This photo shows John Roberts (1832-1922) seated on right and his son William Edward “W.E.” Roberts (1858-1935) seated on left.
John’s grand-daughter and W.E.’s daughter with Mary Margaret Main, Maude Mae (Roberts) Jensma (1884-1980), is standing in back.
Great grandson Andrew Edward Jensma (1907-1986), the son of Maude and her husband Andrew D. Jensma (1876-1961), is held on his great-grandfather’s knee. Edward was known by his middle name for most of his life.
John Roberts would have been about 76 when this photo was taken, W. E. about 50 years old, and Maude 23-24 when her first son was born.
W. E. was the oldest of the children of John Roberts and his wife Elizabeth Ann Murrell. Jason Lee Roberts (1859-1940), George A. Roberts (1861-1939), Mary Jane Roberts (1863-1947), and Wilbert John Roberts (1877-1878) were their other children.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Family treasure chest of photos.
Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.
Copyright 2013-2014 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.
I am very thankful for my geek family, who have helped me make this blog a bit prettier and more functional than I could have done on my own. My dear husband and son are wonderfully computer literate, and especially talented when it comes to CSS and HTML. (I’m trying to learn it, but would just rather research and write.) Last night we got the pull-down menu mostly fixed under “Family Trees,”which used to be “Pedigrees.” (Sounds sort of stuffy British peerage so we changed the title.) It still doesn’t list the Lee-Alexander-Aiken family on the pull down, but you can access that branch if you just click on “Family Trees.” Clicking on a family from this page will take you to all the posts associated with that family. This is probably the best way to find pertinent-to-you posts, since there are so very many families discussed on this blog.
[Disclaimer: My dear husband and son would have made a much nicer blog if I had not been insistent on doing most of it with WordPress myself. I have tried not to bother them too much with blog fixing, so all poor qualities are due to my strong-willed German heritage, I suppose.]
George A. Roberts (1861-1939), above, was a bit of a geek in his day. As a farmer he had to be a tinkerer. He embraced new-fangled gadgets as well, and was one of the first in the area to have indoor plumbing and an automobile. His wife, Ella V. Daniel, was thrilled to finally have running water in the kitchen where she cooked for dozens of men at harvest season! I am sure our son is so handy partly because of George, plus from his father/my husband, who is descended from people who worked with their hands, like farmers and shoe-makers, and has a bit of German engineering genetics thrown in from somewhere, I am sure. Many trips in the stroller to Home Depot as a baby to get out of the house on a rainy day were probably helpful too- our son first counted to 100 sitting on the floor with big landscape spikes. (We did buy them and then he got to help use a sledgehammer…great fun.)
I am also thankful for Thomas MacEntee and his wonderful blogs, Hack Genealogy and GeneaBloggers. His webinars and shared information has done much to advance genealogical research, and get many of us to write blogs to share what we have learned.
One of those who shares her genealogy and writes it beautifully is Cynthia Mulcahy/Mulberrygrrl of We’re All Relative. I am not related but her amazing prose is inspiring to writers and does relate to many of the lines I am researching. I particularly enjoyed her recent post, “I’m Finally Embracing My Scots-Irish Ancestry.” She uses great images to illustrate her points, and she discusses many facts I had not known. This post mentions that the ‘Fighting Scots-Irish’ were enticed to America to be a ‘buffer’ between civilized cities and the wild frontier- so many of my ancestors were just those folks.
I cannot end this “Thankful Thursday” post without mentioning Jim Whitener, who pushed me into starting this blog after hearing yet another Legacy Family Tree Webinar on blogging how-to. I am looking forward to more posts on his family, when he has some time to write about his ancestors, i.e., when he is not enjoying his rich legacy of children and grandchildren. 😉
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) From our family photo treasure chest. This is one-thrid of a portrait of the three Roberts brothers, taken about 1900 in Newton, Jasper, Iowa.
Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.
Copyright 2013-2014 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.
Years ago I used the techniques discussed in the previous post to identify the persons in this photograph. I started with the known persons and then incorporated knowledge from other photos, censuses, etc. The date of the photo was said to be 1900, but that needed to be revised as Edith Roberts had been born in 1899, and appeared to be older than one year. Also, one of the babies was born in 1904, which definitely sets the date later.
Here is the identification:
From left-
Mary Jane Roberts’ family: Mary Jane (Mollie J) standing holding her daughter Bernice Blount; son Samuel Harvey with hat and tie standing next to his father, Samuel H. Blount. Seated on ground in front are, from left, Florence, Helen J, and Harold M. Blount. Oldest son Harry R. is standing next to his father in a dark suit.
George A. Roberts’ family: Standing next to Harry R. Blount is Ella V. Daniels Roberts and in the (short) white dress is daughter Ethel Gay Roberts. Seated at her feet is Edith Mae Roberts. Their father George A. Roberts stands next to Ethel, with son George A. Roberts, standing next to him.
