Category: Payne Family

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McMurray-Killduff Grocery Token, Newton, Iowa

“Good for 5 in Merchandise.” Token from the McMurray-Kilduff Grocery Store in Newton, Iowa, circa 1899-1907.

 

McMURRAY Family (Click for Family Tree)
[Are you related? Yes if you descend from Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Dr. Herbert McMurray, or Maude L. “Midge” McMurray Cook, who are the children of William Elmer “W.E.” McMurray. and Lynette Payne.]

It seems sort of crazy to think of auction websites and antique stores as a good source for family history. These days though, with so many kids and grandkids having little interest in the family furniture, pictures, papers, what-sits that sit on a shelf and need dusting, etc. that have been lovingly passed down for generations, such impersonal temporary repositories can be a good resource. The internet now helps us to gather these treasures after they have been spread far and wide from the original homeplace when people migrated around the country (or countries!).

One can set up alerts on sites like eBay or even on Google so that a family historian can be researching while sleeping instead of crawling the internet at 3am. (OK, I will admit that many of us will just be crawling other websites at that time…)

A person in Lake Sherman, Nebraska, posted the above treasure on eBay back in 2012, and the eBay alert system was a great research partner. I got an alert that a McMurray item was just listed! How amazing- what were the chances a McMurray or Killduff descendant would be in Lake Sherman, Nebraska at the one antique shop that had this little ‘coin’ maybe stashed somewhere mostly out of sight? Or the chance that a descendant would somehow run into this person from Nebraska who may have found this in a shoebox in their, or someone’s, old family home?? Would it have even come up in a quick conversation? Likely none of these scenarios would have helped return this token to family after about 112 years, except for eBay. It also opened a new avenue of research, as this early time of Will’s life and his business partnership with Mr. Killduff was previously unknown.

William Elmer “W.E.” or “Bill” McMurray, possibly circa 1901-1902? I.U. Inkenberry was a photographer in Newton, Iowa those years, but also may have worked there before or after that time period. [Click to enlarge.]
To recap a number of previous posts, William Elmer McMurray (1874-1957) was the oldest of the five children born to Hannah Melissa Benjamin (1854-1932) and Frederick A. “F.A.” McMurray (1850-1929). He was also the first McMurray ancestor born in Jasper County, Iowa. Will, known as “Bill” around Newton, Iowa, may have gotten his talents as a businessman and salesman from his father. F.A. McMurray was an auctioneer, ‘crying’ sales of farms and businesses in many counties for decades. He was one of the most successful auctioneers in the area, and in great demand. One can imagine a young Will and his brothers helping out with the travel to the sales, making an inventory of farm and household objects and livestock to be sold, tagging auction items with numbers for bidding, moving equipment or animals to the front for all to see, and receiving the money from auction-goers who had found a new/old treasure of their own. As he got older Will worked as an auctioneer with his father frequently- there were newspaper ads for “McMurray & Sons, Auctioneers,” so his brothers must have helped out too. Will eventually carried what he learned in the auction business about people, the psychology of selling and of the buyers, plus the logistics of buying and selling various goods into a business of his own.

“A group of Newton residents are shown gathered in front of Willis McCollum’s grocery store in 1892.” Will McMurray is the second from the left. A family treasure , this 130 year-old clipping was reprinted in the ‘Newton Daily News’ on Aug 10, 1957. [Click to enlarge.]
Will worked for Willis McCollum beginning around 1892, when Will was 18 years old. The McCollom Grocery Store was located on the square in Newton, Iowa, on the northeast corner. Will worked there for a number of years, as did William Charles Killduff (1871-1959). It may have been confusing when someone in the store called out, “Will!” since there were three who may have been called by that shortened name!

On what was likely a bitterly cold Iowa winter day, the Newton Record of January 26, 1899 posted an article with the headline of “Unexpected Change of Business.” It explained that the previous morning, Willis McCollom had sold his store to his two clerks, Will McMurray and Will Killduff. It was a complete surprise to the locals:

“Willis had been so long and successfully in the grocery business in Newton that he had came [sic] to be considered a permanent fixture here in that line.”

The paper went on to applaud the work of the two young men, stating:

“The two Wills are enterprising young men, full of business push and energy, and during their service in the store have made themselves popular with its patrons. There is no question of their success.”

