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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

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

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Original content copyright 2013-2019 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

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Most family historians read a lot of blogs, and this genealogist is no exception. Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN) is one of the oldest, and the best for keeping up with news and resources in the genealogy field. Another favorite is Amy Johnson Crow’s newsletter/blog, as she posts on a variety of topics, including very useful tips for specific websites, types of genealogical searches, and even DNA. There are so many good genealogy blogs to follow- sometimes it is hard to stop reading them and get back to researching and writing!

My current first-read, however, is the blog of Roberta Estes: DNAeXplained. I started reading her blog as we are just so confused about the heritage of Wiley Anderson Murrell (1806-1885).  He was deposited by aliens (had to be) at age 28 in Botetourt County, Virginia when he married Mary Magdalene Honts in 1834- we cannot find a mention of him in anything before that marriage bond date, even after a trip to the Botetourt County Courthouse. So we have had a lot of DNA (both autosomal and Y-DNA) analyzed to try to find his parents, but now things are even more confusing as we have a whole lot of connections that really don’t connect. Roberta’s blog has helped me to better understand the types of DNA and the caveats for different tests and results, as well as their strengths, though we still don’t understand the DNA results we have been getting. Roberta is able to translate the complex science of genetics to something understandable, however our Wiley remains, well, ‘wily’ in his elusiveness to his descendants.

So why would I write my first blog about a blog I love to follow if it hasn’t answered my questions?? It is because Roberta’s posts can be so informative, but also absolutely beautiful. As a writer who truly appreciates traditional good writing techniques, Roberta’s discourses please my ears/my mind/my heart. (Do you ‘read’ with your ears too?)

Roberta’s blogs provide carefully chosen words to convey information, whether it be the intricacies of DNA or the biography of an ancestor. But Roberta also blogs from her heart when sharing her personal family history journey. Her recent post, “Mom’s Joyous Springtime “Mistake” – 52 Ancestors #189” had to be read twice, then again, just to savour. (And yes, that is spelled the British-English way, because it seems that ‘savor’ is the US fast-food way to enjoy something, whereas the British ‘savour’ seems to mean more time to relish each word, each thought, each emotion…)

In this post, Roberta begins her travels with the angst of the day- ‘Will spring EVER come this year??’ Then she journeys along a road that becomes a reverie of the past. Her loving family and the generations of women with their rituals of looking back at their history resonated with me and touched my heart. I ‘savoured’ those moments along with her. At the same time I was transported from my own distress with this never-ending crazy cold and wet weather to earlier years in my own family, and the trips to the attic and closets to look at the treasures of the past. An old box from the back of the closet or a big trunk in the hot summer attic gave up the ghosts of the past, and my dear family gave them flesh and character as they told the stories. Those stories became a part of me, and have helped me through dark times, challenging times, and the times when one just does not know what to do next. “You come from strong pioneer stock- you can do anything you set your mind to” and “She was so full of love- she gave to anyone who needed it, even when they did not have enough themselves” will always stay with me. The feeling of connectedness that Roberta describes in her post stays with me, too, and reflects my ties to my own ancestors.

Those ties push me to do family history research and tell the stories of our ancestors, so they are not forgotten. I am glad that you read these tales, my dear family!

And thank you, Roberta.

(Can I please be President of your fan club??)

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Photo from family treasure chest. Thank you to the wonderful photographer who took it so long ago and shared it more recently.
2. Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN)– https://blog.eogn.com
3. Amy Johnson Crow’s newsletter/blog– amyjohnsoncrow.com
4. DNAeXplained– dna-explained.com

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

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Roberts Family, Murrell Family (Click for Family Tree)

Ann Elisy Murrell, sometimes called Eliza or Anneliza, was the youngest child of Wiley Anderson Murrell (1806-1885) and Mary Magdalene Honts (1806-1887). Like her older siblings, she was born in Botetourt County, Virginia, with her ‘natal day’ (an old-timey way of saying ‘birthday’) being 21 December 1845.

