This image is in the photo album of Edith Roberts (later McMurray and then Luck), in with images taken in the early 1920s. The woman in the front on the right appears to be Edith, but it is unknown who the other persons are. Since she is by herself and we do not recognize any of the men in the picture, she may not yet have been married nor had her son, Edward A. McMurray. (He was born in 1924.)

We would be very interested in learning more about any of the people in this picture! Please contact us if you know them.

REVISED later in the day after looking at more family photos: The man with the bow tie to the right of Edith is probably her brother, George Anthony Roberts, Jr. The woman two persons to the left of Edith, holding a little girl with a barrette in her hair, may be Edith’s sister, Ethel Gay (Roberts) Robinson (1891-1969). The child may be Ruby Robinson, born 1915, or Helen Viola Robinson, born 1921. Ethel’s husband Bert Robinson (1890-1977) may be the man in the back, just to the left of  “Georgie” Roberts. These assumptions/guesses are just from knowing these people in later life and looking at the few pictures we have of them. The man in the center with a tie (in front) may be George A. Roberts, Sr. OR Robert Woodson Daniel. There is a picture of RW Daniel somewhere in the family archives, as I remember Ed McMurray talking about it as we viewed an image. It is on a little cassette video somewhere, just begging to be digitized. Even better would be finding the original, which has not turned up in boxes of family pictures. I am now leaning toward this being a group photo of the Daniel family, as George Roberts, Sr., was not happy with his daughter Ethel’s choice of husband, and he disowned her when she married Bert Robinson; thus, a picture of them all together was unlikely as Geo. Sr. was a strong-minded man (per his daughter Edith). George Sr.’s wife and the mother  of Edith, George, and Ethel’s was Ella V. Daniel, but she had passed away 17 Jan 1922; I don’t believe she is in this picture, which may help date it after 1922 or so. R.W. Daniel’s wife, Margaret Ann Hemphill, died in 1915, so that may also date the photo. Again, any help would be appreciated with identifying the people in this image.

Edited 05/12/15: The man that might be RW Daniel might be correct, but his wife is not in this picture. A story by Edith Roberts said Margaret Ann Hemphill was very thin, and always dressed in dark colors. She was ill for many years before her death, so it is very likely that she is not in this image. RW was bald, per Edith’s story, so that may not be him in the image either. 🙁

Still searching for information…

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Family treasure chest of photo albums.

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a dangerous disease that has taken the lives of many  infants and children throughout the years. Adults can get it as well- often from their children.

The initial symptoms of this highly contagious bacterial respiratory disease are often mild and may be misdiagnosed. Also called the “100-day cough”, pertussis then causes violent coughing fits that may cause fainting, hemorrhage, rib fracture, brain injury, and even death, especially in young infants. Making it hard to breathe, the coughing occurs in clusters of 5-10 coughs and then a ‘whoop’ as the patient breathes in. Typically this stage lasts six weeks but often continues ten weeks or longer; the whooping may last for some time even after the person has recovered from pertussis.

There is no real treatment for whooping cough- antibiotics are sometimes given to reduce how infectious the person is (that period may last 5 weeks or more) and possibly reduce side effects of the disease. Vaccination is currently the only way to reduce the risk of acquiring pertussis, and the immunity fades over time, requiring vaccination throughout the years.

There had been an average of over 175,000 cases of whooping cough reported per year in the US before a vaccine was available in the 1940s. The incidence decreased to only about 1,000 cases per year until 1976, when cases again began to rise. In the US, in 2012 there were more cases reported than since 1955; in 2014, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported a 30% increase in cases. (Keep in mind that many cases go unreported, so actual numbers are probably higher.)

Back at the turn of the twentieth century and into the 1930s, whooping cough epidemics scoured our nation. Schools would be closed because such a large number of children were absent due to the cough, and there were many deaths. Epidemics would occur every 2-5 years.

Imagine a large family of children, maybe a newborn and children aged 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12,14, and all of them coming down with whooping cough, one at a time, each at a different stage of the illness…   The disease may last 100 days, so an entire year or more might be spent with a family dealing with whooping cough, and the very youngest might not survive. The ‘whooping’ children would get bored and be distraught that they could not enjoy their birthday or other happy event. So parents invented “Whooping Cough Parties” to entertain the sick children- only those infected or who had already had the cough were invited. Parents as well as children were thankful for a respite from being sick.