On March 1st the two Wills took possession of the store, in the same spot on the square. They had already placed an ad in the Newton Record stating:

“We will keep up the reputation of the old firm, which was to keep the best goods, sell them at a small profit and treat everybody nicely.”

Since the McColloms had been in the grocery business for quite some time, it was really important for the two new owners to reassure established customers that the grocery would continue being a great place to shop.  The ad went on:

“We are young in years but not young in the grocery business… [We] thoroughly understand the business, and will guarantee the same satisfaction in the future that you have had in the past.”

Just three months later, on June 6th, 1899, Will married Lynette Payne (1879-1968) so it became even more important to keep their customer’s loyalty. Also, William Charles or “W.C.” Killduff was more than a co-worker and then partner- in October of that same year he became family when he married Mae Benjamin, Will McMurray’s cousin. To build the business, these two savvy merchandisers placed ads throughout the copy in many issues of the Newton newspaper. In 1900, they offered trading stamps to every customer who visited the store on Saturday, July 7th, and the McMurray-Killduff trade token may have followed soon after. Both the stamps and the tokens were an enticement to return to the store to spend them, just like department store cash is today.

“McMurray & Killduff, Cash Grocers, Newton, Iowa.” Token from the McMurray-Kilduff Grocery Store in Newton, Iowa- reverse.

Known as a ‘trade token’, this 10mm (just over 3/8 of an inch) round is made of aluminum. Aluminum became cheap in the 1890s, which fits with the time that Will and William Killduff purchased the store. The coin, worth 5 cents in trade (probably, rather than $5) may have been given out like the stamps were, only on a certain day, or could have been offered when a specific purchase was made. While 5 cents does not seem like very much, in 1901 McMurray-Killduff Grocery sold a “1 gallon can of good peaches for 39 cents” and “2 1-pound cans of Flat Salmon for 30 cents.” So the 5 cent token would have had more buying power than it seems.

Some of the Benjamin family did move west, and we have not traced the Killduffs other than W.C., but the coin could have been owned by anyone in Jasper County, Iowa. Some people never cash in such rewards, and the object ends up in a box or drawer that then gets moved on with a migration or a yard sale. Additionally, modern day “pickers” who travel the country searching for antiques may have purchased it in Iowa and taken it to a shop in Nebraska- we will likely never know.

In September of 1901, Will McMurray paid for an ad in the paper for a carload of peaches and mason jars, and it was signed with just his name, not paired with W.C. Killduff’s. Will’s store was still on the Northeast Corner of the Newton Square, so the partnership between cousins had likely been dissolved. Will had the grocery and/or a meat market for many more years. In fact, in the 1916 Newton City Directory, W.C. Killduff is listed as a clerk at the McMurray Grocery. Will McMurray’s brother Roy McMurray also clerked at the store for a time, and of course, Will’s wife Lynette also spent more time than she liked working in the store as well as raising three children. In 1925, Will began building a new store for his grocery business because there was a problem with the buildings being over their property lines, and F.L. Maytag (yes, that Maytag), bought the property on that corner, razed the buildings, and built his Maytag Hotel . We have not found other news stories to learn more about the planned building by Will nor how long he had a grocery store, but city directories would help in that research. Will did sell insurance in his later years, and his jovial demeanor and friendly service continued to serve him well in business.

 

An Afterthought:

As this was being written, the realization of karma or serendipity washed over me- Will and F. A. McMurray sold other people’s possessions at auction, and a token from Will’s store made it back to family via a high tech auction in 2012. Wherever they are today, they may have marveled at the new technology, were happy as auctioneers that the purchase price was more than twice the opening bid, and may have had a hand in making the family’s offer the winning bid. Cool.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. See previous blog posts about Will McMurray and his grocery store, including:

    “Shopping Saturday: William Elmer McMurray and Marketing a Small Town Grocery Store.” https://heritageramblings.net/2018/12/15/shopping-saturday-william-elmer-mcmurray-and-marketing-a-small-town-grocery-store/

    “Amanuensis Monday: Will McMurray’s Grocery in Newton, Iowa.” https://heritageramblings.net/2019/02/18/amanuensis-monday-will-mcmurrays-grocery-in-newton-iowa/

