The Murrell Family of Botetourt Co., Virginia, Illinois, and Iowa

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Wiley Anderson Murrell and Mary Magdalene (Hons/Honts/Honce/Hance) Murrell. Posted with kind permission of the Harlan Family Blog.

Roberts Family, Murrell Family

We have written a number of posts about the family of Wiley Anderson Murrell and his wife, Mary “Polly” Magdalene (Hons/Honts/Honce/Hance) Murrell. (Use ‘search’ in the box to the left to see them all, or scroll down and click on “Murrell Family.”) We are in the process of sharing what we know with the Botetourt County, Virginia Genealogy Association, so thought that a good start might be to collect some basic information and images for this couple and their children, all in one convenient post.

Wiley Anderson “W. A.” Murrell was born 2 Feb 1806 in Virginia or West Virginia to unknown parents. (We have searched and searched… yet know nothing about his early life.) Wiley married Mary “Polly” Magdalene Honts/Honce/Hance on 9 Apr 1834 in Botetourt County Virginia. Wiley died 27 Mar 1885 in Jasper County, Iowa.

Wiley Anderson “W.A.” Murrell, courtesy of the Harlan family, cropped from combined portrait.

Mary “Polly” Magdalene (Hons/Honts/Honce/Hance) Murrell was born on 9 Sep 1806 in Botetourt County, Virginia, the second child of Henry Honts (1781-1850) and his first wife, Catherine Kauffman/Coffman (1784-1867). Mary died 13 Jul 1887 in Jasper Co. Iowa.

Mary “Polly” Magdalene (Hons/Honts/Honce/Hance) Murrell, courtesy of the Harlan family.

W. A. and Polly migrated from Botetourt Co. Virginia to Roseville, Swan Township, Warren County, Illinois with their children in 1853, then on to Jasper Co. IA in 1868. (Jasper migration year per their obituaries, however the family is not found anywhere- not Iowa, as expected, nor Illinois nor Virginia- in the 1870 US Federal census).

The above image appears to be a combination of two photos- note where their clothing overlaps. The image of Polly appears larger, though she may have actually been a larger woman- but we do not know anything about their stature. She does look to be much older than W.A. in these photos despite them being born the same year, so a later photographer may have combined two images taken at different times to make it appear as a family portrait.

We wish we had a photo of the family when the children were young, but they likely were quite poor as they did not own land in Botetourt County.

The oldest known child of W.A. and Polly was Elizabeth Ann Murrell, born 1 Feb 1835 in Botetourt County, Virginia. When Elizabeth was eighteen, she, along with her parents and siblings, migrated to Illinois. She married John Roberts (1832-1922) in Roseville, Illinois, on 8 Mar 1857. Four children were born to them in Illinois, and they later migrated with her parents to Jasper County, Iowa, about 1868. Both died in Jasper County: Elizabeth on 2 Feb 1917, 82 years and 1 day since her birth; John on 22 Jan 1922.

John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts, possibly in the 1880s? Posted with kind permission of the Harlan Family Blog. [20 Sep 2019 Editor’s Note: this image is of John Roberts, b. 1832, NOT his father John S. Roberts, as it was originally labeled.]

John Henry Murrell was the second known child of W.A. and Polly Murrell. He was born in Botetourt Co. on 2 Jul 1837. He migrated with his family to Warren County, Illinois in 1853, and at age 25 he married Lydia Reborn (1844-1920) there. By 1870 John and his family had moved to Elk Fork, Pettis County, Missouri, where he died 23 Mar 1880 in Green Ridge, Pettis, MO, just a couple of months before the birth of their sixth child.

We do not have a portrait of John Henry Murrell.

Headstone for grave of John Henry Murrell in Rabourne Family Cemetery, Pettis County, Missouri. Posted with kind permission of the Find A Grave volunteer who took the image. (Click to enlarge.)

All we know of the third child of W.A. and Polly Murrell is that Mary Catherine Murrell was born in Botetourt County, Virginia on 18 Sep 1839, and she died seven years later, on 6 Nov 1846, in Botetourt. We have not found her grave, but due to the family’s probable poverty, they may not have been able to afford a headstone. We do have this record of her life in our Murrell family bible.

Death record of Mary Catharine Murrell, age 7, from Murrell Family Bible.

William Anderson Murrell was the fourth known child of W.A. and Polly Murrell. Also born in Botetourt County, Virginia, on 25 May 1841, William was a teenager when he migrated with his family to Warren County, Illinois. William served his country, enlisting on 1 Aug 1862 in the Union’s 83rd Illinois Infantry for 3 years; he also served as a Private in the First Light Artillery, Co. H, and mustered out 26 Jun 1865 at Nashville, Tennessee. William married Cordelia Talley (1850-1941) in Warren County, Illinois on 1 Oct 1867, and they had four known children. William and his wife stayed in Roseville, where he died on 1 Aug 1922.

William Anderson Murrell and Cordelia (Talley) Murrell- possibly colorized wedding photo? If so, would have been taken 1 Oct 1867 in Warren Co., IL.

