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Edward A. McMurray, Jr. and April 12, 1924- A Very Special Day, Part 2

Telegram with congratulations to Edith Roberts McMurray on the birth of her son, Edward A. McMurray, Jr., April 16, 1924. [Click to enlarge.]
McMurray Family  or Roberts Family (Click for Family Trees)

Since it is still the birthday week of Edward A. McMurray, Jr., let’s continue celebrating with some of the treasures we still have, in addition to all the wonderful memories.

Edward A. McMurray, Sr. (1900-1992) was still in medical school in St. Louis, Missouri, when his first son was born. Here he is with Edward A. McMurray, Jr., who was 11 months old at the time. “Dr.” McMurray would graduate from St. Louis University Medical School just a few months after this picture was taken:

Edward A. McMurray, Sr., with his first son, Edward A. McMurray, Jr., about March, 1925. [Click to enlarge.]
And here is the proud mama again, Edith M. Roberts McMurray, when Edward Jr. was a bit older, perhaps around his first birthday:

Edith Roberts McMurray with son Edward A. McMurray, Jr, about 1925. [Click to enlarge.]
On the Roberts side, Edith’s sister, Ethel G. Roberts Robison (1891-1969), had a son and two daughters, so Edward was not the first grandchild on that branch of the family tree. Sadly however, George Anthony Roberts (1861-1931), Edith’s father, had not wanted Ethel to marry the man she did (though in the long run Ethel made the better choice), and George would not even acknowledge his first three grandchildren. So to “Daddy George,” Edward’s nickname for him, Edward was essentially his first, and only, grandchild.

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., with his grandfather George A. Roberts, about 1926. From the photo album Edward put together in the late 1940s, when he was about to get married. [Click to enlarge.]
Edith’s mother, Ella V. Daniel Roberts (1866-1922), had passed away two years before Edward was born. It must have been very hard for Edith to not have her beloved momma with her to rejoice in the birth of a dear son!

On the McMurray side, Edward Jr. was the cherished very first grandchild. His paternal grandparents, Lynette Payne McMurray, and William Elmer McMurray, were doting grandparents:

Three generations of McMurrays: Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Sr. on left, his mother Lynette (Payne) McMurray holding his son Edward A. McMurray, Jr., and her husband and Dr. McMurray’s father, William E. McMurray on the right. Probably taken in 1924. [Click to enlarge.]
Edith, in the stories she wrote about her life, spoke about Will McMurray and what a “jovial and friendly” man he was, with “a most hearty laugh.” She called Will, “Dad” and Lynette, “Mother” and was very close to them throughout their lives. Edith wrote about how Will was known to all as “Bill.”

“He would be hailed from every street corner.  “Hey Bill, how goes it this morning?” Dad would have a ready answer.

He loved the circus.  When Edward Jr. was just six weeks old, we went to one out north of town.  Proudly Dad carried his first Grandchild on his fat tummy and you can imagine the attention he got.  “How about having a look at the boy Bill?”  Dad just beamed and the rest of us acted stupid, grinning from ear to ear.”

Lynette (Payne) McMurray holding her grandson, Edward A. McMurray, Jr. Taken sometime in 1924, as Ed was born April 12th of that year.

The family nickname for Ed’s paternal great-grandmother was “Amino” which was pronounced “AM-in-o.” The caption was written by Ed, Jr. in his family scrapbook he created around 1948, just before he got married. Since he was the oldest grandchild, perhaps he came up with her nickname as he was learning to talk!

William and Lynette’s other son, Herbert C. McMurray (1911-1989), Edward’s paternal uncle, was just 13 years old when Ed Jr. was born.

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., with his 13 year-old paternal uncle, Herbert C. McMurray, likely taken in April, 1924. Caption by Edward in his photo album. [Click to enlarge.]
A bit older, Edward looks like he is not so sure about this ride Uncle Herbert was providing:

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., being carried by his uncle, Herbert McMurray, circa 1925. [Click to enlarge.]
Edward, Jr. was lucky enough to have two great-grandparents still living when he was born.  We do not have any pictures of him with his great-grandfather Frederick Asbury “F.A.” McMurray (1859-1929), but here Ed is with Hannah Malissa Benjamin McMurray (1854-1932), F.A.’s wife. In his later years, Ed was able to recognize her in this picture, but all he could remember was, “She was very stern.”

