MURRELL Family Bible- Marriages [click to enlarge] There are several mysteries that have to do with this Murrell Family Bible, but one of them has been solved- that is the details about Mary M. Hontz and her family. (More on that in a future post.) We still do not know when this bible was printed or purchased (see Sentimental Sunday- Murrell Family Bible, Part 2). Even more vexing is the origin of Wiley Anderson “W.A.” Murrell and his parents- there are many various thoughts among researchers but no proof (yet).
Here is a transcription of this entry:
Wile Murrell
Was Married to
Mary M Huntz
in the year of
Our Lord March
the 10. 1834
Their first child married in 1857, but it is curious that none of these marriage events have been added to the bible.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Murrell Family Bible, possibly c1845.
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Copyright 2014-2021 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
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Edith Roberts (see Murrell Family Bible, Part 1) would not have known her great-grandparents Wiley Anderson Murrell and Mary Magdalen Hons Murrell as they died about 15 years before she was born. They were likely the first owners of this bible, as their marriage and the births, etc. of their children are recorded in it.
The Murrell Family Bible does not have a title page or publication date- the first pages are unfortunately missing. The bible has been searched page by page to find a clue as to publication date but nothing has been found.
Many, but not all, of the entries were written in the same hand. The births, at least the first four or five, look as if they were all written at the same time- maybe after all the children were born, after 1845? The marriage record and the first recorded death appear as if the same pen and ink were used as is on the births page. This makes one wonder if the bible was purchased around November 1846, when their daughter Mary Catharine died at the young age of 7 years. Had an earlier bible been lost or destroyed? Or maybe they could not afford one or were not particularly religious, and/ or decided to join a church around this time- we cannot know. But we do start to see the possible stories of this family as we analyze just these three pages of Bible records. One can almost feel the grief of a mother, setting the family’s history into their Holy Book, to pass to subsequent generations.
The ephemera within the bible, which will also be posted, gave clues that it was owned more recently by the Roberts family in the 1930s, and we know it was passed to Edith Roberts Luck in later years.
Transcription of the above Bible page:
Births
Wiley A. Murrell
was Born in the
year of our Lord
Feb the 3 day 1805
Mary Honts was
Born in the year
of our Lord Sep 9th
1806
Elizabeth Ann Murrell
Daughter of Wilee Murrell
was Born in the year of our Lord Feb the [1? Or 4?]
1835
John Henry Murrell
was Born in the
year of our Lord
July the 2 Day 1837
Mary Catherine
Murrell was Born
in the year of our
Lord Sep the 18
1839
William Anderson
Murrell was Born
In the year of our
Lord May the 25
1841
[next column]
James Edward
Murrell was Born
in the year of our
Lord Nove the 15
1842
Ann Elisy Murrell
was Born in the
year of our Lord
December the 21
1845
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Wiley A. Murrell- born in Virginia; parents John (?) Murrell and ?; mother or grandparent possibly ___ Anderson since Anderson is used as his and son’s middle name?
2) Mary Honts- Parents were Henry Honts and Catherine Coffman; name Mary Magdalene Huntz/Hunts/Honce/Hance.
3) Elizabeth Murrell- Note: Feb 1 is date in other documents; middle name was Ann. Elizabeth Ann m. John Roberts in Roseville, Illinois, 08 Mar 1857 and d. 02 Feb 1917 in Prairie City, Jasper, Iowa.
4) John Henry Murrell- b. Botetourt Co., VA; m. Lydia Raburn by 21 Dec 1862 and d. 23 or 25 Mar 1880.
5) Mary Catherine Murrell- died young- see deaths
6) William Anderson Murrell- “of Roseville, IL” per obit of his sister Eliz. in 1917. Married Cordelia Talley 1 Oct 1867 in Warren Co., IL, and d. 1 Aug 1922 in Roseville, Warren, IL.
7) James Edward Murrell- m. Mary E. Robinson 17 Nov 1867; “of Leavenworth, KS” per sister Eliz’s obit in 1917.
8) Ann Elisy Murrell- m. Aaron Brown; she d. 02 May 1892.
9) Murrell Family Bible, possibly c1835- later?
10) Revised slightly to reflect new information 3/1/2121.
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Copyright 2014-2021 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, 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.
Edith Roberts McMurray Luck loved talking about her family history. She would climb the steep steps to the hot attic- the door is seen just to the left in this photo- with its old smell and intriguing items from the past. The house was a small 1920s bungalow, with beautiful Arts & Crafts wide woodwork and a cozy breakfast nook with a bird feeder tray on the other side of the window, so that she could eat with her feathered friends.
Her family’s Murrell Bible was stored in a big trunk, along with many pictures, newspapers, and other family treasures in the attic that weathered hot Iowa summers and very cold Iowa winters. The house did not have air conditioning until around the 1970s, but the attic was never conditioned space. It is a wonder that the bible, pictures, etc., survived those temperature and humidity extremes. Thankfully the paper used in those days had a much higher rag content than pulp wood, so they may have survived for that reason. (An attic is definitely not the way to store today’s more fragile paper items!)
