James Edward Murrell-Mary E. Robinson headstone in Calhoun Cemetery, Calhoun, Henry County, Missouri. Used with kind permission of the Find A Grave photographer, LaDon Brennan. (Click to enlarge.)
James Edward Murrell filed for a Civil War Pension on 14 July 1890. He was granted the pension he had earned as a Union soldier, on account of his invalid status.
James E. Murrell, Military Pension Card, via Ancestry.com. (Click to enlarge.)
Health issues were a problem for James in later years, and it would help to get his pension papers to learn more about his service and any injuries that may have caused him to have ill health in later years. (Copies of pensions are expensive and time-consuming to get from the National Archives.) In 1912 his pension payment was $12 (per month), then $15 in 1915, $19 in 1916, $27 in 1921, $32 in 1925, and then it was raised to $50, and finally $72, although no dates are noted for the last two rates.
James did move into the National Military Home for veterans that was in Leavenworth, Kansas. His first stay there was from 3 December 1912 to 22 April 1915, when he was admitted with a left arm injury and cardiac hypertrophy. He was in and out of the home for the rest of his life.
James Edward Murrell- National Military Home records, begun circa 1915, , via Ancestry.com. (Click to enlarge.)
His second marriage, to Dillie E. Fox in 1924, probably helped James get the care he needed but more of it at his own home, rather than the soldier’s home.
James died in Finley Township, Webster County, Missouri, at 5:00 pm on 24 May 1926. He was 83 years, 6 months, and 9 days old. His wife Dillie was the informant for the death certificate, and stated that he was a farmer, born in Virginia, but she did not know the names or birthplaces of his parents.
Calhoun Cemetery, Calhoun, Henry County, Missouri. Used with kind permission of the Find A Grave photographer, LaDon Brennan.
James was buried with his first wife, Mary E. Robinson, in Liberty Cemetery (now called Calhoun Cemetery) near where they were living in Seymour, Missouri.
James Edward Murrell-Mary E. Robinson headstone in Calhoun Cemetery, Calhoun, Henry County, Missouri- closeup. Used with kind permission of the Find A Grave photographer, LaDon Brennan. (Click to enlarge.)
A military stone was requested in 1939, but the stone on Find A Grave does not appear to be a military stone, although the government paperwork states that the stone was shipped.
James E. Murrell- Headstone Application for Military Veterans, 1923-1963, via Ancestry.com. (Click to enlarge.)James Edward Murrell-Mary E. Robinson headstone in Calhoun Cemetery, Calhoun, Henry County, Missouri-side view. Used with kind permission of the Find A Grave photographer, LaDon Brennan.
Since we have just recently found that James married a second time, we have not fully researched his second wife, Dillie E. Fox. We do not know when she died or where she was buried, and have not found her listed as Dillie Murrell on Find A Grave in Missouri She was just 56 when he died, so may have remarried.
Notes, Sources, and References:
Sources as listed with images.
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James Edward Murrell received his final pay and discharge in Illinois after serving in the Union Army of the Civil War. We do not know if he returned to the family farm in Warren County, Illinois, right after the war, or if he moved back to Missouri (where he had worked in 1860).
We do know, however, that he married Mary E. Robinson about two years after his discharge, on 17 November 1867 in Pettis County, Missouri. (Wonder if he had met Mary when he and his brother William Anderson Murrell were working in Missouri before the war?) The marriage record states that they were married at the home of the bride’s father, and all were “of Pettis County,” Missouri. So James had moved back to Missouri sometime after the war, and set down roots.
The parents of James migrated to Iowa in 1868, and some of their children went with them. Maybe, since some of their other children had moved far away from Warren County, Illinois, Wiley Anderson Murrell and his wife Mary Magdalen (Honts) Murrell had an easier decision as to whether or not they would migrate west. (See previous posts for details on this migration.)
We don’t know Mary E. Robinson’s history before the marriage, nor the names of her parents, so this is some additional research to add to the list.
James and Mary had 6 children born in Missouri: William Murrell b. 1869, James R. Murrell (1871-1951), Ida J. Murrell (1873-1917), Luther George Murrell (1877-1929), baby 1879-?, and Clifton Clemons Murrell b. 1882.
