Information on the early years of Wiley Anderson Murrell (1806-1885) has long been elusive. (Too scary to put the number of years the family has been searching, but it is more than 49 and less than 51…) Since it is the start of a new year, we thought we might try again to see if anyone with knowledge of the Murrell family or Virginia, especially Botetourt County, might have some suggestions of where to look next. We are trying to find the names of his parents and places they may have lived during his early life- both continue to be unsolved mysteries.
Wiley was born 2 Feb 1805 per the family bible (some say 1809) in Virginia but we do not know exactly where. The first official record we have for him is associated with his marriage to Mary Magdalene Hons/Honce/Honts/Honz/etc. on 9 April 1834 in Botetourt. Wiley would have been 28, Mary 27.
Wiley A. Murrell and Mary Honce Marriage Bond. (Click to enlarge.)
Mary’s mother Catharine (Kauffman) Hons gave surety, and we do have a fair amount of information on Catharine and her husband Henry Hons/etc./Johns, thanks to the fine work of the late George Honts. We have not found all the documentation he used, however, and would be very interested in seeing more to learn if there are some clues for the Murrell side.
Twenty-eight seems a bit old for a first marriage for Wiley, and for Mary at age 27 back in those days. Perhaps Wiley had been married to someone else earlier? Mary had her mother’s surname, and with her mother pledging surety for the marriage, it would seem that it was probably Mary’s first. After marrying in April of 1834, however, they got busy having children to make up for lost time. Mary had her first child in 1835, and then 5 more children in the next 10 years.
Wiley & family are listed in the 1840 US Federal Census in Botetourt, and in District 8, Botetourt, in 1850; he is also on the Ag Census for 1850. Obviously, then, he was a farmer, but there was no real estate value listed- maybe he was just renting, rather than owned the property? (We should check land records.) Wiley had made his mark on the marriage bond, but still could neither read nor write per the census.
1850 Agriculture Schedule for Wiley A. Murrell, part 2. Ancestry.com. (Click to enlarge.)
The family migrated in 1853 to Roseville, Warren Co., Illinois, and Wiley had $718 in personal estate value per the 1860 census there. In 1868 the family migrated to Jasper Co., Iowa, but they have not been found on an 1870 census in Iowa, Illinois, or Virginia. They are found in the 1880 census in Jasper Co., Iowa, indexed as “Murren.”
The six children of Wiley and Mary are: Elizabeth Ann Murrell, John Henry Murrell, Mary Catharine Murrell, William Anderson Murrell, James Edward Murrell, and Ann Elisy Murrell. We will have more about each of these children in upcoming posts.
Wiley died on 27 March 1885 in Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa. We have been unable to find an obituary for him. Mary died 2 years later.
W. A. Murrell and Mary M. Honts- Headstone in Mound Prairie Cemetery, Jasper Co., Iowa. Posted with kind permission of photographer.
Wiley and Mary had a son named “William Anderson Murrell” so that may have been the father’s full name as well.
It appears that the family was associated with the Daniel (may have been McDaniel) and Roberts families possibly in Virginia, most likely in Illinois, and definitely in Iowa.
DNA testing has given us some lines to explore but no real answers yet. We have 9 known descendants who have taken DNA tests, with 9 autosomal plus one Y-DNA. Many of the matches link to Thomas Murrell and Elizabeth Oliver, but there are other names that repeatedly show up, such as Gilliam. Our paper trail does not have good connections to these lines, unfortunately. So we just cannot connect the dots…
Any suggestions are much appreciated!
Notes, Sources, and References:
Image sources per captions.
Thank you SO much to the Harlan Family who posted such great pictures on their website! We have searched unsuccessfully over the years for images of Wiley and Mary, and were thrilled last year to have a cousin send us their website that she had found. (Thanks, Patti!) It was great to contact these cousins, and they also have posted some wonderful pictures of the Murrell-Roberts family. You can find their website at https://harlanfamily.wordpress.com/
It appears that the picture of Wiley and Mary is a composite picture- two different images laid side-by-side and printed. Note the different sizes of the two of them, as well as how Mary’s dress fades into Wiley’s suit. This seems to have been done with other pictures owned by the Harlan Family.
Census data is from Ancestry.com, but FamilySearch has also been consulted for the 1870 census search. We have even gone page by page through Jasper County, Iowa, where we expect the Murrells to be, and even Warren County, Illinois, but cannot find the family.
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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.
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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 (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.
