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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.

McMurray-Killduff Grocery Token, Newton, Iowa

“Good for 5 in Merchandise.” Token from the McMurray-Kilduff Grocery Store in Newton, Iowa, circa 1899-1907.

 

McMURRAY Family (Click for Family Tree)
[Are you related? Yes if you descend from Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Dr. Herbert McMurray, or Maude L. “Midge” McMurray Cook, who are the children of William Elmer “W.E.” McMurray. and Lynette Payne.]

It seems sort of crazy to think of auction websites and antique stores as a good source for family history. These days though, with so many kids and grandkids having little interest in the family furniture, pictures, papers, what-sits that sit on a shelf and need dusting, etc. that have been lovingly passed down for generations, such impersonal temporary repositories can be a good resource. The internet now helps us to gather these treasures after they have been spread far and wide from the original homeplace when people migrated around the country (or countries!).

One can set up alerts on sites like eBay or even on Google so that a family historian can be researching while sleeping instead of crawling the internet at 3am. (OK, I will admit that many of us will just be crawling other websites at that time…)

A person in Lake Sherman, Nebraska, posted the above treasure on eBay back in 2012, and the eBay alert system was a great research partner. I got an alert that a McMurray item was just listed! How amazing- what were the chances a McMurray or Killduff descendant would be in Lake Sherman, Nebraska at the one antique shop that had this little ‘coin’ maybe stashed somewhere mostly out of sight? Or the chance that a descendant would somehow run into this person from Nebraska who may have found this in a shoebox in their, or someone’s, old family home?? Would it have even come up in a quick conversation? Likely none of these scenarios would have helped return this token to family after about 112 years, except for eBay. It also opened a new avenue of research, as this early time of Will’s life and his business partnership with Mr. Killduff was previously unknown.

William Elmer “W.E.” or “Bill” McMurray, possibly circa 1901-1902? I.U. Inkenberry was a photographer in Newton, Iowa those years, but also may have worked there before or after that time period. [Click to enlarge.]
To recap a number of previous posts, William Elmer McMurray (1874-1957) was the oldest of the five children born to Hannah Melissa Benjamin (1854-1932) and Frederick A. “F.A.” McMurray (1850-1929). He was also the first McMurray ancestor born in Jasper County, Iowa. Will, known as “Bill” around Newton, Iowa, may have gotten his talents as a businessman and salesman from his father. F.A. McMurray was an auctioneer, ‘crying’ sales of farms and businesses in many counties for decades. He was one of the most successful auctioneers in the area, and in great demand. One can imagine a young Will and his brothers helping out with the travel to the sales, making an inventory of farm and household objects and livestock to be sold, tagging auction items with numbers for bidding, moving equipment or animals to the front for all to see, and receiving the money from auction-goers who had found a new/old treasure of their own. As he got older Will worked as an auctioneer with his father frequently- there were newspaper ads for “McMurray & Sons, Auctioneers,” so his brothers must have helped out too. Will eventually carried what he learned in the auction business about people, the psychology of selling and of the buyers, plus the logistics of buying and selling various goods into a business of his own.

“A group of Newton residents are shown gathered in front of Willis McCollum’s grocery store in 1892.” Will McMurray is the second from the left. A family treasure , this 130 year-old clipping was reprinted in the ‘Newton Daily News’ on Aug 10, 1957. [Click to enlarge.]
Will worked for Willis McCollum beginning around 1892, when Will was 18 years old. The McCollom Grocery Store was located on the square in Newton, Iowa, on the northeast corner. Will worked there for a number of years, as did William Charles Killduff (1871-1959). It may have been confusing when someone in the store called out, “Will!” since there were three who may have been called by that shortened name!

On what was likely a bitterly cold Iowa winter day, the Newton Record of January 26, 1899 posted an article with the headline of “Unexpected Change of Business.” It explained that the previous morning, Willis McCollom had sold his store to his two clerks, Will McMurray and Will Killduff. It was a complete surprise to the locals:

“Willis had been so long and successfully in the grocery business in Newton that he had came [sic] to be considered a permanent fixture here in that line.”

The paper went on to applaud the work of the two young men, stating:

“The two Wills are enterprising young men, full of business push and energy, and during their service in the store have made themselves popular with its patrons. There is no question of their success.”

