HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG1381.AM: Grant Lee Shumway, 1865-1925
Papers: ca. 1905-1925
Scottsbluff, Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska: Land agent; poet; State Secretary of Agriculture
Size: One folder
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Born at Oxford, Illinois, on March 7, 1865, Grant Lee Shumway came to Banner County (then Cheyenne County), Nebraska, in 1855, where he filed a homestead. He married Gertrude Viola Ashford, at Ashford, Nebraska, on September 10, 1890. He published The Ashford Advocate for several years before moving to Scottsbluff in 1901 where he started the Pathfinder Land Company. Shumway was a member of the Robert W. Furnas Lodge No. 265 A.F. & A.M. and a charter member of Hannibal Lodge No. 40, Scottsbluff Knights of Pythias.
In 1917 and 1918 Shumway served as State Commissioner of Public Lands and Buildings. He also served for a time as Secretary of Agriculture under Governor Charles Bryan. Shumway was an author and poet, as well as editor of The History of Western Nebraska and Its People, published in 1921. Grant Lee Shumway died on November 7, 1925, as a result of complications following gall stone surgery. He was laid to rest at the Fairview Cemetery at Scottsbluff.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The collection consists of one folder of materials including several letters dating from 1905, two printed poems by G.L. Shumway, and a memorial program (two copies).
INVENTORY
Item
- Letter from Shumway (on Pathfinder Land Company stationary) to Joseph H. Millard (U.S. Senator from Nebraska), July 9, 1905, regarding land issues around Scottsbluff.
- Letter from Joseph H. Millard to the U.S. Department of the Interior, July 13, 1905, regarding Shumway’s letter on land issues
- Poem, “Moonlight on Scottsbluff,” printed card with Bostwick Studio image, n.d.
- Poem “One Year to Live,” small printed leaflet, written February of 1925
- Memorial program for Grant Lee Shumway, November 7, 1925 (2 copies)
Subject headings:
Pathfinder Land Company (Scottsbluff, Neb.)
Poetry
Scottsbluff (Neb.) — History
Shumway, Grant Lee, 1865-1925
Revised TMM 04-18-2018