Jason Lee Roberts’ family: Oca Roberts, in a long white dress, stands next to George Roberts Jr. Her brother Guy L. Roberts stands in front of her and their father, Jason Lee Roberts. His wife Julia French Roberts stands next to him holding their baby Ralph Roberts. Sitting on the ground in front of them are, from left, Wiley Roberts, Willard Roberts, and Charley Roberts in white. The very short woman in front of Julia French is Orpha B. Roberts.
Elizabeth Ann Murrell and her husband John Roberts stand next to Julia French.
William Edward (W.E., or Ed) Roberts’ family: W.E. Roberts stands next to his father, John Roberts. His son Orville stands beside him, with the woman on the right probably Orville’s mother, Mary M. Main Roberts; his sister Edna is not seen in the picture. Seated on the ground in front of them are Maude & Clara, with Maude possibly having the lighter hair as seen in the 1892 photo.
In the last few years, we found an advertising page,
“Courtesy of
ROBERTS BROTHERS
Groceries, Bottled Gas Ranges,
Plumbing, Heating
Pumps & Windmills”
It contained the above picture and two others, with most of the people identified plus information about John and Elizabeth Roberts’ lives. Sadly, the women and children were not all identified in the above picture, but it did verify that we had the families correct:
Left to right- Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Blount and family, Mr. and Mrs. George Roberts and family, Mr. and Mrs. Jason Roberts and family, Mr. and Mrs. John Roberts, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Roberts and family. This picture was taken of Mr. and Mrs. John Roberts, their children and grandchildren at their home in Prairie City in 1900 (now the Vande Kieft home). The fifth boy sitting down from the left is the Mayor of Prairie City.
The moral of the story is:
1) Use ALL your resources in a collaborative way.
2) Revisit your families- new information comes online and available every day.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Family photograph, and page from a magazine or flyer.
2) Updated 12/2/16 with corrected identification of Oca and Orpha Roberts.
3) Some sources (like the Roberts family advertisement) state the picture was taken in 1900, some state 1904. I tend to agree with the 1900 date, as Edith Roberts was born 10 October 1899, so would have been 1-1/2 or 2 when this image was taken. That seems more consistent with her size, as if the photo was from 1904, she would have been 5 years old.
01/11/2017 UPDATE: However, if the baby being held by Julia French Roberts is their son Ralph Roberts, the date of the photo would be 1904, since he was born 11 July 1903. The baby could instead be one who died very young, as there is an almost 3 year gap between Ralph and his older brother Charley. We will have to leave this mystery to the Jason Lee Roberts and Julia (French) Roberts descendants to sort out.
Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.
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.
Murrell Family Bible Ephemera- History of the World advertisement or order. The Mexican War with the US was 1846-48, so this would have been printed after that time.
Murrell Family Bible Ephemera- Bible reading note on reverse of Railway Employees of Iowa paper, Dec. 17, 1893.
As this is dated 17 Dec 1893, it must have been from the second owner of the bible, as Wiley A. Murrell and Mary M Honts Murrell had both passed away by this time. Their daughter, Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts was a church-goer, so it may be her handwriting. (Sorry, just can’t do a totally “Wordless Wednesday” but I’m trying.)
Murrell Family Bible Ephemera-Ecclesiastes note.Murrell Family Bible Ephemera- Make Room for the King note.A sample funeral card with the name “Geo. Anthony Roberts” written at the top. George A. Roberts died 18 Apr 1939. He was the grandson of the original owners, Mary Magdalen Hontz Murrell and Wiley Anderson Murrell, and son of Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts who we believe inherited the Bible.Reverse of a sample funeral card with the name “Geo. Anthony Roberts” written at the top. George A. Roberts died 18 Apr 1939.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Murrell Family Bible, possibly c1835.
2) Post updated 3/1/2021 to clarify relationship of George Anthony Roberts. He was born 1861 and was the third of five children of Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts (1835-1917) and John Roberts (1832-1922).
Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.
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.
The final page of entries in the Murrell Family Bible documents the deaths of Wiley Anderson “W.A.” Murrell and his wife, Mary M. Honts Murrell, who are both buried in Mound Prairie Township, Jasper County, Iowa. That hill in the midst of very gently rolling farmland has the most wonderful breeze sometimes, and a breath-taking view of the farms all around, including the farm that was owned by their daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth Ann Murrell and John Roberts. What a delightful place to be ‘quietly resting,’ especially for a couple who were farmers their whole life.
Mound Prairie Cemetery Marker in Jasper Co., Iowa
The entries in the Bible record are in a number of hands, which would be expected if the bible records were maintained by Mary M. Honts Murrell, since she could not document her own death. Mary may have written all the birth and marriage records, as well as the record for the death of their young daughter Mary Catharine, since they are all with the same ink and hand. The 1850 US Federal Census notes that Wiley could neither read nor write, but there is no mark in that column for Mary. So that is contemporary evidence she could read and write, and we can then surmise with some confidence that Mary wrote the first entries. Her handwriting is just beautiful!
