McMurray-Killduff Grocery Token, Newton, Iowa

“Good for 5 in Merchandise.” Token from the McMurray-Kilduff Grocery Store in Newton, Iowa, circa 1899-1907.

 

McMURRAY Family (Click for Family Tree)
[Are you related? Yes if you descend from Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Dr. Herbert McMurray, or Maude L. “Midge” McMurray Cook, who are the children of William Elmer “W.E.” McMurray. and Lynette Payne.]

It seems sort of crazy to think of auction websites and antique stores as a good source for family history. These days though, with so many kids and grandkids having little interest in the family furniture, pictures, papers, what-sits that sit on a shelf and need dusting, etc. that have been lovingly passed down for generations, such impersonal temporary repositories can be a good resource. The internet now helps us to gather these treasures after they have been spread far and wide from the original homeplace when people migrated around the country (or countries!).

One can set up alerts on sites like eBay or even on Google so that a family historian can be researching while sleeping instead of crawling the internet at 3am. (OK, I will admit that many of us will just be crawling other websites at that time…)

A person in Lake Sherman, Nebraska, posted the above treasure on eBay back in 2012, and the eBay alert system was a great research partner. I got an alert that a McMurray item was just listed! How amazing- what were the chances a McMurray or Killduff descendant would be in Lake Sherman, Nebraska at the one antique shop that had this little ‘coin’ maybe stashed somewhere mostly out of sight? Or the chance that a descendant would somehow run into this person from Nebraska who may have found this in a shoebox in their, or someone’s, old family home?? Would it have even come up in a quick conversation? Likely none of these scenarios would have helped return this token to family after about 112 years, except for eBay. It also opened a new avenue of research, as this early time of Will’s life and his business partnership with Mr. Killduff was previously unknown.

William Elmer “W.E.” or “Bill” McMurray, possibly circa 1901-1902? I.U. Inkenberry was a photographer in Newton, Iowa those years, but also may have worked there before or after that time period. [Click to enlarge.]
To recap a number of previous posts, William Elmer McMurray (1874-1957) was the oldest of the five children born to Hannah Melissa Benjamin (1854-1932) and Frederick A. “F.A.” McMurray (1850-1929). He was also the first McMurray ancestor born in Jasper County, Iowa. Will, known as “Bill” around Newton, Iowa, may have gotten his talents as a businessman and salesman from his father. F.A. McMurray was an auctioneer, ‘crying’ sales of farms and businesses in many counties for decades. He was one of the most successful auctioneers in the area, and in great demand. One can imagine a young Will and his brothers helping out with the travel to the sales, making an inventory of farm and household objects and livestock to be sold, tagging auction items with numbers for bidding, moving equipment or animals to the front for all to see, and receiving the money from auction-goers who had found a new/old treasure of their own. As he got older Will worked as an auctioneer with his father frequently- there were newspaper ads for “McMurray & Sons, Auctioneers,” so his brothers must have helped out too. Will eventually carried what he learned in the auction business about people, the psychology of selling and of the buyers, plus the logistics of buying and selling various goods into a business of his own.

“A group of Newton residents are shown gathered in front of Willis McCollum’s grocery store in 1892.” Will McMurray is the second from the left. A family treasure , this 130 year-old clipping was reprinted in the ‘Newton Daily News’ on Aug 10, 1957. [Click to enlarge.]
Will worked for Willis McCollum beginning around 1892, when Will was 18 years old. The McCollom Grocery Store was located on the square in Newton, Iowa, on the northeast corner. Will worked there for a number of years, as did William Charles Killduff (1871-1959). It may have been confusing when someone in the store called out, “Will!” since there were three who may have been called by that shortened name!

On what was likely a bitterly cold Iowa winter day, the Newton Record of January 26, 1899 posted an article with the headline of “Unexpected Change of Business.” It explained that the previous morning, Willis McCollom had sold his store to his two clerks, Will McMurray and Will Killduff. It was a complete surprise to the locals:

“Willis had been so long and successfully in the grocery business in Newton that he had came [sic] to be considered a permanent fixture here in that line.”

