Pumpelly family papers

The Pumpelly family represented in this collection was mostly based in Owego, Tioga County, New York, though descendants also moved to other states including Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
• Colonel Daniel Pixley (1741-1807), whose will is the oldest document in the collection, was born in 1741 in Stockbridge, MA and fought in the Revolutionary War. He moved to Owego, Tioga County, NY by around 1790, managing about 3000 acres of property there. He died and was buried in Owego.
• Mary Pixley Pumpelly (1777-1848) was Daniel Pixley's daughter with his second wife, Lydia Patterson. She was born in 1777 in Owego and married James Pumpelly (1775-1845) in 1805 (this was her second marriage). They had four children, including George James Pompelly (1809-1873).
• George James Pompelly was born in Owego in 1809. He studied law and entered his father's land office. He married his cousin, Susan Isabella Pumpelly, in 1832. The couple had five children, including Josiah Collins Pumpelly, George Brinkerhoff Pumpelly, and Mary (Pumpelly) Thompson, all represented in this collection.
• Mary (Pumpelly) Thompson (1845-1924) married the American landscape painter Alfred Wordsworth Thompson (1840-1896) in 1876. Alfred Wordsworth Thompson was born in Baltimore and studied art in Paris. He opened a studio in New York City and exhibited works at the National Academy of Design, becoming a member there in 1875. He and his wife eventually settled in Summit, NJ, and Mary Thompson continued to live there after Thompson's death.
• George Brinkerhoff Pumpelly (1842-1921) was born in Owego and married Adelaide Woodford (1852-1929) in 1874. The couple lived in Candor, Tioga County, New York.
• Josiah Collins Pumpelly (1839-1920) was born in Owego and attended Rutgers College and Columbia College Law School. He married Margaret Downing in 1876 and Mary Amelia Harmer in 1896. He and his wife lived in Summit, NJ in the years before his death. He was active in numerous clubs and organizations in the New York area.