Hannah Melissa Benjamin with her great-grandson, Edward A. McMurray, Jr., about 1925. [Click to enlarge.]
When he was a bit older, about 3 or 4, Ed hung out with his buddy Uncle Herbert:

Herbert C. McMurray with his nephew Edward A. McMurray, Jr. on left, and an unknown baby. The baby may be his niece, Mona Lynette Cook (1927-1970), daughter of Herbert and Edward Sr’s sister, Maude Lynette “Midge” McMurray Cook. Herbert did not have children when Ed was this young. Probably taken about 1928. [Click to enlarge.]
Herbert was such a favorite with Edward Jr.- in fact, Ed asked Herbert to be his best man when he married in 1948!

Edith adored her in-laws. She traveled back and forth between Newton and St. Louis to be with Ed Sr. who was still in medical school and then likely completing his residency there. Edith wrote:

“They were so good to me.  I stayed with them a lot, in the summer when it was too hot for us to be in St. Louis and later in an apartment on the north side of 322 E 4th St. W.  I can see where we were no doubt a nuisance as [Edward] had colic and one night we had a cyclone and both of us were so exhausted that is Edward and I, we slept thru it and his baby carriage was blown off the porch and Fourth street was blocked with trees blown down.

Dad sold my cakes I made so that I could make enuf money to go to St. Louis in the fall and I was always taken with them on Sundays to Des Moines and to Hudson where we went to visit the McMillans.  I believe they were cousins of Mothers.  It would have been so nice if Mother and Dad had gone by themselves.  On the way home nine times out of ten we had a flat tire.  It would be late at night and every one tired.  Dad and I would get out and Mother would hold the sleeping grandson… [while he was] getting it fixed…”

All that family love in the early years helped Edward Arthur McMurray, Jr. grow into the fine man he would later become.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Family treasure chest of photos, letters, ephemera, etc.
  2. Wonderful biographies written by Edith M. Roberts McMurray Luck about the  people she knew and loved. Provided above as she wrote them, with her spelling abbreviations and lack of punctuation- she was always too busy to pause for a comma or stop for a period!
  3. “The Saga of Ed McMurray, Family and Friends,” a scrapbook put together by Ed around 1948 before he got married. Perhaps it was partially a scorecard for his soon-to-be-wife, Mary T. HELBLING, to learn all his family members? The captions are just adorable, as are the pictures he chose. It is one of those few things that gives a little insight into who he was.

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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 2013-2022 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, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about the copyright or use of “Heritage Ramblings” blog material.

The McMurray and Benjamin Soldiers at Camp McKinley, Des Moines, Iowa, 1898

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Will McMurray and Harry McMurray- Spanish-American War
Company L, 51st Iowa Regiment, taken at further training in California. These men probably trained with our ancestors at Camp McKinley, 1898; image via Wikipedia, public domain.

McMurray Family, Benjamin Family (Click for Family Tree)

[Are you related? Yes, if you are a descendant of the Jasper County Iowa McMurray,  Benjamin, or Lambert families. This would include having Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Dr. Herbert McMurray, or Maude “Midge” McMurray Cook as ancestors, and there are many other branches from this family.]

“SAD GOODBYES OF LOVED ONES” was one of the headlines in the 16 May 1898 issue of The Newton Daily Record. The day before, a Sunday, an extra train was arranged to take Newton, Iowa families to Camp McKinley in Des Moines, Iowa to spend a last day with their sons, brothers, fathers, cousins, and neighbors before they went off to fight in the Spanish-American War. “The parting scenes in the evening made a sad picture indeed,” the paper stated. “The boys are anxious to be off, but of course all are thinking more seriously of the uncertainty of what the future may have in store for them.” The plan was that the unit would leave for New Orleans soon.

