Murrell Family, ancestors to the Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

Tuesday’s Tip: Just Google it.

“Mystery Mondays” seem to stick in the mind of this writer, and then it seems more research just has to be done to try to solve the mystery. Happened again this week, and the above excerpt is the result of “Tuesday’s Tip.”

Although unable yet to find a full copy of this 1915 encyclopedia online (other than the Ancestry.com version which downloads as a thin column), this excerpt tells us that some of our hypothesis was correct. Yes, Major James Murrell did have children with one wife, who died prior to 1818, when James remarried and had more children.

James’ first wife was Obedience (Rudd) Murrell, who died 16 May 1816. Note that her namesake, Obedience Margaret Murrell, was born just four days before, on 12 May. Her mother likely died of complications from childbirth with those dates being so close together.

This looks to be a pretty complete version of Major Murrell’s life, though we should probably look into the accuracy of these volumes, as many written at the turn of the 20th century were sometimes exaggerated or had incorrect data. If we assume that it is correct, however, we do not see our elusive Wiley A. Murrell listed as one of the children. James W. R. Murrell would be the closest possibility, Perhaps the “W” was for “William” and he went by “Wiley”? But there is no “Anderson” listed in this name, so likely not the right person. James W.R. was born in 1809 per this record, but he died in Arkansas, and we know Wiley was born in 1805 (or 1806) and died in Jasper County, Iowa.

So, it does not look like this James Murrell and Nancy Cobb are Wiley’s ancestors. Then why does the paper trail for so many DNA matches show these people? Is there some inaccuracy in the trees, or is James truly related, such as the brother of our Wiley’s father?

More research.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

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(Also Roberts)

In the search for our elusive ancestor Wiley Anderson Murrell and his early life and parents, we have employed a combination of the paper trail as well as the latest DNA techniques. Unfortunately the paper trail seems to only begin in 1834 in Botetourt County, Virginia, when Wiley was 28- where was he before that??

Our DNA trail is very confusing. When going back 5-6 generations or more (Wiley is #5 to me), the shared amount of DNA gets less and is less accurate. We have connections all over but cannot tie them together with a paper trail, and that is required to help us learn more about Wiley, who may have been called William A. Murrell as well.

A comparison of DNA matches using GEDmatch indicates that one recently-found cousin and I have our most recent common ancestor at 4.9 generations ago. Since Wiley is #5 to me, it would suggest that she too is descended from Wiley, but her family tree does not include him. Ancestry.com and other DNA services usually give an error margin of 1-2 generations, so she might be descended from Wiley’s parents instead, or maybe his brother. That’s our mystery for today (and probably many days to come)- to find the relationship and then document the ancestors involved.

Looking at her family tree, 5 generations would take us to Major James Murrell (1781-1859). He was born in Lunenberg County, Virginia in 1781- that would make him 24 years old in 1805, when our Wiley was born, so that date does not rule out the Major as Wiley’s father. In 1818, the Major married Nancy Cobbs (1795-1855) in Campbell Co., Virginia. That date suggests that James and Nancy were not Wiley’s parents, since he would have been 13 at the time of their marriage. (Yes, he could have been born out of wedlock, and we know of a case of that within the family of Wiley’s wife, Mary M. Honts, but generally it was not common.) Also, if Nancy’s birth date is correct, she would have been just 10 years old when Wiley was born, so that really does not fit.

One possible explanation for this mystery could be that Wiley was the Major’s son by a first wife, and after her death, the Major’s second wife, Nancy (Cobbs) Murrell raised Wiley. (This is just a hypothesis.)

Let’s verify a number of things, such as the marriage- see below for the sources used to confirm that the marriage of James Murrell and Nancy Cobb took place on 30 May 1818. While these are only transcriptions/abstracts, Ancestry.com does furnish us with the source they used, FHL microfilm #31050. We could check to see if that film is online yet or if it is available anywhere, to use a primary source, or more accurately, an image of a primary source, to confirm the marriage date.

Next, let’s look at this family in the census.

Of course, we cannot yet be positive this is the same couple and children, as it does not list Nancy’s maiden name, nor that she is his wife. The ages given are ~ correct for the birth years we have for James and Nancy, and they lived in Campbell County, so that does suggest we probably have the correct couple. This census entry lists people who likely are their children, although ‘relationship’ was not a column on the census that year so we would need to verify the connection through other means. (They have the same surname, but they could also be a niece or nephew.)

One of the first things to notice about the children is that Wiley A. Murrell is not listed in this family. In 1850 he was 44 years old, married, and living with his wife and five children in Botetourt County, Virginia (about 60 miles away), so that does not rule out the possibility that he was one of the children of the Major. His wife, Mary Magdalene Honts, was born in Botetourt, where they were married. Her mother had been deserted by her father (that story to come later), so maybe Wiley decided to settle near to his mother-in-law to help care for her. (We have not found land records for Wiley, but do need to search more for the Honts family’s land.) But we digress from this census record.

