According to his daughter Ada, as Julian Rumsey and his family fled their home on Huron Street, he entrusted a tin box of receipts for $60,000 worth of grain, which was "all the wealth he then possessed," to loyal family servant Christian Larson. Rumsey then retrieved from a safe "some little accumulation of interest on government bonds which he had given us children." He also took a treasured painting from off the wall and offered a passing stranger half the money in his pocket, which turned out to be twenty-five dollars, to carry it to a place of safety.
The Rumseys were in many respects very fortunate. They got away unharmed, and although Larson was briefly separated from the family, during this time he encountered the man with the painting, who was "only too glad to be relieved of it." The grain was insured by a firm that remained solvent, so the receipts proved to be of great value. "Also the insurance for our house was held by an English company and so was paid," Ada noted, adding, "Many American Insurance Companies were made bankrupt by the fire and were unable to meet their obligations."
The watch fared less well. "Among other things found in the ruins of our house was Father's watch," she recalled. "While preparing for bed before he knew of the fire, he had put the watch under his pillow and had then forgotten it. When found, the hands were melted into the face at the hour when the heat became too intense for the works to run any longer. This was at 1:15 A.M. The blackened watch and chain are still preserved, but the hands have broken off."