Our ancestors were not a part of this parting scene, however. Medical examinations had taken place by the 10th of May, and sadly, William Elmer McMurray was rejected, although we do not know the reason. His brother Harry James McMurray was elected as 2nd Lieutenant of the company on the 10th, but then he too, along with three other men from Co. L,  failed the medical exam. “The boys were deeply disappointed but there was no use of kicking,” per The Record. Even with those losses for medical reasons, the company had 11 members more than what was needed, so additional men also made the sad trip home. We can imagine the hurt, the disappointment, and the range of emotions those young men felt, especially with their cousins still in a unit that was going off to a foreign war. Imagining the reactions of the parents too is not hard- how do you reconcile your son’s disappointment (times two for Hannah Melissa Benjamin McMurray and Fred McMurray, the parents of Will and Harry) with your patriotism but also your relief to not have your baby going off to war?

Knowing what happened to the unit after they left Camp McKinley gives us an interesting perspective, however.

Iowa had four infantry regiments mustered for the Spanish-American War.

The 49th Iowa, made up of men from Tipton, Marshalltown, etc., was sent to Savannah Georgia for training, and was part of the occupying force in Cuba after the war in 1898-1899.

Iowa’s 51st Infantry mustered men from Des Moines, Oskaloosa, etc., and were transported to San Francisco, CA for training. They then saw active duty in the Philippines, helping to put down the Philippine Insurrection that happened after the war..

The 52nd Iowa trained at Chickamauga Park, Georgia. The men in this unit and their families back home must have felt another connection to the Civil War as they were in the same area that Iowa troops had fought, and won, at Missionary Ridge on 25 Nov 1863. The 52nd then returned to Camp McKinley in October, 1898, and were quartered in barns that had been overhauled to prepare for the cold winter. They expected to be shipped out on 30 Oct., however with Spain surrendering on 16 July 1898 and a treaty in progress, they were mustered out on 30 Oct 1898, never seeing foreign service since the war was only ten weeks long.

And then there was the 50th Iowa Infantry, from Newton and thereabouts. Lieut. Col. Elliott Ellsworth Lambert was made full Colonel, and was in command of the entire Brigade at one point; Roland E. Benjamin may have still been in the unit, but we will leave that for other researchers to determine. The 50th shipped south from Des Moines to Jacksonville, Florida, arriving 24 May 1898. Their camp was a flat section of sandy land outside the city called “Camp Cuba Libre” since one of the reasons for the war was independence for Cuba from Spain. The men drilled and completed target practice day after day, training for their planned liberation of Havana, Cuba.

Camp Cuba Libre had up to 30,000 men living there, with supplies very scarce at the beginning. Eating utensils had not arrived so the men ate off of shingles with their fingers. Uniforms were only available in small numbers, and by the time some of the men got theirs, the uniforms of others had already worn out. Some supplies were purposefully withheld by the administration to help ‘toughen’ the men, such as tent floorboards, and medical supplies were so short that the camp had to ask the Red Cross for assistance.

Once the rainy season began in Florida, things got even worse. Flooding began in the camp. Without wooden floorboards in their tents there was no hope of staying out of the watery muck. The soldiers built new barracks that were elevated, however they still had to move around through the flooded portions of camp. (Please see a picture here that should be public domain due to its age and that it was probably taken by a federal employee, but it is apparently copyrighted by number of organizations so cannot be posted.)

Soldiers started getting sick, many with typhoid fever, which is a bacterial infection from contaminated water or food; it can also be transmitted between people due to poor sanitation. (It would have been challenging to build latrines in sandy soil with a water table close to the surface, and then the rains came…) The number of men visiting sick call increased as the rains continued, and some died, especially since antibiotics were not yet available. Female nurses, not yet common in the military, had to brave social ostracizing- they were considered loose women, especially by the camp surgeon. Catholic Lakota nuns and then Red Cross nurses from the North cared for the ailing men despite the constant suspicion and monitoring of their behavior.

