- Mystery Monday: Frederick Asbury “F. A.” McMurray- Sheriff of Newton, Iowa?
- Tuesday’s Tip: Using County Histories to Understand F. A. McMurray’s Time as Sheriff of Jasper County, Iowa
- Wishful Wednesday: F. A. McMurray and His Nomination as Sheriff
- Thankful Thursday: F.A. McMurray Elected Sheriff of Jasper Co., Iowa
- F. A. McMurray vs. Chas. H. Hook for Sheriff of Jasper Co., Iowa
- Sorting Saturday: F. A. McMurray and Recounting the Vote for Sheriff of Jasper Co., Iowa
- Madness Monday: F. A. McMurray and the Sheriff’s Office of Jasper County, Iowa
McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)
Last week we looked at the political life of our ancestor Frederick Asbury “F. A.” McMurray starting with the post, “Mystery Monday: Frederick Asbury “F. A.” McMurray- Sheriff of Newton, Iowa?” Although the results of that election were very disappointing to the family, F. A. continued to be active in the Democratic party of Jasper County.
One later newspaper mention of his political activity was quite interesting. It was published less than 2 years after he had won the election for Sheriff, taken the oath of office, paid his bond, and received the above Certificate of Election. The results were contested by his Republican opponent, and Fred had endured the wait of a recount, heard the news that he had actually lost by a very small margin, and then had to see his opponent actually take the office of Sheriff. At the 1901 Democratic Convention in Jasper Co., “Fred A. McMurray” was nominated for Sheriff. He was unanimously acclaimed by the party for the office.
But wait…
… Mr. McMurray positively declined as he had not time to attend to the duties of the office.
“Positively declined”- definitely understandable.
Fred truly was pretty busy- he was crying a lot of farm sales as an auctioneer, traveling to buy livestock and then traveling further to sell it. He had a number of business as well as real estate transactions in those years, and rebuilt a home for himself and his wife, Hannah Melissa (Benjamin) McMurray. So it was a legitimate excuse for not running.
Back at the convention, Fred quickly nominated another man, John Scarborough, who was unanimously acclaimed as the Democratic party’s man for Sheriff of Jasper County.
Being an auctioneer, buyer and seller of livestock and property, and long-time active member of the Democratic party most recently in a Republican era, Fred was a pretty astute guy. Turning down the nomination was a smart thing.
The person elected as Sheriff of Jasper County, Iowa, in 1901, was not the Democratic candidate put forth by Fred, but the Republican: Charles H. Hook, who had beat Fred by just 8 votes two years before.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Hereby ends the sad saga of Frederick Asbury McMurray and the office of Sheriff of Jasper County, Iowa.
Notes, Sources, and References:
- “Mystery Monday: Frederick Asbury “F. A.” McMurray- Sheriff of Newton, Iowa?” begins a 7-part series on this election.
http://heritageramblings.net/2018/12/03/mystery-monday-frederick-asbury-f-a-mcmurray-sheriff-of-newton-iowa/ - Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa by Weaver, James Baird, pages 92-93, via https://archive.org/details/pastpresentofjas01weav/page/92
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