On March 1st the two Wills took possession of the store, in the same spot on the square. They had already placed an ad in the Newton Record stating:

“We will keep up the reputation of the old firm, which was to keep the best goods, sell them at a small profit and treat everybody nicely.”

Since the McColloms had been in the grocery business for quite some time, it was really important for the two new owners to reassure established customers that the grocery would continue being a great place to shop.  The ad went on:

“We are young in years but not young in the grocery business… [We] thoroughly understand the business, and will guarantee the same satisfaction in the future that you have had in the past.”

Just three months later, on June 6th, 1899, Will married Lynette Payne (1879-1968) so it became even more important to keep their customer’s loyalty. Also, William Charles or “W.C.” Killduff was more than a co-worker and then partner- in October of that same year he became family when he married Mae Benjamin, Will McMurray’s cousin. To build the business, these two savvy merchandisers placed ads throughout the copy in many issues of the Newton newspaper. In 1900, they offered trading stamps to every customer who visited the store on Saturday, July 7th, and the McMurray-Killduff trade token may have followed soon after. Both the stamps and the tokens were an enticement to return to the store to spend them, just like department store cash is today.

“McMurray & Killduff, Cash Grocers, Newton, Iowa.” Token from the McMurray-Kilduff Grocery Store in Newton, Iowa- reverse.

Known as a ‘trade token’, this 10mm (just over 3/8 of an inch) round is made of aluminum. Aluminum became cheap in the 1890s, which fits with the time that Will and William Killduff purchased the store. The coin, worth 5 cents in trade (probably, rather than $5) may have been given out like the stamps were, only on a certain day, or could have been offered when a specific purchase was made. While 5 cents does not seem like very much, in 1901 McMurray-Killduff Grocery sold a “1 gallon can of good peaches for 39 cents” and “2 1-pound cans of Flat Salmon for 30 cents.” So the 5 cent token would have had more buying power than it seems.

Some of the Benjamin family did move west, and we have not traced the Killduffs other than W.C., but the coin could have been owned by anyone in Jasper County, Iowa. Some people never cash in such rewards, and the object ends up in a box or drawer that then gets moved on with a migration or a yard sale. Additionally, modern day “pickers” who travel the country searching for antiques may have purchased it in Iowa and taken it to a shop in Nebraska- we will likely never know.

In September of 1901, Will McMurray paid for an ad in the paper for a carload of peaches and mason jars, and it was signed with just his name, not paired with W.C. Killduff’s. Will’s store was still on the Northeast Corner of the Newton Square, so the partnership between cousins had likely been dissolved. Will had the grocery and/or a meat market for many more years. In fact, in the 1916 Newton City Directory, W.C. Killduff is listed as a clerk at the McMurray Grocery. Will McMurray’s brother Roy McMurray also clerked at the store for a time, and of course, Will’s wife Lynette also spent more time than she liked working in the store as well as raising three children. In 1925, Will began building a new store for his grocery business because there was a problem with the buildings being over their property lines, and F.L. Maytag (yes, that Maytag), bought the property on that corner, razed the buildings, and built his Maytag Hotel . We have not found other news stories to learn more about the planned building by Will nor how long he had a grocery store, but city directories would help in that research. Will did sell insurance in his later years, and his jovial demeanor and friendly service continued to serve him well in business.

 

An Afterthought:

As this was being written, the realization of karma or serendipity washed over me- Will and F. A. McMurray sold other people’s possessions at auction, and a token from Will’s store made it back to family via a high tech auction in 2012. Wherever they are today, they may have marveled at the new technology, were happy as auctioneers that the purchase price was more than twice the opening bid, and may have had a hand in making the family’s offer the winning bid. Cool.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. See previous blog posts about Will McMurray and his grocery store, including:

    “Shopping Saturday: William Elmer McMurray and Marketing a Small Town Grocery Store.” https://heritageramblings.net/2018/12/15/shopping-saturday-william-elmer-mcmurray-and-marketing-a-small-town-grocery-store/

    “Amanuensis Monday: Will McMurray’s Grocery in Newton, Iowa.” https://heritageramblings.net/2019/02/18/amanuensis-monday-will-mcmurrays-grocery-in-newton-iowa/

    “Shopping Saturday: William Elmer McMurray as a Newton, Iowa Merchant.” https://heritageramblings.net/2018/10/20/shopping-saturday-william-elmer-mcmurray-as-a-newton-iowa-merchant/

  2. “McMurray & Killduff, Cash Grocers” advertisement in the Newton Record, Feb 23, 1899, page 8.
  3. A special thanks, as always, to our wonderful Iowa cousins who have shared their family treasures.
  4. “Token coin” on Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_coin
  5. “Unexpected Change of Business,” Newton Record, Jan. 26, 1899, page 1.
  6. Apologies for the poor quality images, but sometimes, that’s just genealogy!

