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| Rudolph Vampill From The Lumberton Argus July 28, 1905 |
Breslau, Germany. White.
Education: M.D. (University of Maryland)
Occupation: physician.
Rudolph Vampill was born in Breslau (now the Polish city of Wrocław) to unknown parents. At the time, Breslau was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, but Vampill consistently described himself as Polish in records.
Several accounts say that Vampill lived in Leipzig and received medical training in Berlin and Vienna. In America, Vampill described himself as a professor of music and a member of the Vienna Royal Academy of Arts. Vampill also lived in Cuba according to one obituary, although it is unclear whether that was before or after he immigrated to America.
Several accounts say that Vampill lived in Leipzig and received medical training in Berlin and Vienna. In America, Vampill described himself as a professor of music and a member of the Vienna Royal Academy of Arts. Vampill also lived in Cuba according to one obituary, although it is unclear whether that was before or after he immigrated to America.
As a young man, Vampill fought for the Kingdom of Hungary in the 1848 Hungarian Revolution against the Austrian Empire. He served under the Polish General Józef Bem and was a captain in the Hungarian Dragoons. He participated in several battles and was wounded. The revolution was defeated in 1849.
Accounts of when Vampill immigrated to the United States are contradictory. It would have been natural for him to have left Europe after Bem's army was defeated, but he appears to have arrived in America several years later. He first appears in the historical record in May 1854. That month a newspaper in Fayetteville, North Carolina ran an advertisement for Vampill's services as a music teacher. Several later accounts, including an obituary, state that Vampill only arrived in America at a later time, in 1857. Vampill himself wrote on an 1892 naturalization document that he arrived in the United States in April 1859.
Accounts of when Vampill immigrated to the United States are contradictory. It would have been natural for him to have left Europe after Bem's army was defeated, but he appears to have arrived in America several years later. He first appears in the historical record in May 1854. That month a newspaper in Fayetteville, North Carolina ran an advertisement for Vampill's services as a music teacher. Several later accounts, including an obituary, state that Vampill only arrived in America at a later time, in 1857. Vampill himself wrote on an 1892 naturalization document that he arrived in the United States in April 1859.
The obituary for Vampill states that he first arrived in New York but then moved to Chicago. After living there a "short while," the obituary states that he moved to North Carolina, first teaching taught music in Raleigh, then in Goldsboro, and finally in Fayetteville. Except for the 1857 date of his arrival in America, this account is consistent with existing records. For example, the Fayetteville newspaper published advertisements for Vampill's services in 1854.
After he'd been teaching music in North Carolina for a few years, Vampill received medical training. In 1857, he received an M.D. from the College of Medicine of Maryland (which is now part of University of Maryland). As part of his studies, he submitted a dissertation on the disease croup. By 1858, he had moved to Hillsborough, North Carolina, but he moved to South Carolina 2 years later (in 1860). In South Carolina, he lived in Little Rock and Mullin's Depot (which became Mullins in 1872) in Marion County.
In Mullin's Depot, Vampill worked as a physician and developed a large plot of land which he purchased. He built a park with a fish pond and swings and maintained a grape vineyard and a wine press. By 1869, he was exporting grapes to New York. He was fondly regarded by many town residents. One resident, writing roughly 30 years after Vampill had left the town, recalled Vampill's residence and said that, "In his ideas of a town and its progress Dr. Vampill was 100 years ahead of Mullins of his day."
Vampill's activities during the Civil War are poorly documented. He appears to have remained in Marion county, working as a physician and tending to his vineyard. An October 1863 newspaper advertisement announces that he was selling a 100 acre planation near Marion.
After the war, Vampill seems to have been supportive of the Republican government as he held multiple government positions: during the late 1860s and early 1870s, he was Treasurer for Marion County, Postmaster for Mullin's Deport, Intendant of Mullins, and Marion County Commissioner for the 1872 State Election. The last position was an appointment made by Republican Governor Robert K. Scott, and one newspaper reported that all such appointments were to Radicals.
One history of the University of South Carolina states that Vampill was removed as County Treasurer for "malfeasance." However, existing records are unclear on what precisely transpired. In early 1872, the state General Assembly passed a joint resolution relieving Vampill of responsibility for uncollected taxes for 1868 (taxes amounting to roughly $8,000). However, the resolution does not state that Vampill was relieved due to malfeasance but rather because his records had been destroyed in a fire. Vampill was removed as Treasurer by Governor Franklin J. Moses in November 1873, but no reason for the removal was given. A 1911 account in a newspaper that was generally hostile towards the Reconstruction government speaks highly of Vampill as a public official and makes no mention of any malfeasance.