    “Shopping Saturday: William Elmer McMurray as a Newton, Iowa Merchant.” https://heritageramblings.net/2018/10/20/shopping-saturday-william-elmer-mcmurray-as-a-newton-iowa-merchant/

  2. “McMurray & Killduff, Cash Grocers” advertisement in the Newton Record, Feb 23, 1899, page 8.
  3. A special thanks, as always, to our wonderful Iowa cousins who have shared their family treasures.
  4. “Token coin” on Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_coin
  5. “Unexpected Change of Business,” Newton Record, Jan. 26, 1899, page 1.
  6. Apologies for the poor quality images, but sometimes, that’s just genealogy!

 

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Original content copyright 2013-2022 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. 
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“Sons & Daughters of Thunder”- Joseph H. Payne, The Lane Rebels, and Abolition in 1834

“Sons & Daughters of Thunder” in WQPT Guide, Quad Cities PBS station.

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

Am I related to Joseph H. Payne? Yes, if you are a descendant of Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Dr. Herbert C. McMurray, or Maude “Midge” (McMurray) Cook. They are the great-grandchildren of Joseph H. Payne. You would also be related if you are a descendant of Cornelia Mary (Payne) Hinckley and her husband, Horace A. Hinckley of Lake County, Illinois. 

Click here to open “Sons & Daughters of Thunder” trailer: https://vimeo.com/380634117

As a part of Black History Month, WPQT, a PBS station in the Quad Cities* will air the program, “Sons & Daughters of Thunder- The Beginning of the End of Slavery in America.” This film is about an event that has been forgotten now but in 1834, it was highly divisive, front page news, incited violence, and a part of the rocky path that led to the Civil War decades later.

Our ancestor, Joseph Hitchcock “J.H.” Payne, was right there in the middle of it all.

The film will be aired tomorrow, Sunday, February 9th, 2020, at 8pm. It is a docudrama, so those with docuphobia can rest at ease, and hopefully enjoy it if they are in the Quad Cities area. The program will be followed by a documentary on Harriet Beecher Stowe from the same producers. Harriet was also there for these events, and was influenced enough by them, along with her travels, to write the novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” This book was a bestseller in its time, and changed the course of our country and our people. Hopefully PBS will pick up these films to air throughout the country, but right now, you can purchase “Sons & Daughters of Thunder” through Amazon or directly from the Fourth Wall Films website. (And let PBS know that you want to see both!) I have not seen these films yet so cannot really say how in depth they go, etc., but the subject matter is so important.

The film profiles the people involved in the Lane Debates that occurred over 18 days in February, 1834. Lane Theological Seminary was a Protestant school in Cincinnati, Ohio, a boom town of about 25,000 people. Although the area was still somewhat a frontier, because Cincinnati was located on the Ohio River, which led to the Mississippi River and down to the Gulf of Mexico, commerce and services for those traveling the river made it one of the largest cities in America at the time. Across the river was Kentucky, a slave state, and many Kentuckians crossed the river to do business in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati, Ohio in 1812, from across the river in Newport, Kentucky. By the 1830s the population had at least tripled. Image: Benson Lossing – “The Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812,” Cincinnati I, via WikiMedia, public domain. (Click to enlarge.)

Joseph H. Payne, very religiously devout, was a 24 year old student, working toward his Divinity degree at Lane. He had previously attended the Oneida Institute in Whitesboro, New York, and would have met Theodore D. Weld there. Weld was about seven years older than J.H., but the two had many similar ideas. Many Oneida students followed Weld to Lane Theological, as did J.H. Payne. Lyman Beecher, a minister, became the President of Lane, and his daughter , Harriet Beecher (who later married Calvin Stowe), joined him in Cincinnati.

Lane Theological Seminary, about 1830., from WikiMedia, public domain. (Click to enlarge.)

Angelina Grimke, daughter of a Southern slave owner, had left her home in Charleston, South Carolina once old enough to act on her feelings about the immorality of slavery. She married Theodore Weld, so J.H. probably knew her as well. Angelina and her sister Sarah Moore Grimke had become abolitionists, Quakers, and suffragists; they were prohibited from ever returning to the South due to their stance on slavery. Frederick Douglas, the well-known former slave who became a powerful orator against slavery, was another of the cast of abolitionists you will see in this film.