The paper went on to applaud the work of the two young men, stating:

“The two Wills are enterprising young men, full of business push and energy, and during their service in the store have made themselves popular with its patrons. There is no question of their success.”

On March 1st the two Wills took possession of the store, in the same spot on the square. They had already placed an ad in the Newton Record stating:

“We will keep up the reputation of the old firm, which was to keep the best goods, sell them at a small profit and treat everybody nicely.”

Since the McColloms had been in the grocery business for quite some time, it was really important for the two new owners to reassure established customers that the grocery would continue being a great place to shop.  The ad went on:

“We are young in years but not young in the grocery business… [We] thoroughly understand the business, and will guarantee the same satisfaction in the future that you have had in the past.”

Just three months later, on June 6th, 1899, Will married Lynette Payne (1879-1968) so it became even more important to keep their customer’s loyalty. Also, William Charles or “W.C.” Killduff was more than a co-worker and then partner- in October of that same year he became family when he married Mae Benjamin, Will McMurray’s cousin. To build the business, these two savvy merchandisers placed ads throughout the copy in many issues of the Newton newspaper. In 1900, they offered trading stamps to every customer who visited the store on Saturday, July 7th, and the McMurray-Killduff trade token may have followed soon after. Both the stamps and the tokens were an enticement to return to the store to spend them, just like department store cash is today.

“McMurray & Killduff, Cash Grocers, Newton, Iowa.” Token from the McMurray-Kilduff Grocery Store in Newton, Iowa- reverse.

Known as a ‘trade token’, this 10mm (just over 3/8 of an inch) round is made of aluminum. Aluminum became cheap in the 1890s, which fits with the time that Will and William Killduff purchased the store. The coin, worth 5 cents in trade (probably, rather than $5) may have been given out like the stamps were, only on a certain day, or could have been offered when a specific purchase was made. While 5 cents does not seem like very much, in 1901 McMurray-Killduff Grocery sold a “1 gallon can of good peaches for 39 cents” and “2 1-pound cans of Flat Salmon for 30 cents.” So the 5 cent token would have had more buying power than it seems.

Some of the Benjamin family did move west, and we have not traced the Killduffs other than W.C., but the coin could have been owned by anyone in Jasper County, Iowa. Some people never cash in such rewards, and the object ends up in a box or drawer that then gets moved on with a migration or a yard sale. Additionally, modern day “pickers” who travel the country searching for antiques may have purchased it in Iowa and taken it to a shop in Nebraska- we will likely never know.

In September of 1901, Will McMurray paid for an ad in the paper for a carload of peaches and mason jars, and it was signed with just his name, not paired with W.C. Killduff’s. Will’s store was still on the Northeast Corner of the Newton Square, so the partnership between cousins had likely been dissolved. Will had the grocery and/or a meat market for many more years. In fact, in the 1916 Newton City Directory, W.C. Killduff is listed as a clerk at the McMurray Grocery. Will McMurray’s brother Roy McMurray also clerked at the store for a time, and of course, Will’s wife Lynette also spent more time than she liked working in the store as well as raising three children. In 1925, Will began building a new store for his grocery business because there was a problem with the buildings being over their property lines, and F.L. Maytag (yes, that Maytag), bought the property on that corner, razed the buildings, and built his Maytag Hotel . We have not found other news stories to learn more about the planned building by Will nor how long he had a grocery store, but city directories would help in that research. Will did sell insurance in his later years, and his jovial demeanor and friendly service continued to serve him well in business.

 

An Afterthought:

As this was being written, the realization of karma or serendipity washed over me- Will and F. A. McMurray sold other people’s possessions at auction, and a token from Will’s store made it back to family via a high tech auction in 2012. Wherever they are today, they may have marveled at the new technology, were happy as auctioneers that the purchase price was more than twice the opening bid, and may have had a hand in making the family’s offer the winning bid. Cool.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. See previous blog posts about Will McMurray and his grocery store, including:

    “Shopping Saturday: William Elmer McMurray and Marketing a Small Town Grocery Store.” https://heritageramblings.net/2018/12/15/shopping-saturday-william-elmer-mcmurray-and-marketing-a-small-town-grocery-store/