James Edward Murrell, the fifth known child of W. A. and Polly Murrell, was born 15 Nov 1842 in Botetourt County, Virginia, and was 11 when the family migrated to Illinois. During the Civil War James joined the Illinois Cavalry, as his older brother John Henry Murrell had, but was in Co. I, Reg. 11 as a private; he was discharged 30 Sep 1865. After the war James moved to Pettis County, Missouri, where his brother John was living. James married Mary E. Robinson and they had six children. At age 70 he was in the National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Leavenworth, Kansas. He and Dillie E. (Carter) [Todd] Fox applied for a marriage license on 22 Mar 1924 in St. Louis County, Missouri; he was 81 (he stated 83 on the application), she 54. We have not found a marriage record, however Dillie was the informant on his death certificate, which also stated that “Dillie E. Murrell” was his wife. 

James Edward Murrell, circa 1860s.

W. A. and Polly Murrell started their family with a daughter, and their last known child was also a daughter, Ann Elisy Murrell (AKA AnnEliza), born 21 Dec 1845 in Botetourt County, Virginia. She too migrated to Warren County, Illinois with the family when a child, and married there, on 15 Sep 1869. With her husband Aaron Brown, she had 3 children born in Illinois, and 2 more were born in Jasper County, Iowa. (They migrated between 1875-1878.) Ann died on 2 May 1892, just 46 years old; her husband Aaron died two years later, age 48, both in Jasper County, Iowa. Sadly we have not found photos for any of this family.

Anneliza (Murrell) Brown- headstone closeup in Mound Prairie Pioneer Cemetery, Mound Prairie Township, Jasper County, Iowa. Used with kind permission of the FAG photographer.

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Please see previous Murrell posts for more details and references about each of these persons.

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images. 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 2013-2019 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. Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Treasure Chest Thursday: John and Sarah Gitel (Frank) Broida

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John and Gitel (Frank) Broida, c. 1889.

Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)

John Jacob or Zelig, whose surname originally was Karklinsky, changed his name to Broida after arriving in the United States about 1874. John and his wife Sarah Gitel Frank (1859-1901) were originally born in Lithuania. At that time, Lithuania was a part of Russia, and the town he came from was called Eišiškės (AKA Polish: Ejszyszki, Russian: Эйши́шки/Eishishki, Belarusian: Эйшы́шкі/Eishyshki, Yiddish: אײשישאׇק‎/Eyshishok). The Jews were  the largest percentage of the population until World War II, when the Jews were massacred. Thankfully John and his family had escaped prior to that time.

Gertrude (Broida) Cooper, granddaughter of John Broida through his son Phillip Broida, told the story that John Broida always had a thick Yiddish accent- the family spoke Yiddish at home per a number of censuses- and that he wanted to go be with his own as Palestine became a “national home for the Jewish people.” This was part of the British Mandate for Palestine in the 1920s, after World War I, through the League of Nations. John emigrated around this time, possibly with his second wife, Fannie. (Gitel died in 1901.)

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Family oral history.
  2. Wikipedia

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

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 2013-2019 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.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Party Time- with the Leonard Broida Family in 1945

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BROIDA Family

A 1945 party with Leonard BROIDA, his wife Anita MEYER BROIDA, and son Leonard BROIDA.

Since this is Memorial Day weekend and people will be remembering those who fought for our freedoms and even gave their lives so that democracy could prosper, we thought we would share some photos of celebrations with the Leonard Broida family.

The above picture is from 1945, and it would be interesting to know what they were celebrating. World War II may have still been going on- the Germans surrendered on 8 May 1845, the Japanese on 15 August, and the Japanese surrender documents were signed on 2 September 1945.

 

Perhaps this was not a celebration of good news during the war, however. Anita had a coat on in the above photo, so it likely was earlier- or after the surrender- when the photo was taken. This is also suggested by another group photo:

Leonard and Anita MEYER BROIDA group photo, about 1945.

Do you notice anything about this photo?

  1. Look at the window and door- same place in the photo, so looks like the same room (For keen observers, you may also notice that the pin-up girl picture that is in the top photo is either covered up by a man standing in front of it, or else it has been removed.)
  2. Check out the people- a lot of the same faces are in this photo.

These similarities suggest (to me) that the photo was taken in a place of business, such as an office, and these are co-workers. Anita worked with Leonard, so that adds more weight to this hypothesis.

Maybe the photos were to celebrate a lucrative contract, or completion of a big job? Maybe it was a holiday celebration- note the ceiling decorations? Leonard was a successful architect, so those are real possibilities.

 

As for the pin-up, well, my heart goes out to the women who had to work day after day in an office with that sort of “art” on the wall. There is a family story that Leonard’s office was actually in a building that had housed a, well, umm, “house of ill repute.” Maybe it was just left over and they wanted to maintain the historical legacy??

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Photos from the family treasure chest. A special thanks to the kind cousin who scanned and shared them!
  2. Please use the “Related Links” at the bottom of the post, click on Leonard’s name at the bottom, or use the search function on the left side of the page to see other posts on Leonard Broida and his family.

