Comments for The Rumseian Society

Comment on Rotary Steam Engine 1 by jamesrumsey

jamesrumsey — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:11:05 +0000

Susan Skiles wrote to Charles Morrow’s son ( and James’ nephew) John Morrow in 1816, from “3 Springs Warren City Kentucky” , looking to see if there were still any letters of the inventor. It would seem that she had had a hard life. ( The letter, plus one other and one from her son James Rumsey Skiles are in the Historic Shepherdstown Collection at the Duke University Library).

As we state on the Inquires page, there’s no evidence Fulton had anything to do with Rumsey in London. Though one of Fulton’s later close friends, Joel Barlow, did know Rumsey- and so Fulton would almost certainly have heard of Rumsey- Fulton is not mentioned in any of Rumsey’s letters, or any other period documents with information of his time in England. There’s also nothing in Fulton’s 1807 design that owed anything to Rumsey’s ideas. Fulton used a paddlewheel; Rumsey disliked them. Fulton was able to buy a good steam engine, Rumsey was forced to try to invent his own. However, if Rumsey’s negotiations with Boulton and Watt hadn’t failed, he would have been able to bring their steam engines to the US and use one on his own steamboat twenty years before Fulton was to win the same advantage for his, which was probably the greatest tragedy in Rumsey’s professional life.

Comment on Rotary Steam Engine 1 by Brisbin Skiles

Brisbin Skiles — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:50:40 +0000

Thank you for this wonderful piece of history and enlightenment. My cousin, Frances Skiles Gilfillan, did a genealogy of the Skiles’ family in 2007. Included in it to my delight was our James Rumsey, his daughter Edna Susan Rumsey and grandson James Rumsey Skiles, son of Jacob Skiles and Edna. Recounted from Warren County Kentucky History: are the accounts of James Rumsey, INVENTOR of the steamboat and whom George Washington encouraged to bring his vessel for demonstration on the Potomac River in 1787, a full twenty years before Robert Fulton constructed the Clermont. In fact, Robert Fulton was James Rumsey’s apprentice and took credit for the invention after Mr. Rumsey’s untimely death in England while promoting his steamboat there.

Comment on The Rumsey Monument by giles snyder

giles snyder — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:18:25 +0000

My great grandfather, Harry Lambright Snyder, was a member of the Rumseyan Society and helped with the monument. He was the editor of the Shepherdstown Register and, like him, I’m a journalist. I’d love to come over sometime to talk about Rumsey and what you guys are up to these days for a possible story.