    “Amanuensis Monday: Will McMurray’s Grocery in Newton, Iowa.” https://heritageramblings.net/2019/02/18/amanuensis-monday-will-mcmurrays-grocery-in-newton-iowa/

    “Shopping Saturday: William Elmer McMurray as a Newton, Iowa Merchant.” https://heritageramblings.net/2018/10/20/shopping-saturday-william-elmer-mcmurray-as-a-newton-iowa-merchant/

  2. “McMurray & Killduff, Cash Grocers” advertisement in the Newton Record, Feb 23, 1899, page 8.
  3. A special thanks, as always, to our wonderful Iowa cousins who have shared their family treasures.
  4. “Token coin” on Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_coin
  5. “Unexpected Change of Business,” Newton Record, Jan. 26, 1899, page 1.
  6. Apologies for the poor quality images, but sometimes, that’s just genealogy!

 

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

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

 

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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.



Friday’s Faces from the Past: Young William Elmer McMurray

McMurray-Benjamin Family circa 1886: Frederick Asbury McMurray, Hannah "Melissa" Benjamin McMurray, William Elmer McMurray, Harry J. McMurray, Addie Belle McMurray, Roy McMurray, and Ray McMurray (baby)
McMurray-Benjamin Family circa 1887: Frederick Asbury McMurray and his wife, Hannah “Melissa” (Benjamin) McMurray, William Elmer McMurray (standing in back, viewer’s left), Harry J. McMurray (standing in back, right), Addie Belle McMurray (standing on far left with bow on her dress), Roy McMurray (sitting in front, left), and Ray McMurray (baby being held on Melissa’s lap).

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

[How are we related? Will McMurray was the father of Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Herbert C. McMurray, and Maude (McMurray) Cook.]

How many baby pictures exist of you? How many of your children, if you have any? Do you have boxes and boxes of photos, documenting every single year and special event?

We are almost overwhelmed with photos these days, both physical and digital, but for the Frederick Asbury and Hannah Melissa (Benjamin) McMurray family, that was not a problem. Before the invention of small consumer cameras, a family had to go to a professional photographer to get a picture taken of the family or child, or utilize an itinerant photographer who carried all studio equipment with him/her. (Some photographers, especially out west, even outfitted a train car with a studio and darkroom! They would advertise their arrival date ahead of time, stop in a small town for a couple of days and take photos and print them, then move on.) Family historians lament the lack of photos available for our ancestors, but there just weren’t that many taken, plus they were destroyed by fires, floods, humidity, and/or heat. They may have been left behind when migrating to a new place, split among a dozen children, thrown out by descendants who did not care about them, or they exist somewhere, maybe in an antique store but have no name, date, or place on them, so we cannot know if the images are of those who shared their DNA with us to make us who we are today.

We are so lucky to have this photo, and know each of the persons in it! This is the earliest photo we have that shows the McMurray family or any of their children. Our subject today is William Elmer McMurray in his younger years, so we will focus on him in this and some upcoming posts, but childhood years would have been fairly similar for Will’s siblings too: Harry James McMurray, Addie Belle McMurray, Roy McMurray, and Ray McMurray.

William Elmer McMurray, circa 1887, about age 13, cropped from family photo.

Will, or Bill, as he was known in later years but maybe even as a child, was the oldest of the McMurray children. He was born 15 June 1874 in Newton or Marshalltown, Iowa, or may have actually been born out on the farm. His parents had married the year before, but we don’t know yet whether they had their own land at that point, were living on the farm of one of their parents, or lived in town and worked out on a parent’s (or someone else’s) farm.

Growing up on the farm as he most likely did gave Will the opportunity to have the freedom of country life yet he would have had the responsibilities of the eldest son of a farmer. Will was six years old in 1880 and attended school per the US Federal Census. His brother Harry, age 4, and sister Addie, age 2, were “at home” with Hannah, and F. A. was listed as a farmer, as were the other heads of household on the 8 June 1880 US Federal Census for Newton Township, Jasper County, Iowa. As F.A. McMurray was also an auctioneer who traveled all over the county, and sometimes even to other counties, Will probably went with him at times as a helper and to learn the business.