The family was in Elk Fork Township, Pettis, MO at the 1870 census. James was listed with Mary and 2-year-old son William. He was noted as a farmer with $200 in personal estate- no real estate value was listed. This suggests that he did not own land, so taking a look at his neighbors was the next research, as he may have been farming for them or a family member. Sure enough, on the census page prior, is his brother John Murrell with wife Lydia Rayburn and their two children. (John and Lydia had moved to Pettis sometime between their marriage in Warren Co., Illinois in 1862 and the 1870 census.) John was enumerated as a farmer with $1740 in real estate value, and $500 in personal estate value. Between entries for John and James a Benjamin Robertson and his wife and son were listed, and Benjamin was a farmer born in Missouri— he could be Mary’s older brother if the names were confused (Robinson/Robertson). Benjamin had $1950 in real estate and $300 in personal estate. Both Benjamin and John were 5-10 years older, so could have been the big brothers, helping their younger sister and brother (respectively) get started in farming. None of these farmers are found in The History of Pettis County, Missouri, including an authentic history of Sedalia, other towns and townships, together with … biographical sketches… by I. MacDonald Demuth, 1882, unfortunately, so it is hard to know more about their life and relationships.
James and Mary Murrell were still in Pettis County at the 1880 census, and in Calhoun, Henry, MO by 1900. Mary died 20 February 1905, and in 1910 James was living with his son James & family at age 68. Son James was listed as a farmer in Bowling Green Township, Pettis County, and they are noted as being on the Ag Schedule; they probably were living on the farm, maybe even the family farm?
In 1912 at age 70 James was in a US National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Delaware, Leavenworth, KS and is noted there multiple times through 1922.
Life changed for James E. Murrell on 22 March 1924. He married Dillie E. Fox on that date in Clayton, St. Louis, Missouri. That is on the other side of the state from Kansas- wonder how this marriage came about? And how did we learn about this marriage?
James Edward Murrell and his wife, likely Dillie E. Fox, in the early 1920s at Seymour, Missouri.
The above picture was kindly provided by cousins (thank you!) but it did not seem to be taken before 1905, when Mary E. (Robinson) Murrell died. Additionally, Mary was only about four years younger than James, and the unnamed woman in this picture appears quite a bit younger. Finding the death certificate of James helped solve this mystery- the informant was “Dillie E. Murrell” of Seymour, Missouri. So this image is likely of James with his second wife. A search brought up a Missouri marriage record for the pair:
22 March 1924 marriage record for James Edward Murrell and Dillie E. Fox, via “Missouri Marriage Records 1805-2002” on Ancestry. (Click to enlarge.)
James and Dillie were to have two years together as husband and wife.
Re: Find A Grave Memorials- please note that this author wrote the biographies on the memorials, so we are not plagiarizing in this post.
“The History of Pettis County, Missouri, including an authentic history of Sedalia, other towns and townships, together with … biographical sketches…” by I. MacDonald Demuth, 1882.
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Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
We last left James Edward Murrell in 1860. In June he was in Warren County, Illinois, on the family farm. By 7 September of that year, he was listed in the Wright County, Missouri US Federal Census, along with his older brother, William Anderson Murrell; both were listed as farm laborers. Traveling groups of farm laborers went from town to town during the harvest months back then (similar to today’s migrant workers, plus there are harvesting companies that migrate through the midwest in the fall along with their huge combines today), and groups would even go out of state. Since Wright County was about 350 miles from their family home in Illinois, the boys probably thought the trip would be their great adventure.
Soon, however, another ‘adventure’ would eclipse anything they had ever experienced, and anything they could have imagined.
The next year, 1861, William answered the call of President Abraham Lincoln and that of his country, and he enlisted in the Union Army. (See previous posts for more information about his service.) Likely the two young men had gone back to Illinois by then, as William enlisted in the 83rd Illinois, Co. H. (Whole counties would send their young men together to fight in this war, and sometimes only a few would return.) We are not sure where James was in 1861, although newspaper articles for Warren County might give us some details if we could find them.
James was just about 18 then, and may have stayed at home, helping his father on the family farm. The Civil War dragged on longer than either side had ever anticipated, and the losses on both sides were staggering. The family would have been very worried about William still serving in the Civil War, too.
The year 1865 began with our country still divided and at war. Congress approved the 13th Amendment (to abolish slavery forever in our country) on 31 January 1865, sending this change to our Constitution to the states for ratification. Just three days later, President Lincoln met with the Confederate Vice President, Alexander Stephens, with brokering peace the objective. The meeting failed to find a compromise, however, and the war continued. The Union had won significant victories, and the Confederate forces were quite outnumbered by that point– they only held two major areas of the south. The end was getting near.
