Albert E. Tumelson was born in Jasper county, Illinois, on January 29, 1869, being the son of William C. and Sarah E. (Grove) Tumelson, natives of Illinois. They are now retired and living in Cedarvale, Kansas. The father served in the Civil war and was one of the unfortunates who languished in Andersonville, that den of suffering. When Albert was two years old the family went to Chautauqua county, Kansas, and later they moved across the line into Cowley county. Our subject grew to the age of sixteen with his parents and then started in the battle of life for himself. He gained his education in the common schools and worked at various places on the farms and in the coal mines until nineteen and then came to the west. For five or six years he toiled in the agricultural region of Whitman county adjacent to Palouse. Then he bought a claim in Garden Gulch in Latah county and when the water was plenty in the spring he used the hydraulic and did well. In the summer time he would harvest and in the fall worked with the threshers. One winter was spent in trapping and hunting at the forks of the Saint Marys river in Idaho, and in this undertaking, as in his other labors, Mr. Tumelson was blessed with success. In 1897 he came to the reservation and took his present place and this has been the scene of his labors since. Having a little capital, he at once bought a team and wagon, fenced the land and built a good house. He has now a fine bunch of stock, cattle, hogs and horses, and is doing a general farming business. He has manifested great wisdom and discrimination in his business affairs and this coupled with his native force and energy have given him abundant success. Mr. Tumelson has also operated a binder and a thresher much of the time. He is a man of excellent standing and is the recipient of the good will of all the neighbors and in fact of all who know him. On February 18, 1903, Mr. Tumelson was married to Miss Telva Ross, daughter of Mr. Dick Ross, of Kansas. Mr. Tumelson has given of his time for the work of clerk of the school board and he is heartily in sympathy with all advancement in education and betterment of the people in all lines.