A big change was coming to the McMurray family- by 1885, when Will was 10, the Iowa State Census noted that Will’s father, Frederick Asbury McMurray, had a second-hand store, and they were living in East Newton, at “Out Lot 26, Newton.” Will’s Aunt Mary McMurray (his father’s sister), who was 27 and single, was also living in the household, and working as a dressmaker. (She never married, and lived to be 100 years, 2 months old!) The big move to town would have been quite a lot of work for the whole family, though since F.A. was an auctioneer, selling off their farm equipment, grain, and livestock would have been a bit easier than calling in a stranger. Whatever was left over of household goods could be put in the second-hand store, and Will and his siblings most likely did a lot of carrying to and fro with the move.

We have the above picture from about 1887- the date estimate is calculated from ages of the children, with baby Roy being born 29 October of 1886, we can guess he is over 3 months old so the picture was likely taken in 1887. Then we have a gap of about five years, from 1887-1892, when we know very little about what was going on with the family, other than some articles about Will’s father conducting auctions around the county. (Sadly the 1890 US Federal Censuses were destroyed.) By 1892, Will was about to open a new chapter of his life, and it is there that we will pick up the story on another day.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. See references within article.

 

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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.



Sentimental Sunday: A McMurray Reunion!

McMurray-Benjamin Family circa 1886: Frederick Asbury McMurray, Hannah "Melissa" Benjamin McMurray, William Elmer McMurray, Harry J. McMurray, Addie Belle McMurray, Roy McMurray, and Ray McMurray (baby)
McMurray-Benjamin Family circa 1886: Frederick Asbury McMurray, Hannah “Melissa” Benjamin McMurray, William Elmer McMurray, Harry J. McMurray, Addie Belle McMurray, Roy McMurray, and Ray McMurray (baby)

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

!!! NEWS FLASH !!!

A recent small family get-together has made the McMurray clan pretty sentimental, and we have decided to plan a McMurray Reunion!

The reunion is for descendants of Henderson McMurray (1819-1906) and Mary Ann (Horn) McMurray (1824-1891). (We do not have pictures of their family.) This McMurray family lived in Pennsylvania before their migration to Cedar County, Iowa, and then Jasper County, Iowa by 1870.

The current plan is for family to meet along the Mississippi River in Dubuque, Iowa, on Saturday, June 15, 2019.

We hope that people can arrive in Dubuque on Friday, June 14. We will reserve a block of hotel rooms, or you can make your own arrangements. The reunion festivities will take place on Saturday, and there will be food, entertainment, family history, and fun, including special activities for the little ones. Sunday we will have some additional activities available, such as a boat ride on the Mississippi River, lunch in the revitalized Old Millwork section of Dubuque, or ??? We could possibly have a trip on Monday to Newton, Iowa (about 2½ hours away) to see some of the McMurray home places in Jasper County, if  there is interest.

If you are sentimental and want to get together with other McMurrays at this reunion, please use our Contact Form and let us know so that we can put you on our mailing list. Our Contact Form is not published on the blog, and we will not share your information other than with the family planning this event. Let us know what family line you are from, the activities you might be interested in, how many would most likely attend, and what your travel plans may be.

More details to come…

We look forward to a wonderful McMurray family reunion on June 15, 2019 in Dubuque, Iowa!

 

 

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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.

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Funeral Card Friday: Fannie Margaret (McMurray) Emery Maytag

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

There are six McMurray men listed as pallbearers on this funeral card, so how are they related to Mrs. Lewis R. Maytag? Pallbearers are usually kin or very close friends, but since these are all the same surname, it suggests they were all family to the deceased.

Knowing the family history, the name ‘Wm. McMurray’ stands out, but there were a number of Williams in the family! Roy McMurray and Ray McMurray give great clues to help us determine which William, as they are 1) unique names in the line; and 2) they were the brothers of our ancestor Will McMurray (who was the father of Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Maude “Midge” (McMurray) Cook, and Herbert McMurray). Along with the year of the funeral, having Roy and Ray in the list gives us clues as to the age of the pallbearers- usually they are young or middle-aged men who can handle the weight of a coffin.