On 4 March, President Lincoln was inaugurated for a second term. He was tired. Our nation was tired. But Lincoln, excellent and inspiring orator that he was, said,
“With malice toward none; with charity for all…let us strive on to finish the work we are in…to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
Hearing these words (via telegraph and newspapers) may have been the inspiration for 22-year-old James Edward Murrell to enlist in the Illinois Cavalry just seven days later (11 March). He joined Regiment 11, Company I in Monmouth, Illinois, as a private, and probably got on a train headed south to join the whole regiment. The war was coming to a close, and the next month, Gen. Robert E. surrendered. Amid the Union celebrations, the President was shot just five days later at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.; Lincoln died the next morning.
The regiment James joined had mustered in originally in 1861, and some units had seen a few of the war’s most important, toughest, and/or most brutal battles and conditions, including Corinth, Vicksburg, and marching with Gen. Sherman through Mississippi. Most of the Regiment’s time had been spent on the ‘Western’ front, in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Many historians feel that the war was really won at this front, since the army that controlled this area and the mighty Mississippi River also controlled supplies, transportation, and troop movements into and out of the South.
From January of 1865 until September, the 11th Regiment had duty on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, between Memphis and Grand Junction, Tennessee. Their headquarters were in LaGrange, Tennessee, and that likely was where James arrived to meet his unit. It was of utmost importance for the Union to maintain control of those local assets and areas. James, as a private, probably served as a guard and would have patrolled the rails, keeping them safe from sabotage by rebels and guerrillas. Skirmishes may have occurred with rebels on any day, and blue and gray soldiers would have taunted each other across a creek or open field, or taken a potshot just for effect. The regiment completed an expedition to Brownsville, Mississippi from Memphis on 23-26 April 1865. It will take deeper research to determine more about James’ unit while he was a part of it, so that we can know exactly what actions he was involved in, and when- his full pension application may have more details.
In May of 1865, the Union was reunited after the remaining Confederate forces surrendered. Moving Union troops and supplies back to their home states became the goal of the armies, and the railways that were still in service were crucial to this task, as were the steamships on the rivers. The transition from war and slavery was a difficult one for the South, and the Union Army was used to keep order at times, though again, we do not know if James E. Murrell was a part of that. His unit was mustered out on 30 September 1865, from Memphis, Tennessee. The above pension index card states that James was discharged by “s.o. 21,” probably ‘Special Order 21’ though we have been unable to determine what that was.
The Illinois 11th headed to Springfield, Illinois on 2 October 1865. By the 20th the unit had been paid and officially discharged, and the victorious Illinois troops could return to their homes and loved ones.
The six and a half months that James spent as a Union soldier in the Civil War was most probably the greatest adventure of his life. Although he did not fight as long as his older brother William Anderson Murrell did, James helped to keep the assets the Union held safe through the very end of the war. His service was also rewarded with a pension in later years, and he lived in the Old Soldier’s Home or ‘national Military Home’ in Leavenworth, Kansas for a number of years.
More to come about the rest of the life of James Edward Murrell.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
James Edward Murrell was the fifth of six children born to Wiley Anderson Murrell (1806-1885) and Mary Magdalene (Honts) Murrell (1806-1887). He was the youngest brother of our ancestor Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts.
James was born on 15 November 1842 in Botetourt County, Virginia, like the rest of his siblings. We can use the US Federal Census to follow his travels through his lifetime, and those censuses provide us some interesting information.
1850 US Federal Census of District 8, Botetourt County, Virginia, listing the Murrell family. (Click to enlarge.)
James was listed in the 1850 US Federal Census, living with his parents and siblings in District 8, Botetourt County, Virginia. In 1853 at age 11, he most likely made the trip with his family to Warren County, Illinois, walking the 175 miles alongside their covered wagon. Wonder what adventures he imagined or lived, and what treasures- rocks, feathers, broken wagon parts, bone, or ?? ended up in his boy’s pockets?
1860 US Federal Census for Wiley A. and Mary M. (Honts) Murrell in Warren County, Illinois, page 43, including son William Anderson Murrell. (Click to enlarge.)1860 US Federal Census for Wiley A. and Mary M. (Honts) Murrell in Warren County, Illinois, continued on page 44 with James Murrell and Ann Elisy/Eliza Murrell. (Click to enlarge.)
At the US Federal Census taken on 19 June 1860, James was in Swan Twp., Warren Co., Illinois, as expected, and attending school. He would have been 14 or 17 (depending on birth year which varies), so he may have been in high school- unusual for farm boys in those days.