 

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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.

Amanuensis Monday: Will McMurray’s Grocery in Newton, Iowa

McMurray-Killduff Grocery Ad- best grocery stock, Newton Record, Newton Iowa, March 2, 1899, Vol. 5, No. 32, Page 8, Columns 3-4.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

An “amanuensis” (A-man’-U-en-sis) is a person who copies or writes from other works or dictation. The term is pretty archaic, and was used much more in the early- to mid-1800s. After that time those persons, still required to hand write much since we had no copiers or scanners, were more often called “scriveners” or “scribes.” Scribe is actually an even older word, but it too lost favor especially once typewriters, dictation machines (remember “Dictaphones”?), and computers came on the scene.

We have been telling the story of William Elmer McMurray (1874-1957) and the grocery he and his wife, Lynette Payne McMurray, owned in Newton, Iowa. Will initially had a partner, William Charles Killduff, but later Will and Lynette owned the store on their own. The store carried a wide variety of items through the years, and placed advertisements regularly in the local newspapers. Here are some of the items they carried, transcribed from a variety of sources, some listed below.

fresh and salted fish “which we will sell cheap”

fresh oysters in bulk and can

McMurray-Killduff Grocery Ad for Hams, 2 Mar 1899, Newton Record, Newton Iowa, Vol. 5, No. 32, Page 8, Columns 3-4.

lettuce, celery, radishes

[Grocers back then also bought directly from local farmers. Other than tinned (canned) foods, there were fewer middle distributors with food sitting in a train car for days going cross county, or sitting in a warehouse for days or months. Stores did carry some items that came from afar, but some, like oysters, would only be available “until the season closes.”]

peaches, by the carload

[train carload? Suggested a better price due to the quantity the grocery purchased.]

“Use Marshall’s Best Flour- $1.20 per sack. Sold by McMurray & Killduff.”

[This flour must really have been the “Best” because an ad for the grocery published 22 June 1899 that there had been “25,000 sacks of this flour sold in Newton and vicinity.” The population of the city of Newton was just 3,682 in 1900, and Jasper County 26, 976. The ad does not state the time period of the sales number quoted, but still, that’s a lot of flour in one area!]

Minnesota Flour, Kansas Flour

[Flours have different amounts of protein, depending on the type of wheat that it was milled from, with low protein flours considered “soft” wheat and best for pastries or cakes; “hard” flour has more protein and gluten, which are better for breads. Back then most desserts and bread was made from scratch in the home, especially in rural areas.]

Fruit jars… “at a great discount”

[for canning from your home fruit trees, bushes]

Japan Tea

Japan Rice

[A short-grain, sticky rice.]

 

Writing down information gleaned from the various advertisements also helps us learn a bit about how the store evolved over the years:

2 March 1899 ads above indicate the name of the store, and its owners, are McMurray & Killduff

9 September 1901- store listed in ad as “Will McMurray, Northeast Square, Newton, Iowa”

In the 1920 Newton Iowa City Directory, on page 104, the entry

McMurray WILL E, Groceries and Meats

tells us at that time, there was no partnership, and the grocery belonged solely to Will and Lynette. The bold lettering may have been paid for as a business, as the listing also states “(See page 7).” The directory listing noted that the store was located at 106 N 2d av E, but Will and Lynette resided at 322 E 4th N.  Just above the listing for Will was one of Will’s brothers:

McMurray, Roy, mngr meat dept W E McMurray

[It has been said by some that the McMurrays were “clannish.” They lived near each other, socialized together, took vacations together, and worked together, as this directory shows. All of these, back then, were much more common to do within a family group than it is today.]