Daughter Mary Catharine probably died in 1846 in Botetourt, Virginia, since the family is listed there in the 1850 census, and did not migrate to Illinois until 1853. How hard that must have been to leave the grave of one’s child, knowing that they likely would never return to Virginia!
A previous post mused about the date of the Bible and original entries, since so many look like they may have been written at the same time yet they cover a wide span of years. The bible may have been purchased in Virginia after Mary and Wiley married in 1834 in Botetourt County, Virginia, since all their children were born there. The handwriting makes that somewhat unlikely, unless they had not been very religious and then converted, purchasing the Bible after the births of some of the children. Another possibility is that the original family bible with entries written at the time of the events was lost or destroyed during the difficult trek by covered wagon over the Appalachian Mountains, through the Illinois prairies to Roseville, Warren County, in northern Illinois in 1853. A third possibility is that the original bible may have been lost or destroyed on their second migration, from Illinois to Iowa in 1868. With either loss event, a new bible would then have been purchased and some earlier events entered at the same time to tell the story of the Murrell family, explaining some of the writing differences.
W. A. Murrell and Mary M. Honts- Headstone in Mound Prairie Cemetery, Jasper Co., Iowa. Posted with permission of photographer.
Mary could have written the death entry for her husband Wiley “W.A.” since she survived him, but the writing does not have the same characteristics of her earlier script- the capital “A”s and “W”s are very different. Such styles do not usually change with age, even if the size of the writing and its smoothness do change. This entry could have been her daughter Elizabeth’s handwriting, as it may have been too painful for Mary to enter the information for Wiley- they were just one month short of celebrating their 51st wedding anniversary when he died. Since Mary’s death entry is in what looks to be the same hand, we again have some evidence that Elizabeth may have inherited the family bible.
It appears that the entry for John Murrell was added much later than his death, since he is listed after Mary’s 1887 death entry, even though he died in 1880. The entries for the Murrell’s daughter Ann Elisy Murrell Brown and her husband Aaron Brown in 1892 and 1894, respectively, must also have been made by someone else after Mary’s death in 1887. The handwriting is the same for both Ann and Aaron, but does not looks the same as what we are thinking may be Elizabeth’s hand; that person will likely remain a mystery.
Anneliza (Murrell) Brown- headstone closeup in Mound Prairie Pioneer Cemetery, Mound Prairie Township, Jasper County, Iowa. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer.
Ann Elisy and her husband, Aaron Brown, who is the only in-law included in this record, both died in Jasper County, Iowa, and are buried in the Mound Prairie Pioneer Cemetery along with Wiley and Mary. (The cemetery is also known as Greenlief Cemetery.)
Aaron Brown- headstone in Mound Prairie Pioneer Cemetery, Mound Prairie Township, Jasper County, Iowa. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer.
Son John died in Pettis County, Missouri, but has been included in the family record. Sons William Anderson Murrell, who stayed in Illinois and died in 1922, and son James Edward Murrell, who passed away in Missouri in 1926, however, are not included in this record of family deaths. This may have happened because the Bible had already been passed to Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts at her mother’s death in 1887, and then Elizabeth died in 1917 after being bedridden for many years. The Bible was apparently no longer being used after her death, so the surviving brothers were not added after their deaths in the 1920s.
Transcription:
Deaths
Mary Catharine
Daughter of Wile
And Mary H. [or Mag]
Murrell Departed
this Life in the
Year of our Lord and
Savior November
the 6 1846
Age 7 yrs 1
Month And 12
Days
Anne E Murrell
Brown
Died May 2nd 92
Aaron Brown
Died Mar 19th 94
[next column]
W A Murrell
Departed this
Life in the year
of our Lord & Savior
March 28th 85.
M. M. Murrell [Mary Magdalene Honts Murrell]
Departed this Life
in the year of our
Lord & Savior
July 13th 87.
John Murrell
Died March 23
1880
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Murrell Family Bible, possibly c1835.
2) 1850 US Federal Census for District 8, Botetourt, Virginia, “Wiley A Marrill” as head of household. Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place: District 8, Botetourt, Virginia; Roll: M432_936; Page: 156B; Image: 551. Accessed 2-8-14 on Ancestry.com.
3) Anne E. Murrell Brown is sometimes called Ann Elisy, Elisy, Eliza, and Anneliza. She married Aaron Brown 15 Sep 1869 and they had five children. Her parents migrated to Jasper Co., Iowa in 1868, and Ann and Aaron followed sometime between 1870-1880. Her headstone in Greenlief Cemetery/Mound Prairie, lists her as “Annelliza.”
4) This post has been updated on 3/1/2021 with new information.
Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.
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.