Take a look at the ages of what we assume are the children of this family. Louisa, the oldest, is 43, so Nancy would have been 13 at Louisa’s birth. Again, it is possible that Nancy was her mother, but fairly unlikely. Since Louisa was born in 1816, she could have been a full sibling of Wiley, as 15 or more years of child-bearing was not uncommon in those days. The next oldest child, Obedience, was born when Nancy was 22, which is plausible, but then there was a four year gap (Sarah E. Murrell was 30 at this census), with four more children then born at the usual 2-3 year spacing. A child who died young may have been within this gap, so we do need to look at more censuses for this family. The tough part is that federal censuses before 1850 only list the head of household, and then number of persons of various ages and sex, so it would be impossible to verify the names and exact ages of those persons.

So what are your conclusions from the given evidence? Have we solved the mystery of Wiley’s parents, or, possibly his father and step-mother? Or are there more questions to ask, more proof to find? Sadly, I feel the latter.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. James Murrell-Nancy Cobb marriage record on Ancestry.com, no image of original and data originally from Dodd, Jordan R., et al.. Early American Marriages: Virginia to 1850. Bountiful, UT, USA: Precision Indexing Publishers, and  Virginia, Marriages, 1785-1940. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
2. Various records on Ancestry.com.

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McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Funeral cards can give us a little information about the deceased, but they also give us some information about their ‘FAN Club.’ ‘FAN‘ is an acronym for “Family, Associates, and Neighbors.” Sometimes, when we cannot find more information about an ancestor, researching their siblings, nieces and nephews, co-workers or business partners, and even their close neighbors and friends can provide just the information we need about our own ancestor.

Looking at the pallbearers that are listed on a funeral card is one way to find the FAN Club. As discussed last week, usually only close family or friends had the honor of being a pallbearer at a funeral.

Mary E. McMurray was the daughter of Henderson McMurray (1819-1906) and Mary Ann (Horn) McMurray (1824-1891). Mary E. was single her whole life, so had no children or grandchildren to bear her casket. She outlived all her siblings, and even some of their children- she lived two months beyond her 100th birthday, so that was a number of generations! Mary did have a lovely big family that she lived next to, and close to, in Newton, Iowa. Let’s look at the list of pallbearers, and see how they might be related, using the family tree we have spent hours working on for more years than we would like to admit.

Ray Whittaker- Might as well start with the hardest, right? It took a bit, but now we know how he is related. The big clue was the name Blackwell- Ray McMurray’s wife was Elizabeth “Bessie” Catharine Blackwell (1886-1976), and it turns out that the maiden name of the wife of Ray Whittaker (1889-1980) was Gertrude B. Blackwell (1889-1969). Bessie was a DAR member (#145320, NSDAR Vol. 146, page 99, 1919), and her application verified the names of her parents. From there, the 1900 US Federal Census provided a list of the children- and Bessie and Gertie were listed with their siblings and parents. (Sounds simpler now than it was.)  So Ray Whittaker (1890-1980) was the brother-in-law of Ray McMurray, who was Mary’s nephew. Not sure if there is an official name for that relationship, but it shows how complex- and wonderful!- families become with all the married-ins.

Edward McMurray- This is likely Mary’s great-nephew through her brother Frederick Asbury McMurray and his son William Elmer McMurray. By that time he was Dr. E.A. McMurray (1900-1992). It is possible that Edward McMurray, Jr., was a pallbearer instead of his father, but my feeling is probably not when looking at the generations that were pallbearers (Ed Jr. was a generation younger), and he was living in another state at that time.

Arthur Cook- Arthur Cook (1903-1977) was the husband of Mary’s great niece Maude Lynette “Midge” (McMurray) Cook (1905-1992), the sister of Dr. E. A. McMurray.

William Aillaud- Not sure who this is, but there is a relationship. Mary’s sister, Ella Rosetta (McMurray) (1865-1948) married Fred Aillaud, but they only had one child, a daughter.  I have a hunch this may be his nephew from a possible brother C.W. Aillaud, but will leave that research to someone closer related. (Too many ancestors- well, not really, but too little time for research. But please do not add this to a tree online until you prove the relationship as it is just my hunch from a brief preliminary search.)

Ray McMurray- Ray (1886-1979) was also a pallbearer for Fannie Margaret (McMurray) Emery Maytag, as we saw in last Friday’s post. He was the nephew of Mary E. McMurray- his father Frederick A. McMurray was her brother.

Louis Toedt- Louis (1889-1977) was the husband of Anna Marie McMurray (1892-1977), daughter of Henry Beecher McMurray (1860-1946), another of Mary’s brothers. So Louis was a nephew-in-law.

Pretty we much need a scorecard for all these McMurrays!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Thanks to cousins Cindi and Julie for sharing this and other funeral cards.
2. Thank you also, Ancestry.com, for making so many records available to us at home so we can do more genealogy in less time, while hopefully being accurate!

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McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Today is the anniversary of the 1924 birth of Edward A. McMurray to Edith (Roberts) McMurray and Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Sr.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of photos.

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McMURRAY Family (Click for Family Tree)

John Henderson Emery, son of Fannie Margaret McMurray Emery Maytag, and his wife Louise Jane (Wykoff) Emery are buried in Newton Union Cemetery, Newton, Jasper County, Iowa. The location of their grave is Sec 4 Lot 190 Block 17.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. A special thanks to Richard Weston for his tireless work for Find A Grave and for families researching in Jasper County, Iowa. He provided so many photos and much information over the years, and was a kind man. We miss him.
2. Photos posted with kind permission of the photographer.

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