McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

!!! NEWS FLASH !!!

A recent small family get-together has made the McMurray clan pretty sentimental, and we have decided to plan a McMurray Reunion!

The reunion is for descendants of Henderson McMurray (1819-1906) and Mary Ann (Horn) McMurray (1824-1891). (We do not have pictures of their family.) This McMurray family lived in Pennsylvania before their migration to Cedar County, Iowa, and then Jasper County, Iowa by 1870.

The current plan is for family to meet along the Mississippi River in Dubuque, Iowa, on Saturday, June 15, 2019.

We hope that people can arrive in Dubuque on Friday, June 14. We will reserve a block of hotel rooms, or you can make your own arrangements. The reunion festivities will take place on Saturday, and there will be food, entertainment, family history, and fun, including special activities for the little ones. Sunday we will have some additional activities available, such as a boat ride on the Mississippi River, lunch in the revitalized Old Millwork section of Dubuque, or ??? We could possibly have a trip on Monday to Newton, Iowa (about 2½ hours away) to see some of the McMurray home places in Jasper County, if  there is interest.

If you are sentimental and want to get together with other McMurrays at this reunion, please use our Contact Form and let us know so that we can put you on our mailing list. Our Contact Form is not published on the blog, and we will not share your information other than with the family planning this event. Let us know what family line you are from, the activities you might be interested in, how many would most likely attend, and what your travel plans may be.

More details to come…

We look forward to a wonderful McMurray family reunion on June 15, 2019 in Dubuque, Iowa!

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

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Edward B. Payne is that ancestor that engenders obsession in at least one family historian known to this author. Accordingly, his name is frequently put into search boxes when there are a few idle moments, when it really is time for sleep, or at those moments when the yearning to know more about him just won’t quit. Since he was a minister, writer, lecturer, founder of a Utopian colony, close friend of Jack and Charmian London, etc., there are probably close to 1,000 known mentions of him in print found online.

The above booklet was one of the results from a recent online search. But why would this show up in a Google search for “Edward B. Payne”? About to move on among the hits, a slight pause brought this to mind:

Tuesday’s Tip: Don’t discount Google hits too quickly

Painful as it is to admit, Google is smarter than humans in so many ways (not all ways, thankfully). At least, Google can ‘read’ SO much faster than I can, whizzing through books and websites in seconds to bring me just the choicest morsels I am searching for, or didn’t even know I was in need of. This is one prime example.

Google had a reason to choose this link, so it was important to not pass it up, and figure out a connection.  To find that connection, first a look at the Table of Contents was in order, but no Edward B. Payne (lovingly called EBP in our household) there. Next, a quick skim through the book, thinking my eyes would pick his name out of hundreds, but really, the booklet was mostly about why cremation was a good option, the process, etc. No EBP jumped out. At the back of the book, however, were testimonials with a name attached- this might be the answer. Sure enough, a page-by-page search pulled up his name, and this quote:

 

Thus it turns out that “Edward B. Payne” actually did fit in with a cremation search result for a number of reasons, so it was a good to follow and analyze in greater detail. Here are a few things we already knew, which should have tipped us off that this was a good search result:

1. Edward B. Payne was a close friend of Jack London, who was cremated and his ashes placed at the rock now in Jack London State Park; Jack’s wife Charmian was cremated and ashes placed there as well.
2. EBP’s first wife, Nanie M. (Burnell) Payne was likely cremated, as she is listed on a funeral card at Cypress Lawn Cemetery & Crematorium, but under “Interment Location” are the letters, “N/A.” This card was created in 2011 after our research request, and we have been unable to get any earlier paperwork from the cemetery. She is not listed in the genealogy section of the Cypress Lawn website, either, and has not been found on Find A Grave. . This lack of burial evidence suggests she may have been cremated and her ashes scattered, or kept in an urn on a mantel.
3. Russ Kingman, author of “A Pictorial Life of Jack London,” was the founder of The World of Jack London Museum and Bookstore, in Glen Ellen, California, and a noted Jack London researcher. In a personal phone call around 1991, he told me
   that he thought Edward’s ashes had been spread at the same rock as were the ashes of Jack and Charmian (Kittredge) London.

   The moral of the story? Follow our Tuesday’s Tip, and don’t quickly discount Google search results until you have eliminated them through other knowledge of time or place, or until you have checked out the result thoroughly!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. https://archive.org/details/cremation00oddf

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

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

President William McKinley signed the proclamation declaring war on Spain on 23 April 1898. What we know as the Spanish-American War officially began as this demand by the US that Spain give up all authority and its government in Cuba, withdraw its land and naval forces, and allow the people of that small island nation their full independence. The war really began earlier in the year though, when the US sent the USS Maine to Cuba to protect our citizens and interests from the civil unrest that was happening. There was an explosion on the Maine on the evening of 15 Feb 1898 while it was anchored in Havana Harbor, and the ship sunk, killing 250 of 355 American soldiers on board. There is still no proof that the explosion was caused by outside sources, and no definitive proof that it wasn’t, but the incident ignited public opinion in the US against Spain in 1898.