Eliza was just five years old on 4 October 1850 when the census taker was to stopped by their home in District 8, Botetourt County, Virginia to count the inhabitants. He listed her father,Wiley A. Murrell, first, as the head of household, then her mother. Next came the children in order of birth with their sex and ages. The ditto marks on the census extract above indicate Virginia was the birthplace for all the family members. Wiley was listed as a farmer, but no value of real estate was given, so he may have been renting their farm. The mark to the far right indicates that Wiley could not read nor write.

In 1853 the family moved to Warren County, Illinois. So we find Eliza with her parents and brothers William and James in the 1860 census there. All three children had been in attendance at school and her father, Wiley, was listed with $718 in personal estate value- still no real estate, so he was likely renting the land there too.

The quest for land they could own possibly drove Wiley and Mary to migrate further west, to Iowa, in 1868. Eliza’s sister Elizabeth Ann Murrell had married John Roberts, and they all migrated together. We don’t know if Eliza went with them or not, but it appears she may have chosen to stay, or else she took the train back to Roseville. She married on 15 September 1869 in Warren County, Illinois. Her husband, Aaron Brown (1846-1894), had been born in Indiana, but his family moved to Fulton County, Illinois, and then Warren County, where the couple probably met.

Eliza was 24, Aaron 23, when the next census taker found them in Greenbush, Warren County, Illinois, on 3 June 1870. Aaron was noted as a farmer, but with no real estate value listed; his ‘personal estate’ was listed as being worth $300. So Aaron may have been renting the land too. Eliza had gone from being a farmer’s daughter to a farmer’s wife. She had also just become a mother the week before- their son James Brown was enumerated as being “7/365” days old.

Interestingly, Eliza was listed as being born in Kentucky on the 1870 census, although most other records note her birth as Virginia, plus she was found in the 1850 census there. We do know there are errors in the census, and they can be caused by a number of situations, such as the enumerator not speaking directly to the person they are listing, errors in copying, ‘misremembering,’ etc.

James was apparently used to migration since his family had moved a number of times, and Eliza may have missed her parents, especially once she became a parent herself. Perhaps the Murrell and Roberts families had sent back glowing reports of the fertility of the soil, and the cheap land to be had in the west? For whatever reason, James and Eliza decided to move to Iowa. Their move came sometime after the birth of their daughter Mary R. Brown in 1872 and son William A. Brown (possibly named William Anderson after his uncle and grandfather?), born about 1875. They were in Iowa by about 1878, when their son George L. Brown was born in Jasper County, Iowa. Their last child, Edith M. Brown, was born in 1885, in Jasper County as well.

Edith was born just before the 1885 Iowa State Census was taken, as there was no age recorded for her but she was listed. Her mother was listed as “Ann Eliza,” and Aaron, Mary R., William A., and George L. Brown were also listed. They were farming property listed as Twp. 79, Range 20, Section 25, NW ¼ NW ¼.

More to come about the Murrell-Brown family.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. We do need to check land records in the various counties to determine if the Murrells actually owned land in Virginia or Illinois.
2. Census records as described which can be found on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Roberts Family, Murrell Family (Click for Family Tree)

James Edward Murrell was the fifth of six children born to Wiley Anderson Murrell (1806-1885) and Mary Magdalene (Honts) Murrell (1806-1887). He was the youngest brother of our ancestor Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts.

James was born on 15 November 1842 in Botetourt County, Virginia, like the rest of his siblings.  We can use the US Federal Census to follow his travels through his lifetime, and those censuses provide us some interesting information.

James was listed in the 1850 US Federal Census, living with his parents and siblings in District 8, Botetourt County, Virginia. In 1853 at age 11, he most likely made the trip with his family to Warren County, Illinois, walking the 175 miles alongside their covered wagon. Wonder what adventures he imagined or lived, and what treasures- rocks, feathers, broken wagon parts, bone, or ?? ended up in his boy’s pockets?

At the US Federal Census taken on 19 June 1860, James was in Swan Twp., Warren Co., Illinois, as expected, and attending school. He would have been 14 or 17 (depending on birth year which varies), so he may have been in high school- unusual for farm boys in those days.

