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:
- Thanks to cousins Cindi and Julie for sharing this and other funeral cards.
- 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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