Hello, I do not have any siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles so cant make a connection.. I am looking for 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@tcac.net Are you on the Murrell surname list if not I recommend it. MURRELL. A mailing list for the discussion and sharing of information regarding the Murrell surname and variations in any place and at any time. 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