While rhetoric and debate were always important in American higher education, the Lane Debates went too far for the acceptable topics of public debate- the subject was just to controversial. Violence and the loss of business from pro-slavery residents of Kentucky and those traveling the river could be consequences of the persuasive student debates, and the Seminary wanted to avoid being seen as a part of that political point of view. So the administrators of Lane prohibited the students from holding public debates on slavery. The students would not back down, despite the threat of being dismissed from the Seminary. The charismatic Theodore Weld brokered a deal with the financially ailing Oberlin Collegiate Institute (later Oberlin), and on 15 Dec 1834, 51 men signed a thoughtful, respectful statement detailing what had happened and why they were leaving the Seminary and going to study at Oberlin. It was published in William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist newspaper “The Liberator,” and read throughout the country. (Well, it probably was used in the fireplace more in the South than read.)

The risks the Lane Rebels took in standing up for their beliefs makes them all American heroes, and founders of a movement that led to abolition, women’s rights, and freedom of speech for college students. We will explore these topics in upcoming posts, and are so pleased that this period of history is being presented to new generations of the American public. Watch the film wherever you can, buy the DVD, read upcoming posts, and ask yourself: “Would I have done the same as my ancestor, Joseph H. Payne, and the other ‘Lane Rebels’ and abolitionists?”

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Before anything else, a huge thank you to the producers, Kelly & Tammy Rundle and Kent Hawley; Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter who wrote the original play; and all the other folks who worked to made this production happen. This is such an important story to share!
  2. Unfortunately we have not been able to communicate with descendants of Cornelia Mary (Payne) Hinckley and her husband, Horace A. Hinckley. Mary, as she was known, was one of three children of Joseph H. Payne. Her sister, Ruby D. Payne, died at age 11 in 1850. Her brother, Edward B. Payne, survived childhood and had one daughter, Lynette “Amino” (Payne) McMurray, who was the mother of the two doctors and daughter “Midge” listed above.
  3. *Moline, East Moline, Rock Island in Illinois, and Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa are considered the “Quad Cities” even though technically that is 5, not 4, cities.
  4.  IMDb is a movie database that is now owned by Amazon. The link for this movie is https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3835150/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt
    You can also click for ‘full cast’ but Joseph H. Payne is not listed as a character. This may be because there is very little found of his specific role in the debates, etc. He definitely was, however, one of the “Lane Rebels” as they were called, and upcoming posts with tell more about Joseph.
  5. “Cincinnati”- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati
  6. “Backstory- In The Beginning There Was a Play… And It Was Good!” Details on the playwright and film adaptation of Sons & Daughters of Thunder. https://docublogger.typepad.com/thunder/backstory/
  7. You can order the film from the producers/Fourth Wall Films at http://www.fourthwallfilms.com/dvds.htm. Although the website states “Not secure” due to new Google requirements, the purchase section of the website opens up a secure window through PayPal. Amazon also offers the film: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082Z9L8D6?pf_rd_p=ab873d20-a0ca-439b-ac45-cd78f07a84d8&pf_rd_r=A9FVVWY3QW9G3ZCD2JVG
  8. Lane Seminary- “Defence of the Students”: http://www2.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/LaneDebates/RebelsDefence.htm

 

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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 2013-2020 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. 
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Shopping Saturday: William Elmer McMurray and Marketing a Small Town Grocery Store

“Great Slaughter Sale of Groceries” on 14 January 1901 at the McMurray Grocery store in Newton, Iowa. Published in unknown newspaper (framed by family), part 1.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Many businesses complete an inventory on at the end of the year in order to prepare their income taxes, and that may have been the impetus for this big sale at the McMurray Grocery in Newton, Iowa, in 1901. Maybe they used a fiscal, rather than calendar year, or the invoices to them had piled up and they needed to generate cash to pay their vendors- or Uncle Sam.

Marketing a local business was much simpler in the days before social media and the internet. Advertisements were placed in newspapers for a fee, local reporters would interview or create a story about the business or owner(s), paper flyers might be given out, and/or special coupons, stamps, or tokens would be used to get customers into the store and ensure their loyalty. Old advertisements, such as this framed family treasure, are a great way for family historians to understand the breadth of items offered in a store, like the grocery store of Will and Lynnette (Payne) McMurray.

