Hello, I am trying to find where the family was before they finally settled
in Ripley Co MO. I don't have any parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts or
uncles so I cant make a direct connection. I need to find a family with a
missing William. Thanks pjm
WILLIAM A MURRELL
William A Murrell, my gggf, is first documented on the 1850 Ripley Co MO
census. He is listed
there as follows:
William A Merrell 28 born in MO
Lucinda 31 born in AL
Sarah E 8 born in KY b 1842
Mary 6 born in MO b 1844
Diadema 2 born in MO.
William is listed again in 1860, Ripley Co Mo census as follows:
Wm A Merrell age 40 born in MO
S age 42 b in AL
SE age 19 b in KY b. 1841 note two children born im KY.
M C 17 born in KY b. 1843
D age 12 born in MO.
J H age 10 born in MO
N J 8 born in MO
M D 4 born in MO
Joseph Enley 19 born in IN also spelled Ainley
By 1870 the listing was WM A Murrell 48 born in MO
Lucinda 55 born in AL
Deda 21 born in MO
Nancy 18 born in MO
By 1880 the listing was:
William age 59 born in MO father in VA, mother in KY
Lucinda age 59 born in AL father in MO and mother in KY
Nancy J age 24 born in MO father in MO and mother in AL
J H age 28 born in MO father in MO and mother in AL
Mary A age 23 born in TN
William Isaac age 5 born in MO
Documentation from the United States Postal Service provided the following
information: "William A Murrell was appointed the first postmaster of Dry
Springs, MO on January 12, 1858. He served until the office was
discontinued on January 20, 1868. The Dry Spring Post Office was
re-established on June 25, 1879 and Mr. Murrell was appointed postmaster of
the Dry Spring once again on April 17, 1883, serving until the office was
discontinued on June 13,1895."
This information was obtained from an old family bible in the fall of 1969.
Alden Beardsley and Co Rochester published the bible: Wanger, Beardsley and
Co 1852. Do not know if the information was written by William or not but
it was in Calligraphy or Old English style.
William A Murrell was born the 24 of December 1820.
Lucinda Murrell was born 11 of October 1825.
William and Lucinda Foy were married 11 of November 1845.
Sarah Ellen born 14 of August 1841
Mary Charlotte born 1 March 1843
Diadema Emeline born 23 of February 1847
James Harvey born 6 of September 1851
Nancy Jane born 20 of March 1854
Wdora Adeline born 28 of February 1857 (May have been Eudora)
Josie Taylor born 27 November 1858
Uncle E -Z -P unable to tell any letter for sure.......?
Died July 27, 1893 age 76
Wdora Adeline died 8 of November 1862
Sarah Ellen died January 13, 1863
Mary E died March 10, 1885
Also in the box was a billfold of a Richard Murrell, it is unknown who he
was.
Also known from Courthouse records, Doniphan, MO:
Mary Charlotte married Jacob Odom November 21, 1867
Diadema Married William A Parish September 11, 1873.
Nancy Jane Married Louis J Foy October 20, 1872
It is believed that both William and Lucinda Murrell lived out the rest of
their life in Ripley Co MO, and are buried in the Murrell Cemetery in
glade stone marked graves. Cemeter located 2001
Listed in the Ripley Co Marriage records is the marriage of Josephine
Jornigin to J H Murrell, September 5, 1886. It is known that Josephine was
married before marrying Harvey Murrell. No one knows the name of the person
now, however, my father told me that she might be hard to locate due to this
fact. He knew she had been married before marrying his grandfather. Daddy
told me that her husband died suddenly during the wheat harvest. They had
one child that is also reported to have died. Josie was unconscious herself
at that time. The family had to go ahead and bury her husband and child.
When she recovered they had to tell her her family was gone. She suffered
the rest of her life from the affects of what I believe was Dengue Fever,
known in those days as BREAK BONE FEVER. Confirmed by other family members
that remember her legs being wrapped with bandages.
