Rumseys

Rumsey is an unusual name, in fact in my research there are only 3 Rumseys on Long Island prior to 1800. Rumsey 1 was the son of Israel Reeve and is documented as having died on the Prison Ship Jersey with his brother Benjamin (We assume this Benjamin is the one who Salmon Records shows in 1782 (no month or day given) who died "about 3 weeks ago"). Rumsey 2 was born in 1789 he was the son of Luther Reeve, grandson of Israel Reeve. Rumsey 3 was born in 1790 and was the son of Joel Reeve (b. Abt. 1755).

Where does a name like Rumsey come from? Most likely it's origin is in remembrance of a mother's maiden name. Much like "Wines Reeve" is an ommage to the Wines family into which Anna Wines Reeve was born. Most researchers believe that Rumsey is a derivitive of the surname "Ramsey/Rumsey". Baker states on p. 270 of his Study:

"...we think it more likely he (Israel) was a son of Solomon Reeve 3 (Joseph 2, Thomas 1) because, as Mather notes Solomon married in 1724 Sarah Rumsey and Israel had a son Rumsey (and a daughter Sarah)."

Baker theorizes that Israel was the son of Solomon Reeve and Sarah Rumsey because of the use of the name Rumsey. This is the simplest explaination of the use of the unusual name. Unfortunately, Solomon left no will and there is no record of his children other than the conclusion that Solomon Jr. was one of his son. I can only think of three reasons Joel (b. abt 1755) would name his second son Rumsey. He named his first son Bethuel after his father, and his second son Rumsey was named for his first wife's maiden name. Now this is a very plausible theory until one realizes that no other marriages besides that of Solomon Reeve and Sarah Rumsey, occurred on Long Island between the Reeves and the Ramseys/Rumseys.

Perhaps Joel was so moved by the deaths of the patriot soldiers aboard the Prison ship Jersey, that he resolved to commemorate Rumsey 1 by naming his second son in his honor. Certainly this could have happened this way and there may be a bit of truth in it. But I prefer the last possibility, which is that Joel named his second son for his grandmothers familiy and his uncle's lost son Rumsey 1. He may even have been inspired by his cousin Luther who name one of his sons, Rumsey 2 who was born a year earlier, after his brother Rumsey 1. I think this is a rather compelling theory and makes the case for Israel and Bethuel being brothers and sons of Solomon even stronger. In fact, when writing his manuscript in the 1970's, Baker did not have the information about my line that has since come to light. He in fact dismissed Bethuel as being a descendant of one of the earlier Southamton Reeves such as Thomas Reeves. It was not until I was able to substantiate Rumsey 3 as a grandson of Bethuel in 2004, that the name Rumsey became solidly connected to Bethuel. It's a critical piece of the puzzle in my mind. Connecting to Solomon is crutial as it transports both Israel's line and Bethuel's line back across the Atlantic Ocean to England.