The Shumates - We Are Family, ca. 1905

Left to right:
Clay Porter Shumate, Pattie "Sittie" Shumate, Harriette Mary "Hattie Mai" Shumate, Martha Belle "Mattie" Shumate, Francis McLean "Mackie" Shumate, Virginia Shumate, Louise Shumate, Mai Belle Shumate

This is an amazing picture.   When we first saw it about a year ago we didn't know who these people were.  Were they Moran relatives?  Friends?  A club?  But now, after a year of sorting through things it became clear that this was a picture of Virginia Shumate before she was married to Kent's grandfather, James H. Moran III.  She's the third from the right.

What is more amazing is that it became clear that some of the other folks look familiar too.  And then like a light bulb going off over my head it was obvious to me that this was a group picture of Quincy Shumate and Nathan Shumate's children.   

In a nutshell, Quincy and Nathan were brothers, born in Kentucky.  Quincy married Louise "Lou" Elizabeth McLean and had five children: Porter, Pattie, Harriette Mary, Martha Belle and Francis McLean.  Quincy and family moved to Newbern TN sometime in the late 1800's.  His brother Nathan stayed in Kentucky in the Rockcastle County area.  Nathan married Margaret "Maggie" Jane Adams and they had three girls: Mai Belle, Virginia, and Louise.  Their mother died in 1896 and their father married Annie Elizabeth Purcell.  The three Shumate girls were not happy with this arrangement.  We think Virginia, Louise and Mai Belle moved to Newbern to live with Quincy sometime after their father remarried.  The girls did not get on with the new wife.  Nathan died a few years later in 1899.  The 1990 Census records show the girls living with Quincy in Newbern. 

Clay Porter Shumate married Pauline Prather.  He moved to Temecula California and married Mary Ethel Martindell in 1913. He died August 8, 1918.  I don't know where he is buried. **Updated Sept 8, 2014.  He's interred at Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego California.  It is unknown at this time what happened to Mary Ethel.

Pattie "Sittie" Shumate may have been married to a man with the last name of Newman.  I know that later she was married to Selwyn Dennis Tucker and they lived in Memphis.  

Harriette Mary "Hattie Mai" Shumate was married to Allison M. Tyler.  Allison died in 1914 and Hattie Mai married Charles Bowden Kingry.

Martha Belle "Mattie" Shumate married Harry Lester Baum. They divorced in 1936 and he married another woman.  I have not yet found when or where Martha Belle died and is buried.

Francis McLean "Mackie" Shumate married James Vernon Thomas.  Sometime around 1919 I believe Mackie and James divorced.  She married Thomas Ogilvie MacPherson and lived in California.  A letter from Charles Kingry to Virginia Shumate has a lot of family history in it including the fact that Mackie attended the funeral services of her sister Hattie Mai in 1956 and that Mackie was living Banning, California at that time.  Check out the link for Thomas Ogilvie MacPherson III.  Until now I didn't realize how he fit into the Moran puzzle.

Virginia Shumate Moran married James Henderson Moran III in 1911 in Dresden TN. 

Louise Shumate married Joseph Clay Durway.  You can read a bit more about her here.

Mai Belle Shumate married Newton Temple Harris Sr and lived in Texas.  You can see a picture of Mai Belle here taken on Mother's Day 1952.  She has a vase (one of a pair) that her father Nathan had given to her mother before they were married in 1882.  We have the matching vase, albeit at some point in history it was broken but was still a cherished memento.  It was made by Webster & Brothers and is stamped "hard white metal".  The pattern number is 44.

There is so much more to say about this family and will be!  Some of it has been said before in this blog so if you're interested be sure to use the search function or feel free to browse the archives.  Check back soon, I'm always adding new information.

Martha Belle Baum (Marty)

Dr. Harry Lester Baum with his daughter Martha Belle Baum (Marty).
Taken about 1922 on the porch steps of the Baum home in Denver Colorado

This card was attached to
Marty's birth announcement/
baby calling card.

Martha Belle Baum, affectionately known as Marty, was the daughter of Dr. Harry Lester Baum, a prominent Denver physician and Mason, and his first wife Martha Belle Shumate.

Note the shred of blue ribbon
still attached to the card. Perhaps
Harry and Martha had planned
for a boy and didn't have
pink ribbon on hand!

Marty was born July 28, 1919 in Denver Colorado.   We have the birth announcement envelope and calling cards of Marty and her parents that were sent to Mr and Mrs J.H. Moran (James Henderson Moran III and Virginia Shumate Moran).  Virginia was the sister of Marty's mother.

Envelope addressed to
Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Moran 

Marty married Willis Turner Frank and I believe they had at least one child.  In addition, I think she and Willis divorced. At some point it appears that Marty became involved with Vernon V. Porter as a business partner and as "very good friends" as reported in the 1960 case Quandary Land Development Company vs. Vernon L. Porter but parted ways both as business partners and as friends.



Unlike her mother, Martha Belle Shumate Baum, we know that Marty Frank, Martha Belle Baum, passed away in Pinal Arizona in May 1983 but we don't know where she is buried.







If you are a Baum relative we'd like to hear from you.  Perhaps you can fill in some of the questions we have regarding the death date of Martha Belle Shumate and where she is buried and perhaps we can fill you in on your Tennessee relatives. To contact us leave a comment and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.