Tag: William Elmer McMurray

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

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.

Friday’s Faces from the Past: Young William Elmer McMurray

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 1887: Frederick Asbury McMurray and his wife, Hannah “Melissa” (Benjamin) McMurray, William Elmer McMurray (standing in back, viewer’s left), Harry J. McMurray (standing in back, right), Addie Belle McMurray (standing on far left with bow on her dress), Roy McMurray (sitting in front, left), and Ray McMurray (baby being held on Melissa’s lap).

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

[How are we related? Will McMurray was the father of Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Herbert C. McMurray, and Maude (McMurray) Cook.]

How many baby pictures exist of you? How many of your children, if you have any? Do you have boxes and boxes of photos, documenting every single year and special event?

We are almost overwhelmed with photos these days, both physical and digital, but for the Frederick Asbury and Hannah Melissa (Benjamin) McMurray family, that was not a problem. Before the invention of small consumer cameras, a family had to go to a professional photographer to get a picture taken of the family or child, or utilize an itinerant photographer who carried all studio equipment with him/her. (Some photographers, especially out west, even outfitted a train car with a studio and darkroom! They would advertise their arrival date ahead of time, stop in a small town for a couple of days and take photos and print them, then move on.) Family historians lament the lack of photos available for our ancestors, but there just weren’t that many taken, plus they were destroyed by fires, floods, humidity, and/or heat. They may have been left behind when migrating to a new place, split among a dozen children, thrown out by descendants who did not care about them, or they exist somewhere, maybe in an antique store but have no name, date, or place on them, so we cannot know if the images are of those who shared their DNA with us to make us who we are today.

We are so lucky to have this photo, and know each of the persons in it! This is the earliest photo we have that shows the McMurray family or any of their children. Our subject today is William Elmer McMurray in his younger years, so we will focus on him in this and some upcoming posts, but childhood years would have been fairly similar for Will’s siblings too: Harry James McMurray, Addie Belle McMurray, Roy McMurray, and Ray McMurray.

William Elmer McMurray, circa 1887, about age 13, cropped from family photo.

Will, or Bill, as he was known in later years but maybe even as a child, was the oldest of the McMurray children. He was born 15 June 1874 in Newton or Marshalltown, Iowa, or may have actually been born out on the farm. His parents had married the year before, but we don’t know yet whether they had their own land at that point, were living on the farm of one of their parents, or lived in town and worked out on a parent’s (or someone else’s) farm.

Growing up on the farm as he most likely did gave Will the opportunity to have the freedom of country life yet he would have had the responsibilities of the eldest son of a farmer. Will was six years old in 1880 and attended school per the US Federal Census. His brother Harry, age 4, and sister Addie, age 2, were “at home” with Hannah, and F. A. was listed as a farmer, as were the other heads of household on the 8 June 1880 US Federal Census for Newton Township, Jasper County, Iowa. As F.A. McMurray was also an auctioneer who traveled all over the county, and sometimes even to other counties, Will probably went with him at times as a helper and to learn the business.

A big change was coming to the McMurray family- by 1885, when Will was 10, the Iowa State Census noted that Will’s father, Frederick Asbury McMurray, had a second-hand store, and they were living in East Newton, at “Out Lot 26, Newton.” Will’s Aunt Mary McMurray (his father’s sister), who was 27 and single, was also living in the household, and working as a dressmaker. (She never married, and lived to be 100 years, 2 months old!) The big move to town would have been quite a lot of work for the whole family, though since F.A. was an auctioneer, selling off their farm equipment, grain, and livestock would have been a bit easier than calling in a stranger. Whatever was left over of household goods could be put in the second-hand store, and Will and his siblings most likely did a lot of carrying to and fro with the move.

We have the above picture from about 1887- the date estimate is calculated from ages of the children, with baby Roy being born 29 October of 1886, we can guess he is over 3 months old so the picture was likely taken in 1887. Then we have a gap of about five years, from 1887-1892, when we know very little about what was going on with the family, other than some articles about Will’s father conducting auctions around the county. (Sadly the 1890 US Federal Censuses were destroyed.) By 1892, Will was about to open a new chapter of his life, and it is there that we will pick up the story on another day.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. See references within article.

 

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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.

Mystery Monday: Lynette Payne’s Photo- When Was It Taken?

Lynette PAYNE, portrait, taken at Sparks Studio, Marshalltown, Iowa, possibly as early as 1897. (Click to enlarge.)