The 1860 census for Wright County, Missouri, however, also lists a William Murrell, age 16, and a James Murrell, age 14, working for the Starling Casey family as farm laborers. This census was taken on 7 September, later than the Warren County census. These laborers were probably our Murrell uncles, as young men often traveled to find work, and it was harvest time so work would have been plentiful. Adding to the evidence that these two are indeed our uncles is that the two names are the brothers of Elizabeth (although they are common names), the age difference is approximately correct, the person responding to the census taker did not know the birthplace of either young man, and also the fact that James later settled in Missouri.

Here is where a bit of history helps us understand their life choices. The country continued to divide in the early 1860s over the issues of slavery and states’ rights. Missouri was a hotbed for both sides at that time. Wright County is in the southern part of Missouri, which was admitted to the Union as a slave state with the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The “Compromise” was that Maine was admitted as a free state to maintain balance, and a boundary line was drawn across the Louisiana Purchase to divide slave and non-slave areas for the future. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 negated the Compromise, allowing new states to decide whether or not to allow slavery. This Act further increased the tensions, to the extent of raids, murder, lynchings, coercion, gangs, etc. in the midwest, and especially Kansas and Missouri. Then the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, which was handed down at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri (where the last slave auction on the courthouse steps took place in 1861) redefined the status of slaves. The decision stated that Africans had no right to citizenship in the United States, and that allowing Dred Scott to have his freedom (and his wife and children theirs) was a legislative overreach of Congress by denying personal property rights to slave owners. (Dred Scott remained a slave until his owners gave him his freedom later that year, but he died the following year, in 1858. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, where some of our Helbling ancestors are also buried.)

So had William and James gone to Missouri sometime between June and September, when the two censuses were taken, and then been enumerated in both? The census was supposed to include “every person whose usual place of abode on the 1st day of June, 1860, was in this family.” So were they already gone to Missouri and the Murrells listed them at home in Illinois, or did the Casey family or enumerator in Missouri not understand and asked who was living in the home on the day in September that the census was counted? No one should have been counted twice, but people who moved often were, as is likely in this instance.

It would be interesting to know how long these two young men were in southern Missouri, which was very pro-slavery in those years. How did they feel coming from a northern community, where the majority was primarily anti-slavery? What did they see or experience themselves in the fields? We have already discussed that the Murrell family may have migrated to Illinois from Virginia to escape the looming Civil War- was it for a belief that abolition was necessary, as well as the safety the family, their land, and possessions? Whatever the case, we have already shown that William Anderson Murrell was motivated to join the Union cause in 1862, and his little brother James Edward Murrell followed in his footsteps and did the same in 1865. It is possible that this time in Missouri led to those choices.

More to come about the Civil War service of James Edward Murrell, and where he was in the following census years.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Image kindly shared by cousin Diane.
2. 1860 census instructions– https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/1860instructions.pdf
3. “What’s in a Name?- Underground Railroad”–http://kwqc.com/2017/02/09/whats-in-a-name-underground-railroad/
4. US Federal Census records as described found on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Roberts Family, Murrell Family (Click for Family Tree)

To be continued…

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. 83rd Illinois Infantry Regiment–
   https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases/reghist.pdf https://civilwar.illinoisgenweb.org/reg_html/083_reg.html
2. 83rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/83rd_Illinois_Volunteer_Infantry_Regiment
3. Interestingly, there was a young man named Ransom Roberts in Co. H with William- could he have been a cousin through William’s sister Elizabeth’s marriage to John Roberts? There was a Joseph H. Saylor, also from Roseville- John Roberts’ mother’s maiden name was Saylor/Salyers, so he too may have been a cousin through marriage (or a marriage to be.) More research needed here as neither of these names are known to the author.
4. Civil War Archive- 83rd regiment Infantry– http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unilinf7.htm#83rd

5. Fort Donelson Battlefield- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Donelson_National_Battlefield
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Donelson
   https://www.nps.gov/fodo/index.htm

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.