R. H. Shumway

R. H. Shumway is the name of both a mail-order seed company, onetime the largest in the world, and its founder Roland H. Shumway, most popularly known as R. H. Shumway "The Pioneer Seedsman".

Shumway was born July 26, 1842 at his family farm in Kishwaukee, Illinois. At the age of 19, he was enlisted and served in Illinois forces (there being no national standing army until World War I) during the American Civil War. Two years later, he re-enlisted in the 50th Illinois Volunteer. Between enlistments, he married Emma Davis in 1864, and together they had four sons and two daughters. He was discharged in 1865.[1]

In 1870, he founded the R. H. Shumway seed company on his farm in Rockford, Illinois. By 1981 1881 his company was expanding so the company relocated to South First street in order to accommodate larger facilities.[2] By his death in 1925, it was the largest in the world, shipping 200,000 catalogues per year.[3]

Shumway died in Rockford on the evening of December 30, 1925 from injuries suffered after being hit by an automobile three days prior.[1] After his death, his son Myron Shumway assumed responsibilities of the company. M. Raymond "Ray" Shumway ran the large mail-order business until he died of heart disease on March 16, 1933.[4]

In the 1980s the rights to the name were purchased and, after some effort to publicly rediscover the lines of seeds once carried, began operation, continuing to this day. Today the R.H. Seed Company name (along with Seymour's Select Seeds, Totally Tomatoes, Vermont Bean Seed Company, and HPS) belongs to the J.W. Jung Seed Company.

R. H. Seed Company, as always, has maintained the same guarantee: No genetically modified seed or plants are knowingly sold by Shumway. They are defined as mechanical transfer of genetic material between genera, families or kingdoms. R. H. Seed Company sells vegetable seeds and flower seeds including many old-time and heirloom varieties.

Notes
  1. Obituary, Rockford (Illinois) Daily Republic, January 2, 1926.
  2. Rockford Seed Sellers Carry Name To World", Rockford (Illinois) Morning Star, July 15, 1928.
  3. Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Ed. by Newton Bateman, L.L.D. and Paul Selby, A.M., Vol. II Winnebago County, ed. by Charles A. Church, Chicago, Munsen Publishing Co., 1916
  4. "M. R. Shumway, Prominent as Seedsman, Dies", Rockford Register-Republic, March 16, 1933.
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