The canned foods listed are interesting- how many of us today would buy one gallon cans of peaches or apricots? We don’t make jams and jellies like they did in those days, nor multiple pies when the threshers would come through at harvest.

Take a look at the prices, too. “2 cans good Peaches for 25¢” would cost about $7.44 in today’s dollars, according to inflation calculators. That does seem like quite a lot for 2 cans of peaches, but we do not know the size of the cans, they did not have ‘factory farms’ in those days so supplies were more limited, and sometimes those calculators are somewhat off. Edith Roberts McMurray Luck, in her later years, recounted that she remembered the store from her childhood, but her mother thought the McMurray store was too expensive so they did not patronize it regularly. (Edith later married the son of Will and Lynette, Dr. Edward A. McMurray.)

Soaps, of course, were big sellers and important for hard-working, getting-dirty jobs like farming or blacksmithing, plus many families dug the soil to produce their own fruits and vegetables. Calumet Soap was around for a very long time- some may still remember it- and Ajax also made a powdered cleanser. Lye soaps were still used back then, and Will even offered a discounted price for lye soaps with damaged labels- just 5¢ per can, vs. the usual 8-10¢.

The McMurrays carried a variety of oils in their grocery, but those listed in this ad were not cooking nor motor oils- they were for lamps. Getting a good oil that did not smoke much or smell bad, and that gave adequate light, was important in the days before rural electrification (which occurred in the mid 1930s and after). “Palacine Oil” was a brand that came from the Oklahoma oil fields:

“Palacine Oil” advertisement from unknown newspaper (likely Oregon, Missouri, or Forest City, Missouri), 1 May 1896, at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90061417/1896-05-01/ed-1/seq-4.pdf. [Absurdly, there is no way to determine what paper this is from the website, despite it being a result in a Google search. What poor scholarship, Library of Congress.]
The grocery store also carried other non-food items, like axle grease for the wagon which would have carried a customer into town:

“Great Slaughter Sale of Groceries” on 14 January 1901 at the McMurray Grocery store in Newton, Iowa. Published in unknown newspaper (framed by family), part 2.

Will left the reader with his good prices for hams, with sugar cured hams costing 11¢ per pound in 1911, which would be about $3.30/lb. today. (A HoneyBaked Ham© today is over $11 per pound!)

Both the McMurray-Killduff and the McMurray Grocery/ McMurray Grocery and Meat Market were featured frequently in one-line ads that were slipped into the regular columns of stories in the local newspaper. Examples from March, 1899:

We have a complete line of fresh and salt fish.

We have the best $1.00 flour in town.

Lowney chocolates, the finest in the world, at McMurray & Killduff’s.

Try those 10¢ hams at McMurray & Killduff’s.

SYRUP- 5 gallon keg, $1.25, at McMurray & Killduff’s.

Other businesses, such as a 12 Dec 1913 ad for ‘Benedict Flour and Feed Company’ in Marshalltown, Iowa, listed distributors of their products, and one of the names included was “W. E. McMurray, Newton”- good publicity for their small store.

Ads for the McMurray grocery were not only for what they were selling, but for what they were buying:

We pay the highest prices for Produce.

WANTED- Live Poultry, for which we will pay the highest market prices.

The above were from from a March, 1899 newspaper. Another article from July 20, 1899, stated the “Local Market” price for live chickens was 6¢ each. Supply chains for food were much different in those years, especially in rural areas. They would buy from local farmers and women who raised chickens, grew fruits and vegetables, and made butter, cakes, or pies, then sell to local customers. They also shipped to other places- a June 2, 1902 newspaper article stated “McMurray shipped to Des Moines this morning 1000 pounds of butter.” While we cannot be sure this was Will E. McMurray rather than his father, Frederick Asbury “F.A.” McMurray, the auctioneer, it is more likely that it was Will, or maybe they made the deal together. F.A. was known to ship carloads of livestock but I have not seen evidence of him shipping something like butter, though it is possible, since F.A. was such a wheeler and dealer. Will did buy a carload of peaches at one point thus did deal in large quantities, so it is very plausible that the butter was shipped by him.