As Edith opened the trunk, she would become a young girl again, off within her memories, talking about her days growing up on the farm and the family she loved so much. She had a wonderful childhood, rich with the mundane things of life, but all were cherished, every day. She was the baby of the family with an older sister, Ethel Gay Roberts Robison, and older brother, George Anthony Roberts, Jr. Edith was the apple of her daddy’s eye, even though he was very strict with the two older children, and her mama spoiled her too. She so enjoyed telling a little bit about each of her family members and ancestors, and we are so grateful that she shared and preserved so much of that life.
“You come from strong pioneer stock- you can do anything you set your mind to.” These were words oft repeated to her descendants, and she lived by them herself.
Edith actually knew her Grandmother, Elizabeth Ann Murrell, who married John Roberts (she knew him too). She may have known two of Elizabeth’s brothers, William Anderson “W.A.” Murrell and James Edward Murrell, but probably only if they had come to Iowa to visit. She never spoke of visiting her grandparents’ earlier family home in Roseville, Warren Co., Illinois. William and James had both stayed in Illinois with their own families when W.A. and Mary migrated to Jasper County, Iowa with Elizabeth and John around 1868; James and his wife later moved on to Missouri. Elizabeth’s other siblings had passed away before Edith was born in 1899, as had her great-grandparents Wiley Anderson “W.A.” Murrell and Mary Magdalene Honts Murrell. Elizabeth probably inherited the Murrell Family Bible, and then it passed to her son George Anthony Roberts, who was Edith’s father. the Bible is now in the possession of Edith’s grandchildren.
Next: The Murrell Family Bible Record Pages and ephemera
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Murrell Family Bible, possibly c1835?
2) Updated 1 March 2021 with additional information.
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Copyright 2014-2021 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, 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.
John Roberts was 1 of 11 children born to Jane Saylor and John S. Roberts, both originally from Kentucky. He was born 05 December, 1832 in Indiana when it was still not a very settled place. The family farmed the land in Jefferson and Ripley Counties, Indiana.
When John was 23, around 1855, he went to Illinois to work as a farmhand. There he met Elizabeth Ann Murrell, who had migrated from her birthplace in Botetourt Co., Virginia to Illinois about 1853 when she was 18. They married 08 March 1857 in Roseville, Warren Co., Illinois. They had four children in Illinois: William Edward (1858-1935), Jason Lee (1859-1940), George Anthony (1861-1939), and Mary Jane (1863-1947).
In the fall of 1868 the family of six loaded a covered wagon and migrated to Jasper County, Iowa. (Their granddaughter Edith loved to tell that story.) Here another child, Wilbert John, was born but died in infancy (1877-1878).
John and Elizabeth lived the rest of their lives in Jasper County, Iowa. They are both buried in Waveland Cemetery, Prairie City, Jasper Co., Iowa.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) This information has also been posted on Find A Grave, Memorial #99632803 for John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts, Find A Grave Memorial# 99632804.
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Copyright 2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, 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.
Family of John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts- 1892. (Click to enlarge.)
Having wonderful photos is such a family treasure, but not having them labeled with who each person is can be maddening to a genealogist, plus makes them of much less interest to most other family members. A dedicated and knowledgeable sleuth can piece together information that can help to identify people and places, and help to put a family into context.
Family portraits such as the above also help to show the relationships in a family. The persons are grouped by family, with the patriarch and matriarch front and center. Usually the photo is taken on the family homeplace.
Once persons are even tentatively identified in a photo, finding other photos in the future may corroborate, as happened with this photo, or give more clues to help identify persons in other photographs.
In the above photo, the identification of the George Roberts family and John and Elizabeth Roberts is certain. The other families are identified by the family-owned picture of the three brothers and their pictures in the Jasper County history, census records to determine children and ages of each family, and family bible records. The date the picture was taken was deduced by the age of Ethel Gay Roberts, who was born Feb., 1892, and was a baby being held by her mother; her older brother George, who was born June 1889, is in a stroller. Since he is so young and the leaves are on the trees, this may be early spring of 1892.
From left:
William Edward “W. E.” Roberts (oldest child of John and Elizabeth) family: wife Mary M. Main, daughters Clara and Maude (dau on right looks a bit older though there are 2 years difference in ages, so may be Maude), William Edward Roberts, and his son Orville.
Mary Jane (Mollie J) Roberts (fourth child of John and Elizabeth) and her second husband Samuel Blount holding their son Harry R.
John Roberts and his wife Elizabeth Ann Murrell.
George A. Roberts (third child of John and Elizabeth) and his son George A., wife Ella V. Daniel(s) holding daughter Ethel Gay.
Orpha & Oca Roberts with their mother Julia French to the right, son Guy L. sitting on fence next to his father, Jason Lee Roberts (second child of John and Elizabeth).
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Family-owned photo.
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Copyright 2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, 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.
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