It is unknown where William Murrell and Lucinda Foy were married. It is
also unknown who are the parents of the two children born prior to their
marriage. Note the two children listed on the census prior to marriage
that were born in KY.
William A Murrell was a Justice of the Peace. He was also a furniture
maker. He made chairs, spinning wheels as well as beds and highboys. It is
further noted that William was Literate. His wife was not.
The post office was location was situated in the NW fractional quarter of
section Number 1 in Township 21 North Range one, of Ripley Co Mo. This is
one and three fourths (1 3/4) S E of Poynor, MO. It is located four miles
north of Middlebrook, AR.
The property owned by William A Murrell was located at the following: the
West fractional half of the North west fractional Quarter of fractional
section ONE, in Town ship Twenty One North of Range One East in the
District. This area is south of the present day Poynor, MO, near the MO-AR
state line.
This is just about the end of the known, documentation information on my
family. There is a story in the family that the rest of William's family
decided to move on..... Just where no one now knows. The story
goes on to describe a traveler, friend or acquaintance of the family who
was returning east.
Knowing he would go by the Murrell Place, which was on the "main road of the
day" (I believe it was called the Old Military Road.) for traveling east to
west, stopped by and gave William and family a message. The message was
"everything is great come on out." The traveler went on his way. My father
said his great grandfather spent the rest of his days wondering what
happened to
his family. Since he did not go did they think that he had died? Since he
never heard from then again, had they died? Was he afraid to move on?
Perhaps, since that is the last place they had seen him.
Unable to locate Murrells, I worked to locate Lucinda's family. Which I did
thought another descendent. The first sightings of the Foys and Sims
families is in Limestone Co, AL at the Sims Settlement. It was made up of
450 families who squatted on Chickasaw Lands.
Benjamin Murrell came with the first group in 1806 from
East TN. In 1807 Simon along with Thomas Dodd, Thomas Kyle, James Ford
and their families came in four flat bottom boats from Hawkins Co TN, on the
TN-VA border. They signed a petition in 1810 to President Madison. On the
petition are Simon Foy singer # 043, Benjamin Murrel #o44, Richard Murrell
#059, William # 434, and Isaac Murrell. The petition can be found in the
Territorial papers of
the United State, Territory of Mississippi, 1809-1817. A Richard Murrell is
listed as a Member of Burris' 16th regiment, War of 1812. It is not know if
any of these Murrell are related to William A Murrell, but one would think
so if enough information could be gathered. Another family in Limestone
Co was that of Asa Taylor, the grandfather of Josie Taylor. Asa Taylor
later settled near the state line.... of Ripley Co MO and Randolph Co AR.
Simon and Charlotte Sims Foy settled in Graves Co KY where they remained,
farming near the community of Dukedom on the TN border. They were early
members of the Knob Creek Church of Christ. Other members were William and
Lucinda Foy Murrell, Asa and Mary Taylor. This church was established in
1834 and these families were charter members. About 1845 several families
settled around Glaze Creek, AR near Middlebrook, AR, among them was John Foy
and family, and Asa Taylor and family. There have been several marriages
between the Foy, Sims, Murrell and Parish families. It is also believed that
Benjamin Murrell died in Weakley Co TN.
Some connection of note, Sally Murrell daughter of R and H Murrell died
November 15, 1856 age 43. She married a Foy, and is buried in the abandoned
Foy Cemetery on Donald Clindin's farm south of Cuba, KY, on the old Simon
Foy homestead. Who were these Murrell? Was the R for Richard? John S
Murrell and Nancy were members of the Knob Creek Church of Christ, Dukedom,
Weakley Co TN. Any connection to William is unknown. Is this John Sims the
son
of Benjamin and Mary Sims Murrell? was he my William's father?
Marion Co MO records a Marriage of WA Merrell to Martha Mays, April 17,
1838. Could that be an early marriage of William at the age of 18? If so
would this account for the two children born in 1841-1843?