Both officers and soldiers protested up the chain of command about the camp conditions and increasing sickness, and finally on 1 August they were given permission to move the camp to higher ground. This helped, but because of the long period of infection and bacterial shedding of typhoid, in just over three weeks from 10 Aug-5 Sep, 100-300 men were either relieved of duty due to illness or were in the hospital. Inspections were conducted and eventually improvements to sanitary conditions were made.

A cease-fire with Spain was signed on 12 August 1898.

The War Department ordered the 50th to return to Iowa on 12 Sep 1898. Sick men were carefully loaded into Pullman cars and the train transported the Regiment back to Des Moines, where they arrived on 17 Sep. Most men were given a 40 day furlough, and then they returned to Camp McKinley. They were mustered out there on 30 Nov 1898, never having left the continental United States.

Many of the sick went home and died soon after at their Iowa home, their illness acquired during their term of service. At least they were with their family at the end.

Of the 1,369 men of the 50th Iowa Infantry Regiment, none were killed or wounded in battle, however 32 died of disease, 30 were discharged for disease, wounds, or other causes, and 38 were transferred. Col. Lambert wrote many reports that detailed the events of the unit during its time in service.

One estimate is that 90% of the men who died during the Spanish-American War were lost to disease.

This information begs the question- would we be here if Will McMurray and Harry McMurray had been accepted into service during the Spanish-American War?

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. “Co. L Will be First to Go,” The Newton Daily Record, 11 May 1898, page 4.
  2. “Among Camp McKinley Boys,” The Newton Daily Record, 16 May 1898, page 4.
  3. Iowa Civil War Monuments– http://www.iowacivilwarmonuments.com/cgi-bin/gaarddetails.pl?1222301210
  4. 52nd Iowa– http://www.spanamwar.com/52ndiowa.htm
  5. Warren Co Iowa Soldiers some war statistics– http://iagenweb.org/warren/military/spanishamericanwar.html
  6. Historical Sketch of the 50th Iowa Volunteer Infantry– http://genealogytrails.com/iowa/50th_regiment1.html
  7. “Iowa Spanish-American War Soldiers Who Died Due to Illness or Wounds”– http://iagenweb.org/history/military/SPW/SPAW_deaths.htm
  8. The Iowa National Guard has images along with a history at https://www.iowanationalguard.com/History/History/Pages/Spanish-American-War.aspx
    The picture that is to the left  of the descriptions of the 49th and 51st Iowa has a file name suggesting they are officers of the 50th in Jacksonville, FL.
  9. An illustrated cover- envelope and stamp- from a soldier in Co. F, 50th Iowa may be seen at https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1898-cover-co-50th-iowa-camp-cuba-97337567
  10. Camp Cuba Libre- one may question the accuracy of some of this after seeing pictures of the camp. — http://www.spanamwar.com/campcubalibre.htm

 

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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 2013-2020 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, i.e, reference this blog.
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Will McMurray and Harry McMurray at Camp McKinley, 1898

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Will McMurray and Harry McMurray- Spanish-American War

McMurray-Benjamin Family circa 1886: Frederick Asbury McMurray, Hannah "Melissa" Benjamin McMurray, William Elmer McMurray, Harry J. McMurray, Addie Belle McMurray, Roy McMurray, and Ray McMurray (baby)
McMurray-Benjamin Family circa 1886: Frederick Asbury McMurray, Hannah “Melissa” Benjamin McMurray, William Elmer McMurray, Harry J. McMurray, Addie Belle McMurray, Roy McMurray, and Ray McMurray (baby). [Sorry, we do not have a family picture from the 1890s.]
McMurray Family, Benjamin Family (Click for Family Tree)

[Are you related? Yes, if you are a descendant of the Jasper County Iowa McMurray,  Benjamin, or Lambert families. This would include having Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Dr. Herbert McMurray, or Maude “Midge” McMurray Cook as ancestors.]

As was said in previous posts in this series, the memory of the Civil War was still a part of the American psyche in 1898. Newton, Iowa’s Company L, Second Regiment, National Guard, became the 50th Iowa once they were at Camp McKinley in Des Moines- a continuation of the regimental numbers from the War Between the States.