Newspaper clippings about family business are a great way to get a feel for the times in which our ancestors lived, and a bit about their daily lives. Writing it down (being an “amanuensis”) and putting it all together is a great way to share with family too!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Newton Record, Feb. 23, 1899, p. 8.
  2. Newton Record, Newton Iowa, March 2, 1899, Vol. 5, No. 32, Page 8, Columns 3-4.
  3. Newton Iowa State Democrat, Aug 17, 1899, Vol. 19, No. 33, Page 4.
  4. “Carload of Peaches,” Newton Daily Record, Sept. 9. 1901, page 2.
  5. Population statistics for Newton from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton,_Iowa; Jasper County– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton,_Iowa

 

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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 2013-2018 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.

Shopping Saturday: William Elmer McMurray and Marketing a Small Town Grocery Store

“Great Slaughter Sale of Groceries” on 14 January 1901 at the McMurray Grocery store in Newton, Iowa. Published in unknown newspaper (framed by family), part 1.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Many businesses complete an inventory on at the end of the year in order to prepare their income taxes, and that may have been the impetus for this big sale at the McMurray Grocery in Newton, Iowa, in 1901. Maybe they used a fiscal, rather than calendar year, or the invoices to them had piled up and they needed to generate cash to pay their vendors- or Uncle Sam.

Marketing a local business was much simpler in the days before social media and the internet. Advertisements were placed in newspapers for a fee, local reporters would interview or create a story about the business or owner(s), paper flyers might be given out, and/or special coupons, stamps, or tokens would be used to get customers into the store and ensure their loyalty. Old advertisements, such as this framed family treasure, are a great way for family historians to understand the breadth of items offered in a store, like the grocery store of Will and Lynnette (Payne) McMurray.

The canned foods listed are interesting- how many of us today would buy one gallon cans of peaches or apricots? We don’t make jams and jellies like they did in those days, nor multiple pies when the threshers would come through at harvest.

Take a look at the prices, too. “2 cans good Peaches for 25¢” would cost about $7.44 in today’s dollars, according to inflation calculators. That does seem like quite a lot for 2 cans of peaches, but we do not know the size of the cans, they did not have ‘factory farms’ in those days so supplies were more limited, and sometimes those calculators are somewhat off. Edith Roberts McMurray Luck, in her later years, recounted that she remembered the store from her childhood, but her mother thought the McMurray store was too expensive so they did not patronize it regularly. (Edith later married the son of Will and Lynette, Dr. Edward A. McMurray.)

Soaps, of course, were big sellers and important for hard-working, getting-dirty jobs like farming or blacksmithing, plus many families dug the soil to produce their own fruits and vegetables. Calumet Soap was around for a very long time- some may still remember it- and Ajax also made a powdered cleanser. Lye soaps were still used back then, and Will even offered a discounted price for lye soaps with damaged labels- just 5¢ per can, vs. the usual 8-10¢.

The McMurrays carried a variety of oils in their grocery, but those listed in this ad were not cooking nor motor oils- they were for lamps. Getting a good oil that did not smoke much or smell bad, and that gave adequate light, was important in the days before rural electrification (which occurred in the mid 1930s and after). “Palacine Oil” was a brand that came from the Oklahoma oil fields:

“Palacine Oil” advertisement from unknown newspaper (likely Oregon, Missouri, or Forest City, Missouri), 1 May 1896, at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90061417/1896-05-01/ed-1/seq-4.pdf. [Absurdly, there is no way to determine what paper this is from the website, despite it being a result in a Google search. What poor scholarship, Library of Congress.]
The grocery store also carried other non-food items, like axle grease for the wagon which would have carried a customer into town:

“Great Slaughter Sale of Groceries” on 14 January 1901 at the McMurray Grocery store in Newton, Iowa. Published in unknown newspaper (framed by family), part 2.

Will left the reader with his good prices for hams, with sugar cured hams costing 11¢ per pound in 1911, which would be about $3.30/lb. today. (A HoneyBaked Ham© today is over $11 per pound!)

Both the McMurray-Killduff and the McMurray Grocery/ McMurray Grocery and Meat Market were featured frequently in one-line ads that were slipped into the regular columns of stories in the local newspaper. Examples from March, 1899:

We have a complete line of fresh and salt fish.

We have the best $1.00 flour in town.

Lowney chocolates, the finest in the world, at McMurray & Killduff’s.

