BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES DEVALSON BAMFORD

James Devolson Bamford was born November 20, 1867, on Wolfe Island, Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada. He was one of five children born to William Wells & Irene (nee:Dixon) Bamford. They named him after William Wells brother James Devolson Bamford who had drown a month before on Cotober 17, 1867, while on board a ship with his brother William. He was washed overboard and his body never recovered in the Great Lakes. You will find Devolson spelled in many different ways also his nickname Voltie, Valtie,Volty. Even in his mothers diaries ( which can be found on my site) she would spell it differently at times. He always lived on Wolfe Island and in the same house which now has gone. If you go past the little St. Lawrence Cemetery there and turn left on the next road and follow it to the end his house used to set on the right at the end. This is called the foot of the Island because of it's shape. I remember seeing Uncle Voltie at least once on our trips to Wolfe Island, it would have been about 1953. My grandmother used to get upset with him because he didn't believe in anything she used to call him an old repubate (not sure I spelled that right). When he was young he was considered quite the ladies man, he went to a lot of dances even playing a Fiddle at them and always had a lot of girls after him. He never married probably because he was enjoying his lifestyle of being fancy free.

He lived with his mother until she died in 1922 and had helped her raise 4 orphans

Two of the orphans Edith & Emma Lehman were adopted out of the orphanage in Kingston, about the year 1911/12 the exact date is in her diary, I would have to look it up. They were about 9 & 12 at the time, Emma was a really good girl and helped a lot, Edith is discribed as a wilder child always getting into something. When they grew up Emma married Joe Woodman & i don't remember where Edith went , They did have another sister. Edith had a baby ( as per the diaries) and it was Valtie's she was named Irene after Valtie's mother Irene Dixon Bamford. The story was kept quite and Emma & Joe raised her as their child, even she didn't know it. Emma had other children.

The Woodmans lived next door and the families were always close and the last few years Valtie lived it was with the Woodmans.

I also have this written on my Find A Grave site where I added the cemetery listing.JAMES DEVALSON (VALTIE) BAMFORD

Unidentified paper

James Devalson (Valtie) Bamford b:Nov.20,1867 d:July 6,1960

The Island Mourns the Passing of one of it's Oldest Residence. J.D.Bamford

Death occured to one of the Island's (Wolfe Island) oldest residents on July the 6th in the Kingston Hospital where he had been since May 22 at the age of ninty two.

He was the second son of the late William Wells Bamford and Irene (Dixon)Bamford and brother of the late Wells;John;also two sisters the late Mrs.Charles(Isabell) Halliday and Mrs.Robert B.(Grace)Gaskin all of Watertown and vicinity. He is the last of the family. He was born on Wolfe Island and lived there all his life on the farm where he was born. The Island has lost one of their most useful residents as he was the handy man for the commuity. Blacksmith and carpenter he could build boats and many have them for his memory.(Also made wooden duck decoys for hunting.)

A great reader of books and everything in general and his mind so clear until the end.

He never married but had helped to bring up four orphan children(with his mother) who passed away at the age of 82 in 1922.

His funeral was held from his late residence where he had made his home for the past 12 years with Bert and Betty Woodman,and interned in the Cemetary which was on the farm and had been donated by his father also the church which burned a few years ago.

He had lived to see so many changes the Ocean's boats passing by up the St Lawrence and had hoped to live to see a bridge in his time. If the world could have more of such useful and kind people in it there would be better understanding in it.

(This article was written by his niece Irene (Halliday)King. He was also noted for his wooden decoy's and he could play a mean fiddle and played for a lot of the local dances. He was known as a ladies man. He was a very good carpenter and to this day a lot of the kitchens on Wolfe Island can show his handy work. The dates are different as to the month he died.It's not on the tombstone and some places it say's June and others it's July. I know it was summer of 1960.He was not the last of the Bamford line there are many decendants of that family today.)

Repley to query from Gus Rogers

HI Gus

You are right.There is a J. D. Bamford buried at Sand Bay Cem. There were 2 of them .The most of the Bamfords are eithier in Sand Bay or The St. Lawrence United Church Cem Wolfe Island .The one in Sand Bay was Rachel Dixon's Husband. He drowned in Oct.17,1867 his body was never recovered so the stone was only a memorial stone. Rachel is buried on Wolfe Island.They had a son Albert C.b:1865 & d:1886 after being hit in the head with a baseball. They also had a baby girl Rachel who died young. That J.D. Bamford married to Aunt Rachel (as she was known on the Island)was a son of Albert and Cordelia (Gotham) Bamford. The James Devolsom Bamford I did the obit on today was born a month after the other one,his uncle,died he was son of William Wells & Irene (Dixon) Bamford he is buried on Wolfe Island. He lived down on the South point of The Island Known as Bamford point. I believe if they liked a name they seem to use it often. All the Bamfords in that area are related. That William Wells was my gr,gr,grandfather He had an uncle named William Wells and a son William Wells Who they called Wells, Welly or Wells William (who married Eveline Joslyn,first named spelled different at times) and was also a son of Albert & Cordelia (Gotham) Bamford.I see on the Grindstone Island web site they have them mixed up. Do you wonder why. And that's how I'm related to Nan Dixon. No one can say genealogy is dull.

