The Murrell Family of Botetourt Co., Virginia, Illinois, and Iowa

Wiley Anderson Murrell and Mary Magdalene (Hons/Honts/Honce/Hance) Murrell. Posted with kind permission of the Harlan Family Blog.

Roberts Family, Murrell Family

We have written a number of posts about the family of Wiley Anderson Murrell and his wife, Mary “Polly” Magdalene (Hons/Honts/Honce/Hance) Murrell. (Use ‘search’ in the box to the left to see them all, or scroll down and click on “Murrell Family.”) We are in the process of sharing what we know with the Botetourt County, Virginia Genealogy Association, so thought that a good start might be to collect some basic information and images for this couple and their children, all in one convenient post.

Wiley Anderson “W. A.” Murrell was born 2 Feb 1806 in Virginia or West Virginia to unknown parents. (We have searched and searched… yet know nothing about his early life.) Wiley married Mary “Polly” Magdalene Honts/Honce/Hance on 9 Apr 1834 in Botetourt County Virginia. Wiley died 27 Mar 1885 in Jasper County, Iowa.

Wiley Anderson “W.A.” Murrell, courtesy of the Harlan family, cropped from combined portrait.

Mary “Polly” Magdalene (Hons/Honts/Honce/Hance) Murrell was born on 9 Sep 1806 in Botetourt County, Virginia, the second child of Henry Honts (1781-1850) and his first wife, Catherine Kauffman/Coffman (1784-1867). Mary died 13 Jul 1887 in Jasper Co. Iowa.

Mary “Polly” Magdalene (Hons/Honts/Honce/Hance) Murrell, courtesy of the Harlan family.

W. A. and Polly migrated from Botetourt Co. Virginia to Roseville, Swan Township, Warren County, Illinois with their children in 1853, then on to Jasper Co. IA in 1868. (Jasper migration year per their obituaries, however the family is not found anywhere- not Iowa, as expected, nor Illinois nor Virginia- in the 1870 US Federal census).

The above image appears to be a combination of two photos- note where their clothing overlaps. The image of Polly appears larger, though she may have actually been a larger woman- but we do not know anything about their stature. She does look to be much older than W.A. in these photos despite them being born the same year, so a later photographer may have combined two images taken at different times to make it appear as a family portrait.

We wish we had a photo of the family when the children were young, but they likely were quite poor as they did not own land in Botetourt County.

The oldest known child of W.A. and Polly was Elizabeth Ann Murrell, born 1 Feb 1835 in Botetourt County, Virginia. When Elizabeth was eighteen, she, along with her parents and siblings, migrated to Illinois. She married John Roberts (1832-1922) in Roseville, Illinois, on 8 Mar 1857. Four children were born to them in Illinois, and they later migrated with her parents to Jasper County, Iowa, about 1868. Both died in Jasper County: Elizabeth on 2 Feb 1917, 82 years and 1 day since her birth; John on 22 Jan 1922.

John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts, possibly in the 1880s? Posted with kind permission of the Harlan Family Blog. [20 Sep 2019 Editor’s Note: this image is of John Roberts, b. 1832, NOT his father John S. Roberts, as it was originally labeled.]

John Henry Murrell was the second known child of W.A. and Polly Murrell. He was born in Botetourt Co. on 2 Jul 1837. He migrated with his family to Warren County, Illinois in 1853, and at age 25 he married Lydia Reborn (1844-1920) there. By 1870 John and his family had moved to Elk Fork, Pettis County, Missouri, where he died 23 Mar 1880 in Green Ridge, Pettis, MO, just a couple of months before the birth of their sixth child.

We do not have a portrait of John Henry Murrell.

Headstone for grave of John Henry Murrell in Rabourne Family Cemetery, Pettis County, Missouri. Posted with kind permission of the Find A Grave volunteer who took the image. (Click to enlarge.)

All we know of the third child of W.A. and Polly Murrell is that Mary Catherine Murrell was born in Botetourt County, Virginia on 18 Sep 1839, and she died seven years later, on 6 Nov 1846, in Botetourt. We have not found her grave, but due to the family’s probable poverty, they may not have been able to afford a headstone. We do have this record of her life in our Murrell family bible.

Death record of Mary Catharine Murrell, age 7, from Murrell Family Bible.

William Anderson Murrell was the fourth known child of W.A. and Polly Murrell. Also born in Botetourt County, Virginia, on 25 May 1841, William was a teenager when he migrated with his family to Warren County, Illinois. William served his country, enlisting on 1 Aug 1862 in the Union’s 83rd Illinois Infantry for 3 years; he also served as a Private in the First Light Artillery, Co. H, and mustered out 26 Jun 1865 at Nashville, Tennessee. William married Cordelia Talley (1850-1941) in Warren County, Illinois on 1 Oct 1867, and they had four known children. William and his wife stayed in Roseville, where he died on 1 Aug 1922.

William Anderson Murrell and Cordelia (Talley) Murrell- possibly colorized wedding photo? If so, would have been taken 1 Oct 1867 in Warren Co., IL.