The Newton newspaper was full of tidbits of local people and the goings-on at Camp McKinley. On April 28th, the Newton Record mentioned that Hayden Reynolds and Fred McMurray visited their sons the previous day at Camp McKinley. The boys had been in camp just one day.

On May 9th, “Mrs. Fred McMurray [Hannah Melissa (Benjamin) McMurray] went to Des Moines to visit her two soldies [sic] boys, Lieut. Will and Orderly Sergt. Harry McMurray of Co. L, at Camp McKinley.”

E. E. Lambert was called “Colonel” in the May 11th The Newton Record story that reported he had come home on the 10th and then would return in the morning, on May 12th, to Camp McKinley. His wife, Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” (Boydston) Lambert was likely very happy to see him, even though the military had not yet given him the rank promotion the paper did.

While home, Lieut. Col. Lambert was of course asked how the Newton boys were faring at camp. He reported that Company L and the whole regiment were “… in high glee over the prospect of getting to go to the front.” Their regiment had been chosen to leave first, but he did not think it was feasible to get the regiment ready to move out until at least the following Wednesday, the 18th of May.

Apparently the First Regiment had exerted political pull as far as being the first regiment to leave camp, but that did not work out. The Third Regiment, with many soldiers from Des Moines, was rumored to be chosen next, but as the Record reported the “Second out-classed all of them.” The Second Regiment included the Newton Guard, and was to get it’s marching orders before any of the others.

After describing the Second Iowa as “the ‘crack’ regiment in the camp,” the newspaper reported that Co. L from Newton was the only group that had suffered from a “lack of comfort and friends.” A few of the Newton boys had received clothing or food from friends or family, but not the larger amount other groups, such as those from Iowa City, Keokuk, Grinnell, and Davenport, had received as “donations.” Some of these groups had received “box after box” or up to five loads of provisions, including tasty delicacies from home, clothing, and even cash. One group received about $300 in cash, another $1,300; the Newton boys had not received anything similar. The paper went on to say that the camp outfit of Co. L was one of the poorest.

“Of course, the Newton boys are as good, or better, than the most of them, but they do not always get all they really need.”

The shaming of Newton citizens by the newspaper had its intended effect- their boys at Camp McKinley began to receive “generous gifts from home” the next week. The camp outfit was improved by granite cups and plates (metal enamelware, blue or gray with white splatters was common; sometimes called ‘graniteware’), and table decorations. (??) The table decorations may have been used for the “Two Grand Feasts” provided to the boys by the ladies of Newton. “Eatables” were collected and sent up on the 10:47am train on 12 May 1898: roast chicken, dressing, bread, cakes, canned fruits, preserves, jellies, radishes, and onions. Those who wanted to contribute were to drop them by Mr. J. P. Newell’s early in the morning. The ladies requested even more chickens to help fill up those boys who were training hard at Camp McKinley. The Women’s Relief Corps (W.R.C., an auxiliary of the G.A.R.) was responsible for the big box to be sent to the boys for their Sunday dinner. The goal was for the goodies to be a “navel stretcher” and remind the boys that they had not been forgotten by the folks at home.

Apparently, the Newton families had been following the directions of the camp that soldiers were to have only regular Army rations, however that is not what was happening with the other units in camp. They did rectify the situation once they realized- and the boys were “assured of a sumptuous feast” -actually two- before they headed off to the front.

Local folks in Newton planned to go to the camp that Friday, May 13, to celebrate Flag Day. This must have been a special event, as the official Flag Day is June 14, the anniversary of when our country’s flag was adopted. What we now call “Memorial Day” was then known as “Decoration Day” and would not occur until May 30th of 1898. Citizens likely wanted to celebrate our flag and our country with their boys before they went off to war.

(To be continued...)

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. The Newton Daily Record, 28 April 1898, page 1.
  2. The Newton Daily Record, 11 May 1898, page 4.
  3. The Newton Daily Record, 16 May 1898, page 4.

 

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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 2013-2020 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, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

The McMurray Brothers– Will and Harry– and the Spanish-American War

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Will McMurray and Harry McMurray- Spanish-American War
“Our Boys March Away to War” headline in The Newton Record, 28 April 1898, Vol. 4, No. 40, P. 1.

