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.

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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Original content copyright 2013-2018 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

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Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

[Those of us ‘of an age’ will remember cartoons and commercials with ‘rabbit’ pronounced more like it is spelled above; seems like as kids a lot of us said it that way too. And it alliterates better with “Wordless Wednesday.” Sorry.]

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of Helbling photo albums.

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Original content copyright 2013-2018 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

Were these words a part of sermons, written in a newsletter for church members, or published in a magazine? We do not know, and do not even know for sure if these words are those of our Edward Biron Payne. It is highly likely they are his words though, because:

• He used the initials E. B. frequently,
• Lamoille, Vermont was only about 200 miles from Springfield, Massachusetts, where E. B. was living around 1880, and
• Newspapers would pick up snippets from other papers to fill their pages and sell copies in other cities.

More than anything else, as one who has studied Edward Biron Payne for many, many years, the words sound like his writing- they have the style seen in other published works, and echo much of his thinking that was refined in later years but still had the same basic premises. He was about 33 when this was published.

It seems that the two paragraphs may have been from different sermons or articles. Perhaps they were notes taken by a person who attended one of his sermons, and then shared with the newspaper. Alternatively, Rev. Payne may have submitted them himself. He was new to the area and may have already had an understanding of how to promote himself and his work, and gather a flock for his teaching.

“In the path of duty, you may rationally hope for permanent happiness.”

Edward Biron Payne believed that through work, one would fill their soul and find happiness. He was a Christian Socialist, but believed that we should not just take from the rich and hand to the poor- he felt that those who were blessed with riches should share their wealth, but it should be used to help the poor pull themselves up to eventually be self-sufficient. His founding of the short-lived Utopian-based Altruria Colony outside Santa Rosa, California, in the 1890s, put his beliefs of hard work and economic equality to the test.

“A man is to be pitied who is insensible to the beauties and ministrations of nature, to the teachings of literature, to the inspiration and charm of art. But the love of God is more to be considered than all these things, while, in a sense, it embraces them all, and carries with it an added richness in the appreciation of life’s deepest meanings, its joys and its sorrows.”

Rev. Payne wrote prose and poetry, and read probably about anything he could get, from practical farming to great and classic literature. He approached many topics in life from a ‘scientific,’ or very analytical and logical, point of view. (Consider the context, i.e. what science was like from his birth in 1847 until his death in 1923- the advances were considerable, and since then have been exponential.) We do not know for sure that E. B. was an art lover, but most likely he was, as he travelled in circles that included artists and critics, plus he may have helped choose illustrations for The Overland Monthly magazine, of which he was an editor for a number of years. His over-arching, deep faith made him see that while the love of God was more important than such worldly things, that love for God actually included all those beauties, and made them even richer with that understanding.

Sadly, the home of Edward and Ninetta (Wiley) [Eames] Payne was lost in the Great Berkeley Fire of 1923. His collection of manuscripts and other writings, as well as their books, became ash in the conflagration. We only have those items that were published, such as these, and some letters, to remember his beautiful words.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “Religious,” Lamoille News, 27 October 1880, Hyde Park, Vermont, Vol. 4, No. 29, Whole No. 185, Page 2, Column 3, via Chronicling America, Library of Congress.
2. Edward B. Payne died soon after the fire- some say from a broken heart, although he had experienced some ill health, and was 76 years old. Ninetta was later, after his death, able to find a single manuscript copy of The Soul of Jack London that he had sent to a friend for review. This is the only book of his that has been published, but we do not know which are his words, and which are Ninetta’s. (She did write the introduction, but we do not know if she completed or edited the book prior to publication.) The book claims to be a communication with the late Jack London, to whom he was very close. At the time of the writing, Edward had just begun to think of spiritualism as a possibility, a slight opening of the door to the next world. That, however, is another story…

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McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

On this anniversary of the “natal” day of Edward B. Payne (AKA “birthday”) it is only fitting to post this lovely compliment and bit of history.