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Lynette Payne (1879-1968) was the daughter of Edward Biron Payne and Nanie Maria (Burnell) Payne. The date this photo was taken is a mystery, but we can try to pin it down in a number of ways.

We know that Lynette graduated from Berkeley High School in California in June of 1897. Her parents may have been separated at that time by choice, or Nanie was living away because she was very ill and needed more care than the family could provide. According to ex-daughter-in-law, Edith (Roberts) [McMurray] Luck, Lynette “… had been sent here [Newton, Iowa] to live with an uncle, Court Bernell [Burnell]. His wife Amy was a mean woman and she must have made it miserable for mother [Lynette]. A beautiful girl just 18 and full of life.” Other family stories include that the family didn’t think Lynette’s father should be raising a daughter alone- she needed a woman’s influence at that age. Also, Berkeley, California, was such a liberal place to live with the University of California there, plus Bohemian artists, writers, etc. that it is to this day called “Bi-zerkeley” (a contraction of ‘Bizarre’ and ‘Berkeley’), and it was felt that a young woman should have a more stable and refined environment. This researcher has a feeling that Lynette reading a paper written by her father to a meeting of Socialists may have set this plan in motion once she graduated high school… if the family knew about it. (More about that in another post.)

So, for a variety of reasons we know that Lynette may have been living in Newton, Iowa, after June 1897. We also know that she married William Elmer McMurray on 6 June 1899, in Marshalltown, Iowa, about 30 miles from Newton. (It’s not that far- some people who live south of Marshalltown now will do that drive and longer just for a Maid-Rite- you know who you are- which is the best loose-meat sandwich ever. Though actually, we think Newton has the best old-fashioned, non-commercialized Maid-Rite, just like it has been for 50+ years on the square.)

More rambling about our heritage… sorry. back to Lynette’s picture.

We are lucky to have the folio with the photograph! It gives us a big clue: it was taken at Sparks Studio in Marshalltown, Iowa. So a search for the photographer and studio in Marshalltown will help us narrow the date of the photo.

Sparks Studio, Marshalltown, Iowa for sale, in Abel’s Photographic Weekly, 1 Aug 1914, Vol. 14, No. 344, Page 198, via GoogleBooks.

Sparks Studio, formerly in Marshalltown, now opening in Gilman, Iowa. Bulletin of Photography, 4 Mar 1914, Vol. 14, No. 343, Page 276, via GoogleBooks.

These snippets in photography publications suggest that the Marshalltown studio was closed by 1914, so we know that the portrait was taken before that time.

Looking at Lynette’s history, however, we know that her first child was born in 1900 and third/last in 1911. In this portrait, Lynette looks younger than in the image we will post later this week of her with her first child, so the above portrait may have been taken pre-1900.

A wonderful website has been found that lists photographers and their studios, and it states that Sparks was active in Marshalltown from 1901-1902. We have since searched Marshalltown city directories for C. W. Sparks on Ancestry.com, and the earliest we have found was from 1897. So it is possible that this image could have been taken as early as summer, 1897, after Lynette graduated and moved to Iowa.

If we look closely at the image- you can download it or just click to enlarge- we can see the name “Lynette” handwritten across the photo, and above it a word that might be, “Love.” (What do you think?) So here are a few possibilities, suggested by all these clues:

  1. Lynette may have gone to Marshalltown with friends or family, and decided to have her picture taken to send copies to her father and mother in California.
  2. Maybe the picture was taken to give to a handsome young beau named Will McMurray?
  3. Or maybe this was taken when Will and Lynette were married in Marshalltown, perhaps on their honeymoon in June, 1899? I am unaware of any photos from their wedding, though I do hope one will surface from a shoebox under a bed or in the back of a closet somewhere. Lynette does look pretty serious in the photo though! Her dress is very lovely, and seems much dressier than an everyday Iowa dress- could this be the dress she was married in? She did always have nice clothes, especially coming from the sophisticated west coast/San Francisco area.

We hope that family members will help us out with more information on this photo. Maybe they have a copy, and a date might be written on the reverse? Please do let us know.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Photo and transcription of story about Lynette from Edith Luck from the family treasure chest, and a special ‘thank you’ to 3 of Lynette’s great-granddaughters for sharing.
  2. Langdon’s List of 19th & Early 20th Century Photographers, https://www.langdonroad.com/

 

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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.
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Sentimental Sunday: Fishing with Dad and Grandpa McMurray at Cass Lake, Minnesota

This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Edward A. McMurray, Jr.'s Photo Album
Case Lake, Minnesota, section of the photo album of Edward A. McMurray, Jr., completed in late 1940s. Photos probably from about 1939 estimated from other pictures on the same page. Captions added by Ed McMurray. (Click to enlarge.)