[Are you related? Yes, if you are a descendant of the Jasper County Iowa McMurray,  Benjamin, or Lambert families. This would include having Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Dr. Herbert McMurray, or Maude “Midge” McMurray Cook as ancestors.]

McMurray Family, Benjamin Family (Click for Family Tree)

In a previous post some time ago, we mentioned that William Elmer McMurray (1874-1957), his brother Harry James McMurray (1876-1962), and their cousin Roland “Rollie” E. Benjamin (1868-1950?) were members of the Iowa National Guard at Newton. They were in Company L, Second Regiment in 1898, even before the April call to war by President William McKinley. Tensions leading to the Spanish-American War had been building for some time, including the January explosion and sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor (“Remember the Maine!”), and Spanish atrocities in the Cuban War for Independence.

The sinking of the USS Maine after an internal explosion, 1 Jan 1898. Via Wikipedia, public domain.

Those in the Guard likely knew that they might be called soon for actual fighting in a foreign land. Will was just 23, Harry 21, and Roland was 29. Will and Harry were not yet married; Roland had married four years before but had no children. Were these young men excited at the patriotic thought of serving their country, traveling to a foreign land, proving themselves as men? Did they understand the politics of the situation? Were they afraid, but courageous enough to continue in the Guard anyway? Probably some of all the above.

On 22 April 1898, Congress authorized an increase in our military forces, and the very next day President McKinley declared war on Spain (including in the Spanish colonies such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines). It had only been 35 years since the horrors of the Civil War, and those dark times were still fresh in the nation’s collective memory. Newspaper headlines included “Newton Again Witnesses the Scenes of 1861-1862” as their young men marched off to war.

“Dreaded war, with all its train of heartaches, sorrows, suffering and devastation, is again upon us… we are living over again the sad scenes of 1861-2– giving up sons, brothers, husbands and fathers, the very flower of our young manhood, to battle again for the old flag and in defense of our country’s honor.”

The article continued with “Last Tuesday’s scenes will never be forgotten by the people of Newton.”  The parents of Will and Harry, Frederick Asbury “F.A.” McMurray (1850-1929) and Hannah Melissa (Benjamin) McMurray (1854-1932) [AKA “The Scary Lady” by some of her descendants- you know who you are] must have been beside themselves with sadness yet full of pride as their two oldest children marched off to war, along with their McMurray and Benjamin cousins.

William Elmer McMurray, five years later, in 1903.

Orders were prepared quickly and Company L was to be “hastily” transported to Des Moines, Iowa, about 30 miles west. They would rendezvous with other Iowa troops from across the state, drill, and receive their final equipment before heading off to war.

The train was to leave Newton at three p.m. on Tuesday, April 26th. Every business in Newton closed that day at 1 p.m. and the school children were dismissed for the afternoon. The town was decorated with the stars and stripes, patriotic fever infecting the town. In a town of about 3,700, it was estimated that two thousand persons filled the streets to see their boys off.

(To be continued…)

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Read “Military Monday: McMurrays and a Benjamin in the Iowa National Guard of 1898,” Heritage Ramblings, 18 June 2018, for some background on the war and our family.
    https://heritageramblings.net/2018/06/18/military-monday-mcmurrays-and-a-benjamin-in-the-iowa-national-guard-of-1898/
  2. Wikipedia also has a more complete article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish–American_War
  3. Newton, Iowa, population statistics for 1900 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton,_Iowa
  4. Will McMurray image was cropped from a family photo. We do not have a photo of Will, Harry, or Roland in uniform- does anyone out there have a photo from this time, or any other time? Please contact us if you do.

 

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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 2013-2019 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, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Madness Monday: F. A. McMurray and the Sheriff’s Office of Jasper County, Iowa

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Jasper County Iowa- Sheriff Election, 1899
Frederick Asbury “F.A.” McMurray- certificate of election as sheriff of Jasper County, Iowa, 14 Nov 1899.

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: 

  1.  “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/
  2. 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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