Listed on the 1900 census of Clay Co MO is an "unreadable" Murrell age 52
born in OH, about 1848. He was a border and foreman at a Chair factory.
Never have been able to locate any other information about this chair
factory but again a reference to Murrell and chair making.
Molly Sims married Benjamin Murrell. Charlotte Sims, her sister married
Simon Foy. James Sims, a brother married Elizabeth Parish. Diadema E
Murrell married William A Parish (Parrish) Sept 11, 1873.
Buried in the Murrell cemetery is William Burrell Parrish and his wife
Charlotte Elizabeth NcNatt. They were listed as W B Parish born 6-30-1837.
His wife C E Parish wife of W B born 9-25-1837 d. 11-28-1911. Only a
footstone remains for W G P who remains unidentified. B J Patterson, a
Parish-Patterson-Merrell researcher believes they were the parents of yet
another William A Parish. His research shows Diadema Murrell's husband to
be the son of Nimrod Parish and Eliza Wren. Nimrod was born in Lawrence, AL
16 January 11845. Their son was born in Hickman Co KY 1847. Nimrod and
William Burrell Parish both being sons of Wilson Parish and Nancy Morris.
One reason for studying this is perhaps the migration from Rowan Co NC to
Lawrence Co AL and McNairy Co TN and Hickman Co KY before coming to N E AR.
In this line William MErrell per their descendents, family wills and other
documents "my" William does not fit.
In Hickman Co KY, April 1895, there is recorded a Will of J B Murrell, named
sons are R S Murrell B L Murrell and W P Murrell, daughter Ellen Wilson,
brother H M Murrell and sister Diedema Austin...... is there a connection?
Interestingly the name Diadema occurs in two other Murrell Connections. They
seem to have a common origin in VA. It is a date to late to have direct
connection to William A Murrell, where did the name Diedema come from?
There was an Richard Murrell and an Isaac Murrell that bought land in MO
early 1820 per land records but no other information available.
In my research I found this Murrell family in Weakley Co TN. Per the 1860
census three households are very interesting, in district 2 Elm Tree and
Boydsville July 1860:
Murrill, Mary L age 60 farming born TN household 1347
Murrill, Isaac 31 Chair Maker b TN
Murrill, Harvey age 19 b TN
Murrill, Joseph P age 17 b TN
Murrill, B R age 28 Chair Maker b TN household 1351
Murrill, Martha age 18 b TN
Merrell, Jery age 26, b TN household 1351
Murrell J B 36 Magistrate b MO household 1375
I have never found any other researchers that knew any of the above
Murrells.
William A Murrell also gave a bill of sale in 1858 to a John B Murrell for
his half interest in a young slave girl. This was in Ripley Co Mo. There is
no indications that John B Murrell lived there or that the slave did. Was
this an inheritance from his grandmother Mary Murrell? Who was this Mary
Murrell? was she the wife or Richard Murrell or Benjamin Murrell? or yet
another Murrell? It would appear these Murrell listed on the 1860 census are
related and were in MO early on.
There was a special census taken in MO 1876. In Ripley Co MO listing is:
William A Murrell over 45, Lucinda Murrell over 45. He had 2 horses, 1
mule, 6 cattle, 12 sheep, 42 hogs, 150 bushels of corn, 25 bushels of oats,
26 lbs of Wool, 1 ton of hay and 100 gal of Molasses.
Also a later listing:
Listed under business at Dry Springs, Ripley Co Directory 1891:
"Dry Spring is situated about twelve miles southwest of Doniphan, and was
located about 40 years ago. W A Murrell, postmaster, Mr. Murrell has been
postmaster about thirty years or more. He is a chair maker, and
accommodating gentlemen. He is a member of the Baptist Church."
From notes made on the Knob Creek Chruch records I believe he died
December
1895.
Patricia Murrell
pjmm(a)tcac.net
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