“Rev. E. B. Payne of Springfield, Mass, formerly a Congregational minister, will occupy the pulpit of the Unitarian church next Sunday. Mr. Payne is a young man recently from California, although a native of Vermont, and a brilliant preacher.”

“…a brilliant preacher“- there are those of us who so wish that we could have heard his “brilliant” sermons, or sat at the dinner table with him, or lounged under the trees at Wake-Robin Lodge discussing economics, social movements, literature, and his beliefs and experiences in life. He knew the politicians, religious leaders, movers and shakers, artists and writers of the times, especially when he lived in Berkeley, or at Wake-Robin Lodge with Jack and Charmian (Kittredge) London, or Altruria, the Utopian colony he founded, or Camp Reverie, the adult summer camp in the woods that he and Ninetta (Wiley) [Eames] Payne ran. All these fascinating persons would have been around the table or out on the porch with him in the evening, and the topics would have been very intellectual and far-ranging. Edward B. Payne was a prodigious reader, remarkable author, and profound thinker- and he must have been a fascinating conversationalist.

Edward Biron Payne was born in Middletown, Vermont, on 25 July 1847, so was not yet 34 when the above was written about him.

After service in the Civil War, graduation from Oberlin College with his degree in theology, and ordination in 1874 as a Congregational minister, E.B. went to Berkeley, California for a time. While there, he felt a need to reexamine the faith he inherited from his father and other ancestors, and Rev. Payne converted to the Unitarian Church.

E. B. then returned to New England in 1880 to visit his parents (Joseph Hitchcock Payne and Nancy S. (Deming) Payne), per some accounts, and decided to stay. His wife, Nanie M. (Burnell) Payne, had gone blind soon after their marriage, and their daughter Lynette Payne (later McMurray) had been born 26 October 1879. The couple would have wanted their family to meet their beautiful babe and likely needed some help at home (Lynette had been born very premature), which was not always affordable on a young minister’s salary.

In addition, it is likely that E. B. may have felt the need to make a clean break with the Congregational church in California. He had been the first pastor at Berkeley Congregational/ First Congregational Church, and it must have been hard to explain to church members why he had changed faiths. He surely wanted a fresh start with his new understanding of religion, so moving to another place, especially a place where there would have been more interaction with ministers of the Unitarian faith, would have been beneficial in coalescing his ideas about God and our world.

Rev. Payne was called to serve as pastor at Unitarian churches in Springfield, Massachusetts; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Leominster, Massachusetts. He “exchanged pulpits” periodically with ministers in other cities, to give his flock as well as himself some variety in his preaching.

Finding new pieces of information about Edward B. Payne such as these helps us to feel a bit of our “Wishful Wednesday” has been granted, though it can never replace what would have been a mesmerizing conversation with this brilliant man.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. The day of one’s birth was called a “natal day” back when he was born on 25 July 1847 and the term was also used for many years. In 1893, the Morning Call (San Francisco, California), Thursday, 27 July 1893, Volume LXXIV (74), No. 57, Page 3, Column 2, ‘Chronicling America’ via loc.gov, reported a surprise party “in honor of the anniversary his natal day.” See Mystery Monday: The Birth of Edward B. Payne at heritageramblings.net/2016/07/25/mystery-monday-the-birth-of-edward-b-payne
2. Interestingly, E. B.’s parents were enumerated on the Federal Census on 29 June 1880 in Waukegan, Lake County, Illinois, living with their other child, Cornelia Mary (Payne) Hinckley, her husband Horace A. Hinckley, and the Payne’s first grandchild, William H. Hinckley, age 11. Nanie’s parents were living in Illinois at that time as well, although a different county, so maybe E. B. and Nanie had gone to New England to visit E. B.’s parents, and then decided they had better opportunities in the Northeast than in the young California town of Berkeley. Of course, the family did move back to Berkeley in 1892, about 12 years after ministering to souls in New England, but that’s another story.

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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.

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.)

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?

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

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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