Of course, one cannot have a war without soldiers, so the day before, 22 Apr 1898, Congress had authorized a temporary act to increase military forces. The President then issued his proclamation for volunteers to serve a term of two years.

Newton, Iowa, already had a National Guard unit that included three of our family members. Twenty-three years old and unmarried in 1898, William Elmer McMurray (1874-1957), would later became the father of Dr. Edward A. McMurray. Will was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Guard.

Harry James McMurray (1876-1962) was just 21 years old, and the brother of Will McMurray. He was not married.

Roland E. Benjamin (1868-1950?) was the nephew of our ancestor Sylvanus Rufus “S.R.” Benjamin; S.R. was the grandfather of Will and Harry, so they were all three cousins of some complicated degree. Roland was married, but did not have children in 1898.

Some of those who served in the Iowa National Guard did go off to the Spanish-American War, but none of these family members, and not a very large number from Newton. The official war only lasted ten weeks, and helped to bring our post-Civil War citizens together to fight a common foe. The US became a world power as it interceded in this war, and gained the Spanish colonies of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

Life in Newton, Iowa, likely went on as it had for many years. But we do need to reflect on the potential sacrifice our ancestors knew they might make when they signed up as part of the Iowa National Guard.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa,” 1912, page 224, via archive.org.
2. “Spanish-American War,” wikipedia– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish–American_War

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McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Previous posts have discussed that Frederick Asbury  “F.A.” McMurray was a farmer and auctioneer, and at one point also owned a second-hand store. (Convenient for leftover auction items!) Recently finding that he was also involved in the banking business in Newton, Iowa, however, was quite a surprise!

F. A. may have wanted to use the bank as a good investment and thus income during retirement, as he was about 62 when this book was published in 1912. In the census just two years earlier, he listed his occupation as “Auctioneer” and under the next column for “Industry” it stated, “country & city”- no mention of his interest in the bank.

Back in those days, farmers or skilled workers or immigrants, etc. often banded together to provide a bank friendly to their own group, or sometimes they would form an insurance company. Since this bank was initially called “Farmers and Merchants State Bank,” catering to those groups may have been the impetus to form the new institution. Farmers and merchants have unique needs for capital up front to purchase seed and fertilizer, or a shipment of goods, respectively, however they do not realize income until harvest or the goods are sold. Their income is cyclical, unlike others who get paid weekly for their labors. So a bank that was formed by farmers and merchants may have given a bit more leeway on a loan to either of these groups.

Those who follow this blog may also have  noticed the Horn name in this section of the book about Jasper County. Joe Horn was a descendant of our own Henry Horn, the Hessian soldier captured at Trenton and who then enlisted in the Patriot forces and fought for our freedom from Great Britain. Joe was a real estate agent in Newton, and his father, Frederick Monroe Horn, was the brother of our own Mary Ann Horn, who married Henderson McMurray. So actually Joe Horn and F. A. McMurray were cousins!

Definitely need a scorecard for all these folks! But always good to see if there is a familial relationship, as is often the case with business associates back in the day.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa,” 1912, page 260-1, via archive.org
2. Previous posts on Frederick A. McMurray include– “

   Workday Wednesday: Frederick McMurray Crying a Farm Sale

Friday’s Faces from the Past: The McMurray-Benjamin Family

Sunday’s Obituary: Frederick Asbury McMurray

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McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

The Edge family married into the McMurrays on 13 Feb 1868 in Cedar County, Iowa when Newton Jasper Edge married Anna Maria McMurray, daughter of Henderson McMurray and Mary Ann (Horn) McMurray. The oldest son of Newt and Maria was Lewis Grant Edge, who became the husband of Katharine Loomis in 1896 in Jasper County, Iowa.

Katharine had been born in Jasper County to William A. Loomis and Anna Penman. Kate’s sister Lizzie Loomis was one year older, and Mary Loomis, four years older.

Kate and Lewis had one son, Mac H. Edge.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Another special thank you to Cousins Cindi and Julie  for sharing this funeral card.
2. Newton Jasper Edge (1846-1921), Annie Maria McMurray (1844-1880), Henderson McMurray (1819-1906), Mary Ann (Horn) McMurray (1824-1891), Lewis Grant Edge (1869-1950).

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