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

The things we do with our kids when they are young can become lifelong interests, and they will always carry the sweetness of having done them first with mom and/or dad. Passing those hobbies and passions along to the next generation adds to the richness of family and traditions in our lives.

Cass Lake, Minnesota, from the photo album of Edward A. McMurray, Jr., completed in late 1940s. Photos probably from about 1939. (Click to enlarge.)

Fishing at Cass Lake, Minnesota is one of those family traditions, and about 475 miles from Newton, Iowa, where the McMurrays lived. That was at least an 8 hour drive, plus one needs to add in stops. Of course, we must forget about frequent superhighway rest stops, fast food joints, and DVD players or satellite radio- none of those existed back in the 1930s.

(Newton, Iowa, is approximately under the “A” in “Iowa.”)

Fast food joints did not really exist even years later when Ed McMurray, Jr. took his own family north to Big Lake, Minnesota, which is about 3 miles NW of Cass Lake as the crow flies, or about 20 miles to drive. There were some hamburger joints but they weren’t really affordable and didn’t work with a car full of kids and a dog.  So in the 1960s, families travelled as they had in the 30s, only with faster and more roomy vehicles, like station wagons. Comic books and coloring books (watch out for melting crayons in the car!) kept kids occupied in the days before DVD players for those in the back seat. Families packed picnic lunches of cold fried chicken, potato salad and coleslaw, American cheese sandwiches or the old stand-by for kids, peanut butter and jelly; had drinks like iced tea or in the 60s, Kool-Aid, from a big thermos; and Zero brand candy bars for a snack- those did not melt in the midwest summer heat with no air conditioning in the car. Small parks with playground equipment now considered dangerous were a way for kids to run off some steam before getting back into the car for more hours on the two-lane road, passing trucks and farm equipment when one could finally be in the clear. Bathroom stops were at old gas stations with the roller-style linen towels hanging in a box on the wall (you had to hope there was still some clean towel left!), and many families carried their own ‘trip extenders’ or stopped in the woods somewhere. A journey in the 1960s was not much different than that of the 30s, and heading north to the wilds of Minnesota with his young family must have brought back some great memories to Ed McMurray, Jr. of the same trip with his father and grandfather, as well as other family members.

(Case Lake  is the big lake just NE of Pike Bay- not sure why the name does not show up on the embedded map.)

Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Sr., with his father, William Elmer McMurray, fondly known as “Lala.” Taken at Cass Lake, Minnesota, in the late 1930s. (Click to enlarge.)

Sadly these pictures don’t show faces very well. It would be interesting to know when the family began going to Cass Lake- had Will McMurray taken his own sons, Edward A. McMurray, Sr., and Herbert McMurray, and maybe his daughter Maude “Midge” McMurray to the lake when they were young?

Probably Dr. Edward A. McMurray and his wife, Elna Mae (Kenner) McMurray, and Edward’s father, William Elmer McMurray, in a boat at Cass Lake, Minnesota, circa 1939; from Edward A. McMurray, Jr.’s photo album. (Click to enlarge.)

The captions Ed wrote when he put this album together add so much to the photos.

Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Sr., and others at Cass Lake, Minnesota, late 1930s. From Edward A. McMurray, Jr.’s photo album. (Click to enlarge.)

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Edward A. McMurray, Jr.’s photo album, compiled in the late 1940s.
  2. Zero candy bar– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZERO_bar
  3. Take a look at the map in GoogleMaps and you will be able to see that Cass Lake is downstream from the headwaters of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca. One can still walk across the Mississippi River there! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Itasca

 

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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.
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Wedding Wednesday: William Elmer McMurray and Lynette Payne, 1899

Marriage Certificate of William Elmer McMurray and Lynette Payne, 6 June 1899, Marshalltown, Marshall County, Iowa.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Oops! Time doesn’t really go that fast- it is not already Wednesday. Not getting the date of a post correct is a peril of working on the blog late at night. I do promise that Wednesday’s post won’t have “Tuesday” in the title.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Family treasure chest of papers and photos- thank you, dear aunt for sharing!

 

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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.

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