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.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 2013-2019 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. (Please add a link to this blog post on the genealogy websites to show the origin/source of your information.) 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.

1937 Broida Family Reunion Photo- some identifications

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Broida Family Reunions
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We have some identifications of persons in the July 11, 1937 group photo. Please contact us if you can identify other family members.

Broida Family

Phillip BROIDA (1887-1952), his daughter Gertrude Belle BROIDA COOPER (1911-2011), and her husband Irving I. COOPER (1908-1982) holding their first daughter.
Leonard L. BROIDA (1901-1977) is the tallest man standing in the back to the right. His wife Anita MEYER (1904-2008) is standing in front of him.

Amanuensis Monday: Will McMurray’s Grocery in Newton, Iowa

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McMurray-Killduff Grocery Ad- best grocery stock, Newton Record, Newton Iowa, March 2, 1899, Vol. 5, No. 32, Page 8, Columns 3-4.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

An “amanuensis” (A-man’-U-en-sis) is a person who copies or writes from other works or dictation. The term is pretty archaic, and was used much more in the early- to mid-1800s. After that time those persons, still required to hand write much since we had no copiers or scanners, were more often called “scriveners” or “scribes.” Scribe is actually an even older word, but it too lost favor especially once typewriters, dictation machines (remember “Dictaphones”?), and computers came on the scene.

We have been telling the story of William Elmer McMurray (1874-1957) and the grocery he and his wife, Lynette Payne McMurray, owned in Newton, Iowa. Will initially had a partner, William Charles Killduff, but later Will and Lynette owned the store on their own. The store carried a wide variety of items through the years, and placed advertisements regularly in the local newspapers. Here are some of the items they carried, transcribed from a variety of sources, some listed below.

fresh and salted fish “which we will sell cheap”

fresh oysters in bulk and can

McMurray-Killduff Grocery Ad for Hams, 2 Mar 1899, Newton Record, Newton Iowa, Vol. 5, No. 32, Page 8, Columns 3-4.

lettuce, celery, radishes

[Grocers back then also bought directly from local farmers. Other than tinned (canned) foods, there were fewer middle distributors with food sitting in a train car for days going cross county, or sitting in a warehouse for days or months. Stores did carry some items that came from afar, but some, like oysters, would only be available “until the season closes.”]

peaches, by the carload

[train carload? Suggested a better price due to the quantity the grocery purchased.]

“Use Marshall’s Best Flour- $1.20 per sack. Sold by McMurray & Killduff.”

[This flour must really have been the “Best” because an ad for the grocery published 22 June 1899 that there had been “25,000 sacks of this flour sold in Newton and vicinity.” The population of the city of Newton was just 3,682 in 1900, and Jasper County 26, 976. The ad does not state the time period of the sales number quoted, but still, that’s a lot of flour in one area!]

Minnesota Flour, Kansas Flour

[Flours have different amounts of protein, depending on the type of wheat that it was milled from, with low protein flours considered “soft” wheat and best for pastries or cakes; “hard” flour has more protein and gluten, which are better for breads. Back then most desserts and bread was made from scratch in the home, especially in rural areas.]

Fruit jars… “at a great discount”

[for canning from your home fruit trees, bushes]

Japan Tea

Japan Rice

[A short-grain, sticky rice.]

 

Writing down information gleaned from the various advertisements also helps us learn a bit about how the store evolved over the years:

2 March 1899 ads above indicate the name of the store, and its owners, are McMurray & Killduff

9 September 1901- store listed in ad as “Will McMurray, Northeast Square, Newton, Iowa”

In the 1920 Newton Iowa City Directory, on page 104, the entry

McMurray WILL E, Groceries and Meats

tells us at that time, there was no partnership, and the grocery belonged solely to Will and Lynette. The bold lettering may have been paid for as a business, as the listing also states “(See page 7).” The directory listing noted that the store was located at 106 N 2d av E, but Will and Lynette resided at 322 E 4th N.  Just above the listing for Will was one of Will’s brothers:

McMurray, Roy, mngr meat dept W E McMurray

[It has been said by some that the McMurrays were “clannish.” They lived near each other, socialized together, took vacations together, and worked together, as this directory shows. All of these, back then, were much more common to do within a family group than it is today.]

Newspaper clippings about family business are a great way to get a feel for the times in which our ancestors lived, and a bit about their daily lives. Writing it down (being an “amanuensis”) and putting it all together is a great way to share with family too!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Newton Record, Feb. 23, 1899, p. 8.
  2. Newton Record, Newton Iowa, March 2, 1899, Vol. 5, No. 32, Page 8, Columns 3-4.
  3. Newton Iowa State Democrat, Aug 17, 1899, Vol. 19, No. 33, Page 4.
  4. “Carload of Peaches,” Newton Daily Record, Sept. 9. 1901, page 2.
  5. Population statistics for Newton from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton,_Iowa; Jasper County– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton,_Iowa

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

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.