Looking at our previous research, we note that William Elmer McMurray (1874-1957), Harry James McMurray (1876-1962), Roy McMurray (1884-1973), and Ray McMurray (1886-1979) were the four sons of Frederick Asbury “F.A.” McMurray (1850-1929) and Hannah Melissa (Benjamin) McMurray (1854-1932). There was a daughter in the family too- Addie “Belle” (McMurray) Gillespie (1879-1958). Belle was married to Forrest Gillespie, a dentist, and they lived in Oak Park, Illinois, though we cannot find them in any 1940 US Federal Census. They may have also attended the funeral.

William Elmer McMurray was the oldest pallbearer at 66 in 1940, so still of an age to be a pallbearer.

The only Glen McMurray in the family tree I have researched is Glen Arthur McMurray (1893-1977), son of John Wesley McMurray (1852-1903) and Hattie (Wiltbank) McMurray (1859-1937). John Wesley was the brother of F.A. McMurray, thus Glen was a cousin of Will, Harry, Roy, and Ray. Starting to see a pattern?

The pattern is confirmed when we search for a Dewey McMurray in the family tree.  Dewy Henderson McMurray (1898-1992) was the son of James Turner McMurray (1854-1948), also a brother of F. A. McMurray, so again, a cousin to Will McMurray and his siblings. This Dewey would have been 42 at the time of the funeral, so could have been a pallbearer. His son, Dewey H. McMurray, Jr. (1922-1997), may have been the pallbearer instead, though he was just 18. (Interestingly, both Deweys served their country in the military- Dewey Sr. in the Marines in World War I, and Dewey Jr. was to serve in the Army just a few years after this funeral, in World War II.)

Initially, seeing that all the pallbearers were of the same surname might suggest that the maiden name of the deceased was McMurray too. Knowing that the pallbearers were all cousins descended from three sons of Henderson McMurray (1819-1906) and Mary Ann (Horn) McMurray (1824-1891), it is reasonable to suspect that the deceased, Mrs. Lewis R. Maytag, was the aunt of the pallbearers, or the sister of the three sons, and indeed she is. Her birth name was Fannie Margaret McMurray, and she was the baby of the family. She was born in Wilton Junction, Cedar County, Iowa, but by age 3 her family moved to Newton, Jasper County, Iowa, in 1870.

Her given name changed with the records: Maggie, Margaret, Margaret F., or Fannie. Her married name changed too, as she married first, Burdette R. Emery, probably around 1898, but they divorced and she married Lewis R. Maytag in 1915at age 47. (It was his second marriage too.) Maggie had two children with her first husband: Blanche Ellen Emery (1890-1946) and John Henderson Emery (1895-1957).

If you are putting together the puzzle pieces as we go and if you know very much about Newton, Iowa, you know that ‘Maytag’ is an important name in the town- yes, that Maytag. Maytag Park, the Maytag Hotel, Maytag cheese, AND the ‘Automatic Washer Company’ that later became Maytag (and more recently was bought out by Whirlpool- who sadly closed the Iowa plant which had a huge negative impact on the town). Margaret’s husband Lewis was the brother of Frederick Louis Maytag, inventor of many products and founder of a number of companies, ranging from animal feeders to washing machines and even cars. In 1920, Margaret and Lewis were in McAllen, Texas for the census, and they were listed with no occupations. By 1930, however, they were in Marshalltown, Iowa, and Lewis was the proprietor of a washing machine store, at age 71. (Wonder what brand they carried?) By 1940, though, they were truly retired, but Margaret passed away at the end of that year at age 73.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. A special ‘thank you’ to our dear cousin Cindi who scanned these funeral cards and shared!
  2. See also “Friday’s Faces from the Past: The McMurray-Benjamin Family for a sweet photo of the pallbearers when they were young.   http://heritageramblings.net/2015/07/17/fridays-faces-from-the-past-the-mcmurray-benjamin-family/
  3. Various census, marriage, etc. records in our family tree that has been researched for more years than I care to admit.
  4. “Frederick Louis Maytag”–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Louis_Maytag_I

 

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