Being the son of an auctioneer (Frederick Asbury McMurray) and sometimes being an auctioneer himself (per his daughter-in-law, Edith Roberts McMurray Luck, and an ad for “McMurray & Sons, Auctioneers”), Will knew how to write an ad or spin things to make them attractive to buyers. (Lynette probably did too, coming from the sophisticated West Coast.) Another sale ad in 1899 was for “Bargain Day in Groceries” and “On the above date we will sell you [various foods] …the prices are for this day, only” at McMurray & Killduff’s “Big Cash Grocery.” Good salespersons know that they have to build excitement and get the sale closed before there is much time for the consumer to think about a purchase. A one-day sale does that pretty well, and was the predecessor to our internet “Today’s Deals,” “Prime Day,” or QVC channel, with a countdown timer and note of how many items are remaining in the deal.

“Bundling” is not a new concept in sales only used in the insurance industry to get you to buy home, auto, and life policies together – McMurray & Killduff’s used ‘bundling’ in an ad from Oct. 5, 1899, in the Newton Record. They offered a “Big Special Sale” on Oct 11th and 12th. Good prices were offered on a variety of items, but they also listed a package of 12 grocery items with the regular prices, which totaled $6.40. “We will sell on either above day to you this package for $4.90.” This was almost a 25% discount- that is pretty good considering the small margins of profit in the grocery business.

Sponsorships of sports teams, charity events, or even local cookbooks could get the name of a store in front of the public, so Will used that tactic as well. “Will McMurray Meat Market” was listed as a sponsor in a 1907 Newton, Iowa, cookbook published by the Willing Workers class of First Baptist Church. Recipes included Lettie Miller’s White Cake, Chicken Pie with Oysters, Poor Man’s Pudding, Bread Sponge Cake, Picca Lili and Quaker Cabbage.Each time a woman opened the cookbook to make a favorite recipe, they might page through the ad for Will McMurray’s Meat Market. That was definitely targeted advertising, though not as intrusive as what we endure today. This ad also lets us know that in 1907, the McMurray store may have been only a meat market.

Soliciting business outside of the store itself helped to market it as well. McMurray & Killduff was listed as providing $42.65 worth of goods to the poor farm, and $6.60 to the poor, in a list of claims allowed to be paid from taxpayer dollars. This list from the Board of Supervisors of Jasper County was printed in the 19 Apr 1900 Newton Record, so it got the name of the grocery out to the public. It also suggests that the quality of their inventory was considered to be good, since their claim was allowed.

Trading stamps offered at McMurray & Killduff Grocery, Iowa State Democrat, 5 July 1900, p8.

The grocery also had trading stamps, something those “of an age” will recollect licking and pasting into booklets (back in the 1960s) that could be exchanged for items in a catalog that was often drooled over for months. (You could get great things with trading stamps!) Somehow today’s loyalty cards that are needed for sale prices while they track every purchase and then sell that information to other companies just aren’t the same.

Growing up with a father who was quite a salesman as an auctioneer and trader of livestock, Will McMurray likely learned how to make consumers want to buy his goods. All these records show us that he definitely put those techniques to good use!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Inflation calculator–http://www.in2013dollars.com. Another calculator was used with similar results.
  2. For more information about electricity becoming available in Iowa to rural families, see “Electricity” at http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath/electricity
  3. Palacine Oil advertisement, unknown newspaper, May 1, 1896–https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90061417/1896-05-01/ed-1/seq-4.pdf
  4. 1899_0302McMurray-Killduff Grocery Ads, Newton Record, Newton Iowa, 2 March 1899, vol. 5, no.32, page 8, columns 3-4, via newspaperarchive.com.
  5. Benedict Flour and Feed company ad– Evening Times-Republican, Marshalltown Iowa, page 3, via GenealogyBank.com. This same ad was run on a number of different days.
  6. McMurray-Kilduff “Big Cash Grocery” sale, Iowa State Democrat, Jul 20,1899, page 4.
  7. McMurray shipment of butter to Des Moines, Newton Daily Herald, June 2, 1902, page 1, via newspaperarchive.com.
  8. “Oldtime Cookbook Has Flavorful Recipes” (Will McMurray’s Meat Market sponsorship), Newton Daily News-Centennial Edition, August 10, 1957, page 5 (of 148) via ancestry.com.
  9. McMurray-Killduff claims approved by Board of Supervisors of Jasper Co., Newton Record, 19 Apr 1900, page 7.