1860 US Federal Census for William and James Murrell in Wright County, Missouri. (Click to enlarge.)
The 1860 census for Wright County, Missouri, however, also lists a William Murrell, age 16, and a James Murrell, age 14, working for the Starling Casey family as farm laborers. This census was taken on 7 September, later than the Warren County census. These laborers were probably our Murrell uncles, as young men often traveled to find work, and it was harvest time so work would have been plentiful. Adding to the evidence that these two are indeed our uncles is that the two names are the brothers of Elizabeth (although they are common names), the age difference is approximately correct, the person responding to the census taker did not know the birthplace of either young man, and also the fact that James later settled in Missouri.
Here is where a bit of history helps us understand their life choices. The country continued to divide in the early 1860s over the issues of slavery and states’ rights. Missouri was a hotbed for both sides at that time. Wright County is in the southern part of Missouri, which was admitted to the Union as a slave state with the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The “Compromise” was that Maine was admitted as a free state to maintain balance, and a boundary line was drawn across the Louisiana Purchase to divide slave and non-slave areas for the future. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 negated the Compromise, allowing new states to decide whether or not to allow slavery. This Act further increased the tensions, to the extent of raids, murder, lynchings, coercion, gangs, etc. in the midwest, and especially Kansas and Missouri. Then the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, which was handed down at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri (where the last slave auction on the courthouse steps took place in 1861) redefined the status of slaves. The decision stated that Africans had no right to citizenship in the United States, and that allowing Dred Scott to have his freedom (and his wife and children theirs) was a legislative overreach of Congress by denying personal property rights to slave owners. (Dred Scott remained a slave until his owners gave him his freedom later that year, but he died the following year, in 1858. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, where some of our Helbling ancestors are also buried.)
So had William and James gone to Missouri sometime between June and September, when the two censuses were taken, and then been enumerated in both? The census was supposed to include “every person whose usual place of abode on the 1st day of June, 1860, was in this family.” So were they already gone to Missouri and the Murrells listed them at home in Illinois, or did the Casey family or enumerator in Missouri not understand and asked who was living in the home on the day in September that the census was counted? No one should have been counted twice, but people who moved often were, as is likely in this instance.
It would be interesting to know how long these two young men were in southern Missouri, which was very pro-slavery in those years. How did they feel coming from a northern community, where the majority was primarily anti-slavery? What did they see or experience themselves in the fields? We have already discussed that the Murrell family may have migrated to Illinois from Virginia to escape the looming Civil War- was it for a belief that abolition was necessary, as well as the safety the family, their land, and possessions? Whatever the case, we have already shown that William Anderson Murrell was motivated to join the Union cause in 1862, and his little brother James Edward Murrell followed in his footsteps and did the same in 1865. It is possible that this time in Missouri led to those choices.
More to come about the Civil War service of James Edward Murrell, and where he was in the following census years.
US Federal Census records as described found on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
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Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
“Mr. and Mrs. William A. Murrell (Cordelia Talley Murrell) and daughter Permelia Jane (Murrell) Manuel (Mrs. John Manuel). The children are Charles Manuel (in checkered dress), Ethel Violet standing in middle, and Ode is being held by Mother.” per Eva Manuel Mitchell’s handwriting on reverse. Photo circa 1894, probably in Warren County, Illinois. (Click to enlarge.)
4 July 1926
Warren Co., IL., U.S.A.
Willie is in center with George Overton Murrell and Nora B. (Cunningham) Murrell at his side. Robert Gordon Murrell is boy in front of Nora. After Robert’s mom died in 1941 his dad remarried a woman named Grace. It lasted only a couple years. Robert then went to live with his grandparents George and Nora Murrell.Believe Willies’ wife and daughters are also in photo.
Another listing of persons in photo:
Pictured starting in front L-R are Reva Icenogle holding baby Janice Icenogle; don’t know little boy; little girl may be Mary Kay Short; Doris Short; Howard Moore; Florence Moore; Paul D. Moore; Mable Swearingen; William Murrell; George Murrell; Nora Murrell; Harry Eldredge; Lois Tatman; Barbara Icenogle; back row is Barney Swearigen; John Lovdahl; Edgar Icenogle; Edith Icenogle; and can’t tell the rest of the people. Possibly later than 1926. (Click to enlarge.)
Notes, Sources, and References:
Family treasure chest of photos. Thanks to the cousins who shared!
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Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