New Zealand also dealt with whooping cough as an epidemic, as did countries around the world: Whooping Cough Party in Bay of Plenty Times. A creosote mixture was a part of the meal as a relish, and prizes were given for those who could whoop the longest and loudest; a booby prize was given to those who whooped the least.

There was even a mention of a whooping cough party in both the The American Journal of Clinical Medicine and The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal!

Back to the picture above- there are two sets of siblings in the picture, which shows how infectious the disease was. The photo was taken probably about 1930 in Newton, Iowa, at 609 South Sixth Street. Ed McMurray and Johnny Warburton were best friends, and they lived across the street from each other. Ed stated that his mother planned the party since so many were sick. This may have been an April birthday party, or a party just to keep those poor coughing kids occupied.

CAUTION- PLEASE NOTE:

None of the information in this post should be considered medical information or advice- please consult a doctor if you want more information or think you or a loved one may have whooping cough.

Pertussis is the only disease with increasing occurrences today that has a vaccine available. Sadly, the increasing number of persons who are not vaccinating their children or getting them booster shots increases the risk for all of acquiring this sometimes fatal disease. At least 90% of the population needs to be vaccinated to prevent outbreaks, and in some areas of the US, 75% of the parents are NOT vaccinating their kids, thus there is no “herd immunity.” (Measles and polio are coming back as well because of so many not vaccinating.)

I have seen queries online about having a “Whooping Cough Party” to infect one’s child to develop the immunity- that is NOT what these parties were years ago, and it can be very dangerous to hold these ‘parties’. In the early 1900s, the parties were for children who were actually sick. Since some of the children may have attended while still infectious, some states enacted laws against these gatherings:

So please don’t hold a “Whooping Cough Party”- it is very risky and we don’t want to lose any of those cute little timeless faces like in the above picture to such a horrible, preventable disease.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) “Whooping Cough Party is Success for 25 Children” accessed 10/13/14 at http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-N5PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=r1QDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5627%2C5984160

2) See also an 1899 article from Australia about whooping cough, in which a sick child had 27 of her friends with the same illness: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/89827706

3) New Zealand Whooping Cough Party article: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=BOPT19070925.2.42

4) CDC information about pertussis and current outbreaks: http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis

5) Creosote compounds were used for their antibacterial properties that helped with respiratory illnesses, and given frequently for tuberculosis. Guaifenesin, currently used in Mucinex and other medications, is a synthetic modification of these compounds. See Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creosote.

6) Pertussis article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pertussis.

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Lancaster, Massachusetts is an old town, incorporated in 1653. Set amidst hills, rivers, and lakes, the beautiful wilderness around the small settlement of Lancaster was a very different place at sunrise on February 10, 1675, during King Phillip’s War (also known as Metacom’s Rebellion). The Rowlandson garrison house, one of six such designated homes in Lancaster that was more fortified than others, was set upon by a group of about four hundred Indians from various tribes. Looking out of the garrison, the families saw other homes being burned and people being killed by ” the bloody heathen” (per Mary’s later report of the incident). It appeared that the colonists had to choose between running out and being murdered, or staying in the burning garrison house. Mary (White) Rowlandson, her son, and two daughters chose to run out and thus were among the 24 persons captured that day from the Rowlandson garrison; twelve were killed at the garrison and only one escaped to get help.

The captives were constantly moved in order to evade the troops and townspeople searching for them. Mary’s youngest daughter Sarah died nine days into the captivity due to infection in her wounds received during the fight- she had been shot in the bowels and hand. Mary herself was shot in her side. The family and other captives were separated and moved around although they did see each other occasionally during their 11 week trek through the wilderness. The captives were eventually ransomed, Mary near Wachusett Mountain, and returned to ‘civilization.’

Mary later wrote a description of her ordeal commonly known as, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, published in 1682. She described the twenty ‘removes’ that took her over 150 miles in her captivity during the harsh New England winter with little food, and the captives seldom having adequate shelter or warm clothing. Mary describes how she made shirts for one of the Indians in exchange for food. This book was the first of the ‘captivity narrative’ genre, and a best-seller in her time and for years later in both America and England. Mary was one of the first women to publish in the British North American Colonies, in a time when women had few rights and opportunities; she is also better known than her husband, Rev. Joseph Rowlandson. Even today, her narrative is required reading in some high school American Literature classes and most any college level American Literature class.