James Edward Murrell, the fifth known child of W. A. and Polly Murrell, was born 15 Nov 1842 in Botetourt County, Virginia, and was 11 when the family migrated to Illinois. During the Civil War James joined the Illinois Cavalry, as his older brother John Henry Murrell had, but was in Co. I, Reg. 11 as a private; he was discharged 30 Sep 1865. After the war James moved to Pettis County, Missouri, where his brother John was living. James married Mary E. Robinson and they had six children. At age 70 he was in the National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Leavenworth, Kansas. He and Dillie E. (Carter) [Todd] Fox applied for a marriage license on 22 Mar 1924 in St. Louis County, Missouri; he was 81 (he stated 83 on the application), she 54. We have not found a marriage record, however Dillie was the informant on his death certificate, which also stated that “Dillie E. Murrell” was his wife. 

James Edward Murrell, circa 1860s.

W. A. and Polly Murrell started their family with a daughter, and their last known child was also a daughter, Ann Elisy Murrell (AKA AnnEliza), born 21 Dec 1845 in Botetourt County, Virginia. She too migrated to Warren County, Illinois with the family when a child, and married there, on 15 Sep 1869. With her husband Aaron Brown, she had 3 children born in Illinois, and 2 more were born in Jasper County, Iowa. (They migrated between 1875-1878.) Ann died on 2 May 1892, just 46 years old; her husband Aaron died two years later, age 48, both in Jasper County, Iowa. Sadly we have not found photos for any of this family.

Anneliza (Murrell) Brown- headstone closeup in Mound Prairie Pioneer Cemetery, Mound Prairie Township, Jasper County, Iowa. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer.

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Please see previous Murrell posts for more details and references about each of these persons.

 

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Mystery Monday- The Murrells of Virginia and Iowa

 

Wiley A Murrell and Mary Honce Marriage Bond.
Wiley A Murrell and Mary Honce Marriage Bond, 09 Apr 1834. [Click for larger image. See footnotes for transcription.]
Sometimes we family historians have to just realize that the information we seek may no longer be available, or maybe was never available. That is tough to accept for most of us, so we beat our heads up against the proverbial brick wall. We rejoice in any minute clue, and try to look at the negative data in a positive way. We keep hoping to learn just one more tidbit about our elusive ancestor…

Wiley Anderson Murrell (Murrill, Merrell, etc.) is one of my most frustrating brick walls. He was born 03 Feb 1806 in Virginia, a time when record keeping and record survival was not optimum for genealogists. We have been unable to determine his parent’s names, where his parents were from, siblings, or exactly where he was born in Virginia.

Some of the only Virginia documentation that has been found concerns the marriage of Wiley. There was a marriage bond with Catharine Honce, promising a marriage between Wiley and her daughter, Mary Magdalen Honce; the bond was signed on 09 Aril 1834. Mary’s mother signed the bond- unusual for the time- because Mary’s father, Henry Hons/Johns (1773-1864) had moved to Tennessee with his (to be) second wife, Elizabeth Firestone, their child, and some of Mary’s siblings. The family had been unstable- Henry demanded that his daughter Mary go with him as well as all the other siblings, but Mary refused and hid from him when he came to get the other children. (Henry Hons/Honce/Johns is another long story for future posts.)

The Murrell Family Bible states that Wiley and Mary were married “March the 10 1834.” This date corresponds with Dodd’s Early Marriages: Virginia to 1850, which also states that Jacob Carper, a Methodist Episcopal minister, presided, and that Mary was the “d of Catharine who also gives surety.”

Wiley A. Murrell is found in the 1840 US Federal Census in Botetourt, Virginia, with ages and gender of others in the household indicating probably Wiley, Mary, and 3 children (2 girls and a boy); Wiley was a farmer. The Murrell Family Bible records that one of these children, Mary Catherine Murrell, born 18 Sep 1839, “departed this life in the yr of our Lord & Savior November the 6  1846 age 7 years 1 month & 12 days.”

In 1850, Wiley A. “Marrell” was again listed in Botetourt Co., Virginia, in the Western District (District 8) as a farmer and living with his wife Mary and their children: Elizabeth, age 15, John H[enry], 13, William [Anderson], 9, James E., 8, and Ann E[lisy], age 5. There was no value listed for real estate owned, so he may have been renting the land, and it was noted that he was over age 20 but “cannot read & write.” In 1850 there were also many Murrills listed in the nearby Bedford Co., VA census, but no clues of how they might be related to Wiley.

The family moved to Greenbush, Illinois per their son William A.’s obituary in 1856, or 1853 to Roseville, Swan Twp., Warren Co., per family oral history and the obituary of daughter Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts. The family  remained in Warren Co. during the 1860 census- Elizabeth Ann was married by then, but William, James, and Eliza were going to school, and Wiley continued to farm.

Prairie City, Jasper Co., Iowa, August 20, 1907. Street scene during Old Settler's Day.
Prairie City, Jasper Co., Iowa, August 20, 1907. Street scene during Old Settler’s Day. RPPC.