 

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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. 
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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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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. 
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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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In Honor of Those Who Served and are Serving (not just in uniform)

US flag at half-mast at sunset, Indiana, by a3_nm on fr.wikipedia. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

It is with great sadness that our flag today flies at half mast*- our country has lost a military hero and a man who has given most of the years of his life to service for our country, its values, its preservation, and its people.

Whether or not you like the politics of John McCain doesn’t matter, and yes, he was not a perfect human- none of us are. But he loved this country and its citizens, and did his best to honor them, whether it was his resolve to survive honorably as a downed Navy pilot enduring the horrors of the Hanoi Hilton (North Vietnamese POW camp for you young’uns) or negotiating across the aisle in the halls of Congress to enact legislation that would better the lives of everyday Americans. John McCain is a true American Hero, and it is good that we honor him.

This is not meant to be a political post, but the feelings of his passing weigh heavy on many hearts, mine included. These feelings have also made me think of our own ancestors who devoted their energy to preserving our freedoms, helping us all to be better souls, and even those who braved a wide, unpredictable ocean and the unknown to start a new and better life in America for their families and descendants. They too are American Heroes- our ‘quiet’ heroes.

All of our immigrant ancestors fit into the hero category, in my not-always-so-humble opinion. The very earliest, in the 1600s, would have known little about this country before they came. (And yes, some of our lines go back that far!) Later immigrants would have had more knowledge, though probably little about the conditions on board ship, or the terrible way many immigrants were treated once they got to our shores. Some came to build a new civilization where men (literally- only men like them) would be free, some were fleeing persecution due to religion, and others came to enrich their fortunes, help their families to survive, and have some land to leave their children. They braved unbelievable circumstances to get here and to settle here, and leave us an incredible legacy- the United States of America.

Our ancestors of the McMurray-Payne-Burnell line are a great example of those who chose to serve in various ways. Robert Burnell (1669-1737) was born in Essex, Massachusetts, so his father (still a question to this researcher) may have been our immigrant ancestor before 1669. Both families would have been involved in protecting homes, farms, and businesses, theirs and their neighbors. They would have lived through the Salem Witch Hysteria of 1692- wonder if they had any involvement? (There were also other cases of accused ‘witches’ in other parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, where other early family lived.) It would have been hard to speak up against the hysteria without being accused yourself- there are always such considerations when taking a stand.

Headstone of Capt. Joseph Burnell 23 Sep 1807, in Center Cemetery, Chesterfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.

Robert’s grandson, Capt. Joseph Burnell (1725-1807) was a volunteer to the American Revolutionary War in 1775, and participated in the Siege of Boston. He is also noted as being on duty during the war at West Point Military Academy, working as an ‘artificer’- someone skilled in working on artillery in the field. He likely was teaching others those skills so that our rag-tag Revolutionaries would at long last win the war against the British, giving us freedom from king and tyranny.

Capt. Burnell’s son John Burnell (1750-1837), another of our ancestors,  was 26 in 1776, and he too served his country as a Continental soldier. There are quite a lot of documents for men named John Burnell from Massachusetts, so we will need more research to determine his actual service.

Rufus Burnell (1796-1875) was the son of John Burnell and Mary Bannister (1752-1838). (“Rufus” is from the same Latin word that means ‘red’ or ‘reddish hair’- without color photography can you get a sense of what he looked like?) Rufus was a Deacon in the church, and was serving his neighbors in a spiritual manner. Nancy Kingsley (1792-1839) was his first wife of three- sadly, he buried the first two. Their son, Kingsley Abner Burnell (1824-1905) spent his own life spiritually ministering to others. He travelled around the world with his brother, Thomas Scott Burnell (1823-1899), also a missionary. Both men were very involved with the American Missionary Society, and Kingsley, also known as “K. A.” journeyed through the United States promoting the Young Men’s Christian Association, or Y.M.C.A. Soldiers during the Civil War throughout the South were served by K. A. as well. The stories of these two Burnell brothers is an incredible one, and we will tell much more in upcoming posts.

