May 1797, married Delia Bennett, died Wareham 20 January 1863

Ruth born 2 February 1802, married Jonathan Bumpus, died Wareham 10 May 1866

Rowland Sturtevant born 20 January 1804, m. Lucy Nye Pierce, died Wareham 29 April 1853

James born 11 March 1810, married Ruth Bumpus, died Wareham 27 July 1866

Martha born 3 June 1811, married Charles Bumpus, died Wareham 6 March 1865

I descend from Rowland Sturtevant Bumpus, whom I wrote about here. It’s certainly a confusing family to research with all the Bumpuses (Bumpi?) married Bumpuses and multiple women named Ruth Bumpus!

Lucy and Rowland (thanks to Laurie Howland)

Lynne Albert Bumpus wrote that Jonathan was a miller.

Martha died 5 April 1845 in Wareham. According to her death certificate (which does not list parents)  she was age 52 years, 2 months, 25 days, died of  Influenza, was born and died Wareham, wife of Jonathan Bumpus. Her age at death didn’t make sense, but it appears the clerk made an error and that she was age 81y 1m 6d. The 52 years of age comes from the next entry in the vital records.

 Jonathan died in Wareham on 5 February 1847.

Gravestones for Martha and Jonathan do not survive.I would guess they are buried at Agawam Cemetery in Wareham, which is the final resting spot of many of their family. 

Sources Not Listed Above:

Col. Leonard H. and Norma H. Smith, Records of the First Church of Wareham, MA, 1739-1891, Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith, 1974

Daisy Washburn Lovell, Glimpses of Early Wareham, 1970

Lynn Albert Bumpus, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Edouad Bompasse of the Ship Fortune, 1986, which Paul and Stephen Bumpus have made available online at http://www.bumpusgenealogy.org/LAB/dexlex2.

Mrs John Barclay, The Bumpus Family of New England, The American Genealogist 43 (1967).