Tombstone Tuesday: James Edward Murrell
Roberts Family, Murrell Family (Click for Family Tree)
James Edward Murrell filed for a Civil War Pension on 14 July 1890. He was granted the pension he had earned as a Union soldier, on account of his invalid status.
Health issues were a problem for James in later years, and it would help to get his pension papers to learn more about his service and any injuries that may have caused him to have ill health in later years. (Copies of pensions are expensive and time-consuming to get from the National Archives.) In 1912 his pension payment was $12 (per month), then $15 in 1915, $19 in 1916, $27 in 1921, $32 in 1925, and then it was raised to $50, and finally $72, although no dates are noted for the last two rates.
James did move into the National Military Home for veterans that was in Leavenworth, Kansas. His first stay there was from 3 December 1912 to 22 April 1915, when he was admitted with a left arm injury and cardiac hypertrophy. He was in and out of the home for the rest of his life.
His second marriage, to Dillie E. Fox in 1924, probably helped James get the care he needed but more of it at his own home, rather than the soldier’s home.
James died in Finley Township, Webster County, Missouri, at 5:00 pm on 24 May 1926. He was 83 years, 6 months, and 9 days old. His wife Dillie was the informant for the death certificate, and stated that he was a farmer, born in Virginia, but she did not know the names or birthplaces of his parents.
James was buried with his first wife, Mary E. Robinson, in Liberty Cemetery (now called Calhoun Cemetery) near where they were living in Seymour, Missouri.
A military stone was requested in 1939, but the stone on Find A Grave does not appear to be a military stone, although the government paperwork states that the stone was shipped.
Since we have just recently found that James married a second time, we have not fully researched his second wife, Dillie E. Fox. We do not know when she died or where she was buried, and have not found her listed as Dillie Murrell on Find A Grave in Missouri She was just 56 when he died, so may have remarried.
Notes, Sources, and References:
- Sources as listed with images.
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