RUMLEY, TEXAS. Rumley is on the Lampasas River one-half mile northeast of the junction of Farm roads 580 and 2527 in eastern Lampasas County. It was settled by ranchers in the late 1870s. Carl Bearden brought cattle to the area in 1878, and W. O. Williams settled near the site in 1880. The name is said to have been taken from the brand name on an unusually large threshing machine owned by two early settlers named Smart and Clay. In 1947 Rumley had a store and a church, and mail was delivered from Kempner. The population was estimated at forty from 1939 to 1947. The town still appeared on highway maps in the mid-1980s and was still listed as a community in 1990. In 2000 the population was eight.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fred Tarpley, 1001 Texas Place Names (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980).