(More to come in upcoming posts on this McMurray family ancestor.)

Modern day images like those at the beginning of this post may help us to understand the places our ancestors lived, at least a hint of the topography of the area. Lancaster has definitely changed since 1653, so looking at older images can help to take us a bit closer to Mary’s time. Obviously, there are few images from the late 1600s, but old woodcuts found in books, and even old postcards- more modern but still not as built up as today- will help us understand the lay of the land.

Looking for old postcards can take a long time at antique shows and shops, but the internet and it’s search feature help to pinpoint exactly what one may be looking for. I recently found CardCow.com– no affiliation, no freebies from them, but I just like their easy-to-use website and the fact that they allow posting of their cards on websites. They keep their cards online even after sold, so they have a great reference library. (I did buy these cards too.) Following are the postcards CardCow.com has relating to Mary Rowlandson; click to enlarge any of them:

Every day, we walk on land that belonged to someone else, land that had a different purpose, land with a different meaning than the context we know today. We whiz by historical markers and parks at automobile speeds, missing the richness of what came before. We can earn from what came before, and a place will have more meaning for us, if we just learn a little of its history.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Lancaster Map-  – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_ma_highlight.png#mediaviewer/File:Lancaster_ma_highlight.png

2) Lancaster, MA Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster,_Massachusetts

3) Mary (White) Rowlandson article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rowlandson

4) The Feb. 10, 1675 date written by Mary Rowlandson used the Old Style (Julian) calendar; New Style (Gregorian) calendar date would be Feb. 10, 1676.

5) CardCow.com

6) Postcard browsing ettiquette in physical shops includes using a provided marker to help you know exactly where to replace the card after removing it. Also, if cards are in sleeves, do not remove and handle until after you have completed your purchase.

7) First two images (modern day) are Public Domain per Wikimedia Commons.

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

September 11, 2014, among other things, was the 40th anniversary of the television premiere of, “Little House on the Prairie” which was based on the beloved books of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The books were favorites of mine as a child- I would check out one after the other at the school library and the public library, devouring them even under the covers with a flashlight, over and over. I would dream of what it must have been like to be a pioneer in the olden days- that was probably the beginning of my (virtually) time-traveling, family history-loving self. Even though I was an adult when the series premiered, I just had to watch the programs, and they never disappointed- not a case here of ‘the-books-were-so-much-better.’ I loved seeing the settings and costumes, and sometimes-ornery, sometimes-sweet Laura, portrayed by Melissa Gilbert. (She made me think of how my grandmother would have been at that age. Grandma thought that too.) The series added characters and changed story lines from the books, but they did them well. They had the bonus of the very handsome Michael Landon, my favorite from his previous series, “Bonanza,” as Charles Ingalls, Laura’s father.  The programs from 1974-1983, plus movies from the series, still air around the world in reruns and are now being released as DVDs in their uncut and remastered versions, indicating their popularity through time.

Melissa Gilbert is releasing a cookbook full of “Little House” series recipes and memories on 16 Sep 2014, entitled My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours. She also published, in 2010, an autobiography that includes stories from her “Little House” days.

The “Little House” books have an even more special meaning for me- I knew my boyfriend was THE one when he gave me the whole set of “Little House” books as a Christmas gift when we were starving college students. OK, they were just paperbacks, but it was a nice boxed set and invaluable because I loved the books so much. The fact that he thought of them for a gift- well, that was stupendous. We are still together 35 years later, and thinking of the stories, the books, and the gift (plus the extra hours he worked to earn the money for them on top of a full load of classes plus work), make this a very ‘Sentimental Sunday.’

It is also a ‘Sentimental Sunday’ because we had the same kind of pioneers in our family! Edith Roberts McMurray Luck told stories of how her family migrated to Illinois and then to Jasper County, Iowa in the late 1800s, just after folks like the Ingalls family pioneered farming and towns on the midwest prairies. The Roberts, Daniel, and Murrell families were originally from Virginia, Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana, and migrated to Roseville in Warren County, Illinois from their respective homes in the 1850s. They then traveled to Jasper County, Iowa, in 1858 with a large grouping of families and covered wagons full of household goods, elderly parents, and children.