Try those 10¢ hams at McMurray & Killduff’s.

SYRUP- 5 gallon keg, $1.25, at McMurray & Killduff’s.

Other businesses, such as a 12 Dec 1913 ad for ‘Benedict Flour and Feed Company’ in Marshalltown, Iowa, listed distributors of their products, and one of the names included was “W. E. McMurray, Newton”- good publicity for their small store.

Ads for the McMurray grocery were not only for what they were selling, but for what they were buying:

We pay the highest prices for Produce.

WANTED- Live Poultry, for which we will pay the highest market prices.

The above were from from a March, 1899 newspaper. Another article from July 20, 1899, stated the “Local Market” price for live chickens was 6¢ each. Supply chains for food were much different in those years, especially in rural areas. They would buy from local farmers and women who raised chickens, grew fruits and vegetables, and made butter, cakes, or pies, then sell to local customers. They also shipped to other places- a June 2, 1902 newspaper article stated “McMurray shipped to Des Moines this morning 1000 pounds of butter.” While we cannot be sure this was Will E. McMurray rather than his father, Frederick Asbury “F.A.” McMurray, the auctioneer, it is more likely that it was Will, or maybe they made the deal together. F.A. was known to ship carloads of livestock but I have not seen evidence of him shipping something like butter, though it is possible, since F.A. was such a wheeler and dealer. Will did buy a carload of peaches at one point thus did deal in large quantities, so it is very plausible that the butter was shipped by him.

Being the son of an auctioneer (Frederick Asbury McMurray) and sometimes being an auctioneer himself (per his daughter-in-law, Edith Roberts McMurray Luck, and an ad for “McMurray & Sons, Auctioneers”), Will knew how to write an ad or spin things to make them attractive to buyers. (Lynette probably did too, coming from the sophisticated West Coast.) Another sale ad in 1899 was for “Bargain Day in Groceries” and “On the above date we will sell you [various foods] …the prices are for this day, only” at McMurray & Killduff’s “Big Cash Grocery.” Good salespersons know that they have to build excitement and get the sale closed before there is much time for the consumer to think about a purchase. A one-day sale does that pretty well, and was the predecessor to our internet “Today’s Deals,” “Prime Day,” or QVC channel, with a countdown timer and note of how many items are remaining in the deal.

“Bundling” is not a new concept in sales only used in the insurance industry to get you to buy home, auto, and life policies together – McMurray & Killduff’s used ‘bundling’ in an ad from Oct. 5, 1899, in the Newton Record. They offered a “Big Special Sale” on Oct 11th and 12th. Good prices were offered on a variety of items, but they also listed a package of 12 grocery items with the regular prices, which totaled $6.40. “We will sell on either above day to you this package for $4.90.” This was almost a 25% discount- that is pretty good considering the small margins of profit in the grocery business.

Sponsorships of sports teams, charity events, or even local cookbooks could get the name of a store in front of the public, so Will used that tactic as well. “Will McMurray Meat Market” was listed as a sponsor in a 1907 Newton, Iowa, cookbook published by the Willing Workers class of First Baptist Church. Recipes included Lettie Miller’s White Cake, Chicken Pie with Oysters, Poor Man’s Pudding, Bread Sponge Cake, Picca Lili and Quaker Cabbage.Each time a woman opened the cookbook to make a favorite recipe, they might page through the ad for Will McMurray’s Meat Market. That was definitely targeted advertising, though not as intrusive as what we endure today. This ad also lets us know that in 1907, the McMurray store may have been only a meat market.

Soliciting business outside of the store itself helped to market it as well. McMurray & Killduff was listed as providing $42.65 worth of goods to the poor farm, and $6.60 to the poor, in a list of claims allowed to be paid from taxpayer dollars. This list from the Board of Supervisors of Jasper County was printed in the 19 Apr 1900 Newton Record, so it got the name of the grocery out to the public. It also suggests that the quality of their inventory was considered to be good, since their claim was allowed.

Trading stamps offered at McMurray & Killduff Grocery, Iowa State Democrat, 5 July 1900, p8.

The grocery also had trading stamps, something those “of an age” will recollect licking and pasting into booklets (back in the 1960s) that could be exchanged for items in a catalog that was often drooled over for months. (You could get great things with trading stamps!) Somehow today’s loyalty cards that are needed for sale prices while they track every purchase and then sell that information to other companies just aren’t the same.