This article about Uncle Voltie's decoys he made appeared in a local paper, I don't know which one or what the date was ( probably in the 1960's )but it wasn't the Times. Mom had one of his decoys for years and I think she gave it to her brother Ross. I remember Flora King had a couple of them sitting on her fireplace. He had written his name on mom's but I don't know if he did all of them or not. I am sure some can still be found today.

JAMES DEVALSON BAMFORD

1867 - 1960

Valtie Bamford probably made more decoys than any other Wolfe Island carver, certainly into the thousands. They were well made, sturdy working decoys, popular with hunters. Bamford made decoys from the early 1900's until about 1950, with most of his commercial production between 1920 and the mid 1940's.

Valtie spent his entire life on the south - shore farm where he was born, and is buried in the small cemetery there. His father Captain William Wells Bamford, sailed on Great Lake schooners, and Valtie worked on the boats for a few seasons before settling on the family farm. He was good with his hands, an excellent carpenter, be it constructing buildings or boats, or carving decoys. He designed the boats himself, generally in lapstrake construction. Some are still in use. In the heyday of the Thousand Island mansions, Bamford would leave the Island before sunrise to row downriver for a days carpentry work at $1.00 a day.

Bamford was a life long bachelor, a lively one with a good social life. He played a mean fiddle and was in demand for dances throughout the island. He is remembered as a non - believer. He used to say:� I don�t believe in anything. They will bury me there in the cemetery yard, but I don�t believe in it!� Bamford made mainly bluebill and whistler decoys, the most commonly hunted ducks on the island. In fact, it was thought that he made only these species until some redheads, unmistakable carved by him, appeared at the Clayton Decoy Show a few years ago. He developed his own patterns, using basically the same body for all species, but changing the head shape. Bert Woodman, who grew up on the Bamford farm and hunted with Valtie, remembers him studying ducks on the water so that he could get his decoys sitting just right. The bodies of his decoys were made of well dried red cedar, the heads from green basswood (easier to carve then dry wood). They are medium sized, well shaped, broad and sturdy, with relatively short necks. Some have tack eyes, some glass eyes. Most of his drake and hen bluebills were carefully comb - painted. The odd one had the feather blending typical to some Alex Bay decoys. Bamford made his own paint from lampblack, white lead and ochre. All of the Bamfords decoys I have seen have spoon weights and inset anchor - cord staples. The hole for the head screw was filled with cork to allow easy access for tightening. All in all, it was highly efficient design for volume production.

Sam Denney of Clayton, New York was a contemporary of Bamfords and a rival in the decoy business. Chauncey Wheeler was just downriver and hunted on the island. There are similarities among Bamford, Denney and Wheeler birds, particularly in the profile of the head and breast. Bamford decoys can be distinguished by their lack of detail carving on the bills; only a simple line where the bill joins the head. Denney and Wheeler decoys have more elaborate carving, including nostrills, mandible separations and carving at the base of the bill. The eye grooves on Bamford decoys are shorter then those of the other two.

Bamfords decoys were sold by Lemmon�s Hardware in Kingston (which became Vandervoorts in 1945) , so most of them went off the island. It�s not known how many he made, but the number was certainly well into the thousands. Tim O�Shea recalls that they had 300 Bamford bluebills at their north shore farm in the 1930's. In early 1940's , Bill Keil, a Wolfe Island guide, reportedly bought 300 from Bamford at one time for $1.50 each.

The old hands at Wolfe Island duck hunting think the Bamford decoys are well made, well balanced, durable decoys that ride well on the water - just what good working decoys should be. (JMS)

The picture's below read #1 Valtie Bamford with Elsie Woodman, ca.1950. taken by Bert Woodman..#2 is on the picture click on it to enlarge. #3 Bamford bluebills, 1920s/30s. Comb paint on hen, feather blending on drake. #4 Bamford whistlers, repainted by Sid Fawcett to Bamford patterns.