Our McMurray and Benjamin ancestors were people of the frontiers, migrating west as the lines blurred between native and white settlements, sometimes being part of the casualties or captured during those hostilities, and eventually migrating to Iowa from Pennsylvania. Heinrich Horn immigrated from Germany (probably as a conscripted mercenary “Hessian” in the Revolutionary War and captured by George Washington’s forces at Trenton, then paroled when he became an American citizen); he settled in Virgina, then Pennsylvania with some of his descendants moving later to Iowa. The New England-born Paynes and Burnells became farmers and ministers in Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, and even took the train to settle out in California in the 1870s, when it still was a sort of ‘Wild West.’

The Lee family sailed from England to the Illinois prairies, going up the Mississippi from New Orleans, and although the Bunker Hill, Illinois area had been settled a while, the prairie was still a harsh environment to farm and have a business in 1875. Lee married-ins like the Lutz, Russell, and Aiken families had moved west through frontier Ohio and even into ‘Indian Territory,’ which has since become the state of Oklahoma.

The Helblings migrated to Pennsylvania from Germany, and lived on the unsettled outskirts of what is now the large Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan area. The Springsteens were from New Jersey and watched the growth of the early Indiana prairie town that became Indianapolis, Indiana.

Edith Roberts said often to her family, “You come from strong pioneer stock. You can do anything you set your mind to.” That legacy has helped many of her descendants get through tough times, and appreciate the strong, determined pioneers that fill our family tree.

Stories to come about these families and their migrations!

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) “Little House on the Prairie” tv series information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071007/

2) Wikipedia article about the TV series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_House_on_the_Prairie_(TV_series)

3) Wikipedia article about the books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_House_on_the_Prairie

4) “Little House” books- http://www.littlehousebooks.com 

5) Melissa Gilbert’s autobiography- Prairie Tale: A Memoir, Gallery Books, 2010, ISBN-13: 978-141659917.

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Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Our blog is one year old this week!

This is blog post number 135.

(That is an average of about 1 post every 3 days- now I know where my time goes.)

Our Home Page has been viewed 1,074 times.

The most views we have had in one day is 92.

The post with the most views had 68.

We have had 162 spam comments. (Dealing with that is a BIG time-waster, even if it is just a few clicks.)

We don’t want to say how many revisions a few of the posts have had- finding more information, fixing typos (wish I had taken typing in school), and being a perfectionist who doesn’t always get it perfect due to time constraints and distractions makes it challenging, but we keep striving to make this blog better.

We found two distant cousins. (Cousin bait is one of our reasons for blogging.)

We have had two persons with associated artifacts or a link to a person mentioned in the blog (not family) contact us.

The curator for the Healdsburg Museum found us through Ancestry.com but then saw the blog and liked it. She asked me to write an article on Edward B. Payne for their journal that accompanied an exhibit on Altruria and other Sonoma County, CA Utopian colonies- that was pretty exciting. The exhibit is over but they are planning a virtual exhibit of “Visionaries, Believers, Seekers and Schemers” in the near future. More posts to come with the Altruria story.

Two tombstones have had transliterations done from the Hebrew/Yiddish by kind persons who found us, and who recommended JewishGen’s Viewmate service for future items that need translating.

Not too bad for 365 days.

From an idea between two family members inspired by Legacy Family Tree Webinars on starting a blog (Thanks, Dear Myrt and Geoff Rasmussen!) and wanting to share the wonderful family history stories we have uncovered, we finally got it together and actually created one. We continue to be challenged concerning the mechanics of the blog- still trying to figure out how to add the lead photo of a post to subscriber emails, as I have it set up that way but it still does not do so- and finding the time to blog is almost impossible lately. Seems like each blog post requires a bit more research to fill in the blanks as one writes, as getting it down on paper- er, in pixels?- helps one to see what is missing. So the posts take longer than expected, but they really do help to put ancestors in the right context and clarify mysteries.

We do hope that you will stay tuned for more family stories- and we have some very exciting things in the works too!

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Photo is from family treasure collection.

2) The post with the most views is “Those Places Thursday: Witebsk, Belarus and The Mother of Abraham Green or Rose (Brave) Green.”

3) Healdsburg Museum, Sonoma Co., California: http://www.healdsburgmuseum.org

Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.