Vampill was made Professor of Modern Languages at the University of South Carolina around November 1873. He took over the professorship from John C. Faber. Faber had been dismissed in early October, a few days before the first African American student enrolled at the university. No reason was given for his dismissal, but all professors who had been at the university in the 1860s were gone by this time. University records are incomplete, but it seems that the professors were removed by the Board of Trustees (which was largely composed of Radical Republican politicians) because of conflict over university reforms, especially the enrollment of African American students.
Vampill only stayed at the university for about a year. Of Vampill, his former student C. C. Scott only wrote that he was "a native German, and spoke English imperfectly."
Vampill resigned from the university on January 30, 1875. In his letter of resignation, Vampill speaks highly of the university and states that he is leaving to tend to business affairs.
After leaving the university, Vampill returned to Mullins and worked on some inventions. In the summer of 1876, he received government patents for a wheel hoe and a compound-engine jack (the latter was jointly awarded to him and another resident of Mullins, William C. Taylor). A new feature of the wheel hoe was that it could be adjusted to change the depth at which the hoe worked.
The engine jack was designed to replace locomotive engines that had run off track. A difficulty was that replacing a locomotive engine requires moving the engine both vertically and laterally, and the lateral movement presents a mechanical challenge. The invention improved over previous designs by more easily enabling the lateral movement.
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| Sketch of compound engine-jack From Scientific American |
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| Sketch of wheel hoe From U.S. patent |
Around the time he received the patents, Vampill left the South. He and his family moved to Philadelphia so that his wife Anne Jane could attend the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia (now part of Drexel University College of Medicine). The family moved around the midwest for the remainder of the 1870s. Vampill registered as a physician in Springfield, Illinois in January 1876, but by 1878, he was living in LePort, Indiana. Before the year's end, he had moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he stayed until around 1879.
By 1880, Vampill had returned to Marion County, South Carolina. He continued to work as a physician and maintained a farm. He reported on the census that he owned 50 acres of tilled land and 800 acres of woodland. On this land, he grew Indian corn, Irish potatoes, and cotton. This mix of subsistence and cash-crop farming was typical for an upstate farm.
By 1881, Vampill and his family had left South Carolina to return to North Carolina. The family lived for a brief time in Charlotte, NC, but soon settled in Lumberton, North Carolina, then a small town of about 600 people. Vampill had a love for music, and in Lumberton, he became a patron of the arts and built an opera house. The opera house was active for about 50 years. The building was then used as a hotel until it was demolished in the 1960s.
Vampill had been working as a physician since leaving the University of South Carolina, but he tried making a living through music around 1889. At that time, he moved to Gainesville, Florida to work as the music instructor at East Florida Seminary, a public school that was later merged into the University of Florida.
By 1892, Vampill had left his position at the seminary and had moved to Savannah, GA, where he resumed working as a physician. Vampill had returned to Lumberton by 1897 and mostly stayed there for the remainder of his life, although he returned to Savannah in 1900.
Vampill had been working as a physician since leaving the University of South Carolina, but he tried making a living through music around 1889. At that time, he moved to Gainesville, Florida to work as the music instructor at East Florida Seminary, a public school that was later merged into the University of Florida.
By 1892, Vampill had left his position at the seminary and had moved to Savannah, GA, where he resumed working as a physician. Vampill had returned to Lumberton by 1897 and mostly stayed there for the remainder of his life, although he returned to Savannah in 1900.
By the time he had returned to Lumberton, Vampill had retired from working as a physician.He had evidently accumulated a significant amount of wealth and remained active in town affairs. In addition to helping run the opera house he built, he purchased a hotel and renovated it.
Vampill's wife died of natural causes in 1904. Vampill remained in the town and became somewhat of an eccentric, albeit a highly esteemed one. Even though his daughter and her family lived in town, he began living alone in his Opera House, spending his time reading and playing music.
On the morning of September 17, 1907, after he'd been living in the Opera House for several years, was discovered unconscious in his bed. He had suffered a stroke of apoplexy, and he died the next day without remaining consciousness. He is buried in town, at Meadowbrook Cemetery.
Despite his involvement with South Carolina's Reconstruction government, at the time of his death, Vampill was well-regarded by many residents of both Lumberton and Mullin's. One account of Vampill's life that appeared in a Mullin's newspaper a few years after he died described him as
a man of many distinguishing characteristics, a fine musician, a kind neighbor and an intendant, the like of whom Mullins has never had [again]. He was progressive, scientific in his manner of thought and education, but of the advanced thought of the German people in matters of God and his attributes.Many of Vampill's descendants remained in North Carolina, and a few of them achieved prominence. Vampill's grandson Frank Ertel Carlyle was a North Carolina congressman who was a signatory to the 1956 Southern Manifesto (opposing the desegregation of public schools). His granddaughter was Janie Carlyle Hargrove, a noted missionary, educator, and philanthropist.