Growing up with a father who was quite a salesman as an auctioneer and trader of livestock, Will McMurray likely learned how to make consumers want to buy his goods. All these records show us that he definitely put those techniques to good use!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Inflation calculator–http://www.in2013dollars.com. Another calculator was used with similar results.
  2. For more information about electricity becoming available in Iowa to rural families, see “Electricity” at http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath/electricity
  3. Palacine Oil advertisement, unknown newspaper, May 1, 1896–https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90061417/1896-05-01/ed-1/seq-4.pdf
  4. 1899_0302McMurray-Killduff Grocery Ads, Newton Record, Newton Iowa, 2 March 1899, vol. 5, no.32, page 8, columns 3-4, via newspaperarchive.com.
  5. Benedict Flour and Feed company ad– Evening Times-Republican, Marshalltown Iowa, page 3, via GenealogyBank.com. This same ad was run on a number of different days.
  6. McMurray-Kilduff “Big Cash Grocery” sale, Iowa State Democrat, Jul 20,1899, page 4.
  7. McMurray shipment of butter to Des Moines, Newton Daily Herald, June 2, 1902, page 1, via newspaperarchive.com.
  8. “Oldtime Cookbook Has Flavorful Recipes” (Will McMurray’s Meat Market sponsorship), Newton Daily News-Centennial Edition, August 10, 1957, page 5 (of 148) via ancestry.com.
  9. McMurray-Killduff claims approved by Board of Supervisors of Jasper Co., Newton Record, 19 Apr 1900, page 7.

 

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Friday Funny: Will McMurray’s Butcher Shop Fun (??)

“They Threw Knives”- shenanigans at the McMurray Butcher Shop, via Evening Times-Republican, Marshalltown IA, 28 August 1905, vol. 31, no. 2, page 2.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Maybe not so much a “Friday Funny” in hindsight but apparently those involved thought it might be a “hilarious pastime of throwing butcher knives and cleavers at one another.”

The newspaper article continues, stating that one of the men, Lee Griffen, who was a butcher by trade, “proved too good a marksman” and threw a knife that ended up in Charley Stott’s leg- it cut through skin and muscle “to the bone for several inches.” A local doctor was called and used eleven stitches to close the wound after cleansing and applying antiseptics. Since antibiotics would not be discovered for another 23 years, the “danger of blood poison” was a possible consequence of the day’s entertainment, if the knife had not been properly cleaned after its last use. Otherwise, Stott would recover soon, per the physician.

The grocery store of Will and Lynette (Payne) McMurray in Newton, Iowa, changed over time, beginning as a partnership and then owned only by Will and Lynette. There are some references to their meat market but we do not know if it was a separate store or a section of their grocery.

A close reading of the article reveals it was a Sunday afternoon when the “hilarious” event took place.  The store was likely closed on Sundays, so that would have provided a private opportunity for the event, with no thinking person present to stop the dangerous contest. Will and Lynette had probably been to church (at least Lynette- we don’t know about Will). Later, gathering with the family or visiting friends would probably have been the order of the day. Will and Lynette would have thought the store was safely locked and they did not need to worry about their livelihood. Little did they know their store would soon be a page 2 article in the newspaper of a nearby town. (The McMurrays did have family and friends in Marshalltown and visited there often.)

There is no mention of damage to the shop, though the knives and cleavers were probably dulled if they went into walls or wood. Gashes would likely have to be repaired- not just in Mr. Stott’s leg, but in the walls and doorways, and there would have been cleanup that included blood not of the usual meat market bovine, porcine, fish, or fowl varieties.

As one of the men, Lee Griffen, was listed as a butcher, and the store had probably been locked, perhaps he was employed there and had a key? There is no mention of the men ‘breaking and entering’ so this might be the case. If so, maybe the phrase, “was employed” is true not just because we are looking at an event in the past, but also because Will may have fired him if he had been an employee.

It would also be interesting to know if alcohol was involved prior to the contest, or if it was just a testosterone-laden event.

Either way, this “Friday Funny” reinforces that gross stupidity is not a new invention of today’s generations. It’s just that in 1905, they could not film it with their pocket-sized phone and go viral.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. See caption.

 

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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. 
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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 2013-2018 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.