In 1868, per obituaries, the family, including Elizabeth Ann and her husband John Roberts, migrated to Jasper County, Iowa, in covered wagons per their great-granddaughter Edith Roberts who heard the stories often as a child. The family has not been found in an 1870 census- not in Iowa, as expected, nor Illinois; even Virginia censuses have been checked with no success.

The family is next found in the 1880 US Federal Census in Jasper Co., Iowa, indexed as “Murren.” Wiley was still farming that year, at age 74, and living with just his wife. In March, 1885, the two were found together in the Iowa State Census in Mound Prairie Township, Jasper Co., Iowa, listed after their daughter Elizabeth and her husband John Roberts. (No land description is given and they have a separate dwelling, so they may have been living on the Roberts’ farm.)

Headstone of Wiley Anderson Murrell and his wife Mary Magdalene Honce. Mound Prairie Cemetery, Jasper Co., Iowa
Headstone of Wiley Anderson Murrell and his wife Mary Magdalene Honce. Mound Prairie Cemetery, Jasper Co., Iowa

Wiley A. Murrell died that same month as the census, on 27 Mar 1885 in Prairie City, Jasper, Iowa. His wife Mary died two years later, on 13 Jul 1887 in Mound Prairie Twp, Jasper, Iowa. Both are buried in the Greenleif/Mound Prairie Cemetery near the family’s farm.

 

We are very lucky to know so much about the family once Wiley A. Murrell and Mary Magdalen Honce were married. The brick wall part is Wiley’s ancestry- who were his parents, where did they live, and where in Virginia was Wiley born? Some researchers think that John Murrell (1785-?) and Hannah Mitchell were his parents. This is the theory I am leaning toward, especially since Wiley and Mary’s first son had the name of John (after his paternal grandfather possibly?) and the middle name of his maternal grandfather (Henry Honce.) Other researchers suggest William L. Murrell (b. 1769 VA, d. 1850-1860 in Cocke Co., Tennessee) and Elizabeth or Nancy Lax (1760- ) were Wiley’s parents. We would welcome conclusive proof of either, or other leads and sources.

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Murrell Family Bible, hand copied circa 1966 at a relative’s home in Iowa, though whose home is unknown. Some researchers and the newer headstone for Wiley state his birth date was 02 Feb 1806; the Bible states it was 03 Feb 1805. Date of Bible is unknown. (Sorry, it was the time before much documentation, and hey, I was just a kid!)

 

2) Marriage bond transcription:

“Know all men by these presents, that we, Wiley A. Murrell [and] Catherine Honce are held and firmly bound unto Littleton W. Tazewell- Governor of Virginia, in the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars, current money, and for the payment of which, well and truly to be made, to the said Governor and his successors in office, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents. Sealed with our seals, and dated the 9th day of April 1834.

“The condition of the above obligation is such, that whereas, there is a marriage shortly to be had and solemnized, betweeen the above bound Wiley A. Murrell and mary Magdalen Honce daughter of the above bound Catherine Honce of the county of Botetourt. If therefore, there be no lawful cause or impediment to obstruct said marriage, then the above obligation to be void, else to remain in full force and virtue.”

It was signed by Wiley A. Murrell, his mark, and Catharine Honce, her mark, with F [Woltz?] as the witness.

 

3) Marriage Bond date is listed as marriage date on Ancestry.com and per Early American Marriages: Virginia to 1850.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. Virginia, Marriages, 1740-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.

Original data: Dodd, Jordan R., et al.. Early American Marriages: Virginia to 1850. Bountiful, UT, USA: Precision Indexing Publishers.

 

4) 1840 US Federal census: Source Citation: Year: 1840; Census Place:  , Botetourt, Virginia; Roll: 552; Page: 294; Image: 601; Family History Library Film: 0029684. Accessed last on Ancestry.com 12/08/2013.

 

5) 1850 US Federal census: Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place: District 8, Botetourt, Virginia; Roll: M432_936; Page: 156B; Image: 551.

 

6) William A. Murrel- Obituary: “G. A. R. Veteran at Roseville, is Buried Today.” Galesburg [Illinois] Evening Mail, page 10, August 3, 1922. William was just 15 when they moved to Illinois. On 01 Aug 1862 he answered the call to arms and  joined Co. H, 83rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He participated in active fighting during his 3 years with the company and was mustered out 26 Jun 1865. He married Cordelia Talley of Roseville, IL, on 01 Oct 1867 and they had 2 daughters and 2 sons. William died 01 Aug 1922.

 

7) Obituary of Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts: “Mrs. Roberts Called Home,” Prairie City News, February 7, 1917. Page number unknown as my copy is a clipping acquired many years ago from family.

 

8) 1880 US Federal Census: Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Mound Prairie, Jasper, Iowa; Roll: 346; Family History Film: 1254346; Page: 150A; Enumeration District: 096; Image: 0524. Accessed 12/08/2013.

 

 

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