Publications
1) An Inaugural Dissertation on Croup. 1857. University of Maryland. M.D. dissertation.
Sources
1). Cordell, Eugene Fauntleroy, Historical Sketch of the University of Maryland, School of Medicine (1807-1890). Press of Isaac Friedenwald, Baltimore (1891).
2). "First Intendent of Mullins." The Dillon herald, January 12, 1911, p. 1.
3) "Music! Music!! Music!!!" Fayetteville Weekly Observer [North Carolina]. May 1, 1854.
2). "First Intendent of Mullins." The Dillon herald, January 12, 1911, p. 1.
3) "Music! Music!! Music!!!" Fayetteville Weekly Observer [North Carolina]. May 1, 1854.
3). "Dr. R. Vampill." The Southerner, July 5, 1856, p. 2.
4). "List of Letters." The Hillsborough Recorder, July 14, 1858, p. 3.
5). "Post Offices in South Carolina." The Daily Phoenix, June 22, 1866, p. 2.
6). "Grape Sales in New York." American Citizen, February 27, 1869, p. 4.
7). "A New Enterprise." The Charleston daily news, May 10, 1869, p. 4.
4). "List of Letters." The Hillsborough Recorder, July 14, 1858, p. 3.
5). "Post Offices in South Carolina." The Daily Phoenix, June 22, 1866, p. 2.
6). "Grape Sales in New York." American Citizen, February 27, 1869, p. 4.
7). "A New Enterprise." The Charleston daily news, May 10, 1869, p. 4.
8). "Legislative Proceedings." The Daily Phoenix, February 24, 1872, p. 2.
9). "South Carolina Wines." The Abbeville press and banner, February 28, 1872, p. 2.
10). "Laws of the State." The Charleston daily news, March 14, 1872, p. 1.
11). "The Fall Elections." The Charleston daily news, August 20, 1872, p. 1.
12). The Daily Phoenix, November 5, 1873, p. 2.
13). "Editorial Correspondence." Port Royal commercial and Beaufort County Republican, November 6, 1873, p. 2.
14). "City Matters." The Daily Phoenix, December 15, 1874, p. 2.
15). "Partners Wanted." Chicago daily tribune, February 6, 1878, p. 3.
16). The Cincinnati daily star, December 30, 1878, Third Edition, p. 3.
17). "Medical Notice." The Charlotte Democrat, July 8, 1881, p. 1.
18). "Consumption." The farmer and mechanic, August 30, 1882, p. 4.
19) "Death of Mrs. A. J. Vampill." The Robesonian [Lumberton, NC]. December 3, 1903. p. 3.
20) "Purchase the Blake Hotel." The Robesonian [Lumberton, NC]. January 29, 1904. p. 5.
19) "Dr. Rudolph Vampill." The Lumberton Argus [Lumberton, North Carolina]. July 28, 1905. p. 33.
20) "Dr. Vampill Stricken: Leading Citizen of Lumberton Had a Stroke of Apoplexy." Wilmington Morning Star [Wilmington, NC]. September 18, 1907. p 4.
21) "Dr. Vampill Dead." Wilmington Morning Star [Wilmington, NC]. September 19, 1907. p 1.
19). "Lumberton Old Opera House." The Robesonian, July 23, 2015.
20). Cincinnati, Ohio, City Directory, 1879
21). Resarch Library & Municipal Archives City of Savannah, Georgia; Savannah, Georgia; Series Title: City Court, Naturalization Records, 1825-1904; Record Series Number: 5600CC-035; Box Number: 10
22). Savannah, Georgia, City Directory, 1891, 1892
23). "South Carolina News." The Charlotte Democrat, April 10, 1876, p. 2.
24). "Hargrave, Janie Carlyle" in Powell, William S., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
H-K, Volume 3. University of North Carolina Press (1988).
25). "A New Compound Engine Jack." Scientific American, August 5, 1876. p. 83.
26). Vampill, Rudolph. "Improvement in Wheel-Hoes." Patent No. 181,380. United States Patent Office. July 22, 1876.
27) 1860; Census Place: Marion, Marion, South Carolina; Page: 113
27) 1870; Census Place: Reeves, Marion, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1503; Page: 254A
28) 1880; Census Place: Reeves, Marion, South Carolina; Roll: 1235; Page: 305A; Enumeration District: 100
29) 1880; Census Place: Reeves, Marion, South Carolina; Archive Collection Number: AD273; Roll: 12; Page: 12; Line: 8; Schedule Type: Agriculture
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