Of course, we must, “remember the ladies” as Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John Adams as our new republic was being organized. There is very little that survives of their lives, unfortunately, but we know that they would have been beside their husband, supporting him in his efforts to serve, while raising their children, maintaining the household and garden, etc.- they served their families and communities in their own quiet ways.

Marriage license of Edward B. Payne and Nannie M. Burnell, 05 May 1870, Kane Co., Illinois.

The only daughter of Kingsley Abner Burnell was Nancy Maria Burnell (1847-1898), who married Edward Biron Payne (1847-1923). Edward was the son of a minister, Joseph Hitchcock Payne (1810-1884), became a minister himself, and even founded a short-lived Utopian colony in California. He wrote as well as lectured, and was a Christian Socialist who stood up for the rights of “the common man.” Edward gave up a pulpit in a wealthy church in New England in order to minister to others who needed him more because of their life situations in the mill towns of the Northeast. He may have contracted tuberculosis there, or possibly earlier, when he and Nanie (Nancy’s nickname) were in Chicago, Illinois, working in the poorest areas with Dwight L. Moody. Despite going blind in her early 20s, Nanie worked alongside Edward, and was involved with women’s groups in his pastorate.

Lynette PAYNE, portrait, taken at Sparks Studio, Marshalltown, Iowa, possibly as early as 1897.

Lynette Payne (1879-1968) was the only child of Edward and Nanie, and she grew up in the liberal town of Berkeley, California. As a teen she read a paper of her father’s to a Socialist group, and she likely attended meetings and lectures of socialists during her teenage years. She also probably attended lectures of the leading as well as local Suffragists who spoke in Berkeley and across the bay in San Francisco. (There was no Golden Gate Bridge back then!) Her father gave a series of lectures on female suffrage, and Lynette was 17 years old in 1896 when California voters decided not to ‘give’ the vote to women. Lynette moved to small-town Iowa after her high school graduation in 1897. She was outspoken there on women’s rights too- she was the first woman to ride a bicycle in Newton, Iowa, and even wore the scandalous new “bloomers.” Lynette was a devout Episcopalian and served her church with work done at St. Stephens in Newton.

Lynette married William E. McMurray (1874-1957) who owned a grocery store and meat market in Newton, always serving his customers  with a kind attitude. They had three children, and the two sons, Edward A. McMurray (1900-1992) and Herbert C. McMurray (1911-1989), both became doctors, serving their patients with kindness and understanding.

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., 1943, likely taken in boot camp at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri.

Dr. Edward A. McMurray’s son with Edith Roberts (1899-1982) served his country in World War II. Edward A. McMurray, Jr. (1924-2010), was an aircraft mechanic in the South Pacific. Our Marines would take a small island from the Japanese, the Seabees would go in and bulldoze a landing strip, then Ed and other Army-Air corp members would be taken in to set up the mechanics shop for the airplanes. His enlistment lasted the duration of the war, and their ship was in Tokyo Harbor on 2 September 1945 when the Japanese signed their surrender. He always was so proud to have served, and helped preserve, the freedom of our country and of those around the world.

Ed served his community as a trusted pharmacist for many years after the war. Some of his customers called him, “Doc,” showing the respect they had for his knowledge and loving care.

These are just some of the people in our McMurray-Payne-Burnell family lines who are “quiet” American Heroes. There are so many more who have served others throughout the years. These Heroes have served as role models for their children and communities, and we can never know the true extent of their legacy.

You can read more about the above persons in other blog posts- there are too many to reference- just put their name in the search box, or click on the tagged name that is a part of this post to find other stories about these fine people.

There are many more blog posts planned to tell the stories of these quiet American Heroes.

A heartfelt thank you to them all, and to John McCain. May they all Rest in Peace.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. * Half-mast vs. half-staff- technically, flags are flown in the US at half-staff, as the staff is the flagpole. Only on Navy ships is ‘half-mast’ technically appropriate, as flags there are flown from a mast. Since the Honorable John McCain as well as this writer are Navy veterans, we shall let it be ‘half-mast’ for today.By the way, the flag should always be raised to full height first, then lowered halfway, in honor of the fallen- not just raised to half-way up.
  2. Please check out other, more detailed stories of our “quiet” American Hero ancestors on this blog.
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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.