James Saurin Trumbull (1847 – 1880)
(Youngest son of John King Trumbull)
James Saurin Trumbull, the youngest of the children, was born at Georgeville, Province of Quebec, on April 4, 1847, and would have been too young to enter school when his parents moved to Northwood. He was educated in the common school and was a member of the Class of 1871 of Geneva College. On August 1, 1869, he married a nineteen-year-old girl who was a member of the same class. She had been born in Poland, Ohio, but was reared in New Bedford, Pennsylvania. In 1870, James purchased 125 acres for $3575 at a sheriff’s sale. He continued to farm until 1873 when he became a grain dealer in Perry, Kansas, until his death in 1880. The last two years of his life he was also the sheriff of Jefferson County. Since he was only thirty-three when he died, one wonders if his death was related to his being an officer of the law.
Five children were born to James Saurin and Elizabeth Smith Trumbull: John; James; William Geddes, Joseph Sylvester, and Laura Helen. William and Joseph drowned in 1882, aged ten and eight years respectively. No details are available. Laura Helen, born in 1878, would have been two years of age when her father died. John, James, and William were born on the farm near Northwood. Joseph and Laura Helen were born in Perry, Kansas.
James’ widow maintained her home in Perry for five years. It is during this time that the tragic deaths of her two youngest sons occurred. On July 16, 1885, she married the Reverend John T. Copley of Omaha, Nebraska. They lived in Omaha until 1892 when they moved to Manhattan, Kansas, and lived in that city for the next twelve years. In 1904, they moved to Clinton, Kansas. There is no record of the mother after that date, but relatives have furnished bits of news about the children.
A letter in March 1935, states that James, who had no children, lost his wife during the winter of that year. John, his older brother, who had a wife and one son, was planning to move to California that spring to take up his abode with James. John would have been very close to retirement age at that time. James was a contractor and, no doubt, could give his brother a job if necessary. Laura Helen married Charles Correll, who taught in the Agricultural Department of the University of Manhattan. At the time this informative letter was written, the Corrells had five children and three grandchildren. One would be inclined to think that John had established himself somewhere in Kansas when he was old enough to leave home. The pioneering spirit of their Revolutionary ancestor is found in many of his descendants, specifically exemplified by the children and grandchildren of John King Trumbull.