What is Memorial Day?

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Every year when Memorial Day comes around it is amazing to see how many people do not truly understand the significance of the day. Most commonly they seem to think it is the time to thank all veterans and/or those currently serving in the military. In fact, it is a day to mourn and remember all the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces of our country.

That distinction made me wonder about whether my 3rd great-grandfather Andrew Hungler should be honored on Memorial Day? Andrew enlisted in the US Navy in August of 1864, where he served as quartermaster on the USS Milwaukee. The ship supported the Union forces during the Mobile Campaign as they attacked the Confederate fortifications defending the city of Mobile, Alabama in early 1865. On 28 March 1865 the Milwaukee struck a mine and later sank. All of her crew members were rescued by the USS Kickapoo.

However Andrew came home from the war later that year as a cripple. The cause was listed as rheumatism, which they said he contracted on the ship. There are extensive medical records of Civil War soldiers, and they show over 160,000 cases of acute rheumatism, and acute rheumatic fever was known to be the main cause. Heart damage from this disease is common, and indeed Andrew succumbed to heart failure in 1869. He had been bedridden from the time he came home from the war.

So my question is, on Memorial Day do we honor our military men and women who died as a result of their time in the service? It seems to me that we should as in Andrew's case he would not have gotten rheumatic fever had he not been on a ship during the war. But the answer is no - Memorial Day is only for those who died during their service. I'll honor his memory on Veteran's Day instead.

Richmond, Virginia

Currently I am in Richmond for the National Genealogical Society annual conference. Jim came with me for the first part of the trip, and we flew out here last Friday. Our son and daughter-in-law also joined us last weekend, so we stayed at a Residence Inn booking one of their two bedroom suites. It was nice to have a place to gather in the evenings and as we were planning our day. On Saturday morning we drove to the Malvern Hill Battlefield, where three different wars had been fought, the most recent being a seven day battle during the Civil War. I was interested in Malvern Hill because the property was once owned by Richard Cocke, possibly my 9th great-grandfather. He left the land to his son Thomas, who built a house there in the mid to late 1600's. I had read that there were some still some remains of the home on the grounds. We drove around the area, but never did see remnants of the house.

We did find the Malvern Hill National Battlefield Cemetery, however. Unfortunately the office there was closed, because they probably could have given me more information on the family and the house.

Malvern Hill Battlefield Cemetery

We decided to head over to the American Civil War Museum at Tredegar to see if they could shed any light on Malvern Hill. When I approached the desk and explained what I was looking for, they suggested I go upstairs and talk to Ranger Mike. At the top of the steps I asked the man behind the counter if he was Mike, and he said no but perhaps he could help me. I told him I was looking for information about Malvern Hill because I believe I am descended from the Cocke family. He looked surprised, and said, "Well, then we are cousins because I am a descendant as well!" How about that? As we talked about names in the tree, it became obvious that we are referring to the same family. Ranger Mike joined us and told us what he knows about the Cocke family. The house remains are on private land, so that is why we couldn't find them.

Maymont Mansion

On Sunday after breakfast we drove to the Maymont Estate. Located on 100 acres, this Richmond area mansion was given to the city by James and Sallie Dooley upon their deaths. James was an Irish immigrant who made his fortune rebuilding the railroads after the destruction of the Civil War. In addition to the beautiful house, there are numerous gardens, a nature center, a children's farm and wildlife exhibits. And it is all free, with a suggested donation of $5 per person for a tour of the house. Amazing!

 

Sallie Dooley's bedroom

Maymont gardens

 

Maymont waterfall

 

Maymont Japanese garden

After the garden tour, the kids had to take off to head home and get ready for work the next day, so Jim and I grabbed lunch and then drove into downtown Richmond in the hopes of seeing some of the sites there. Unfortunately, there was a huge bike race going on and we got caught up in traffic like I haven't seen before. Over 400 cyclists were here for the US National Collegiate Road National Championships, and we could not seem to get away from the road closures and back ups. We decided to bail on the idea of touring that day, and we headed back out of town towards our hotel. It was a great two days otherwise!

 

John J. Murdock Update

Civil War reenactment

As mentioned in the previous post, my neighbor volunteered to look up John Murdock on the Fold 3 website. After a careful search by her, she located an Amnesty Oath for John Murdock in the state of Mississippi dated 6 September 1865. I know from city directories that my John Murdock (and he is mine now) was in St. Louis at that time period, so that is not him. She also found a John T. Murdock in the county of Platt (sic), Missouri on a document which states that he was 61 years old when it was signed in 1864. That means he was born in 1803, and my John wasn't born until 1814. A third and final paper was found on a D.H. Murdock who was a First Lieutenant in Charleston, South Carolina so he is not the correct Murdock either.

Armed with this new information, I am confident that my John Murdock did not serve in the Civil War. At this point I can cross military research off my list and focus on other resources to learn about the man and the land that formed Shrewsbury, Missouri.

House History and Murdock Farm

SWT Design, Shrewsbury, MO

Thursday I met with a man from the Shrewsbury Historical Society to talk about house research in Shrewsbury, and to see what he might know about John J. Murdock and Murdock Farm. The Society is just getting up and running again following a few years of dormancy. The impetus is the fact that Shrewsbury will be celebrating its Centennial in 2013. As it turns out the Society doesn't have any information about Murdock Farm (which is the land upon which Shrewsbury was originally platted in 1889), and they are focusing their current efforts on history from 1913 to the present.

I shared what I have found about John Murdock - including the fact that I believe he was NOT a general in the Civil War - as well as the various maps I have been collecting of the area. I guess I am on somewhat of a Myth Busters mission at this point. The City of Shrewsbury website states that Murdock was a general in the Civil War, as do all the other resources I have come across including Wikipedia (though I realize Wiki is not a reliable source). A book that was written about the town also states that he was a general. If so, where is the proof? A neighbor lady down the street is a subscriber to Fold 3, an online database consisting mostly of military records. She is going to look Murdock up for me, as that website is working in conjunction with the National Archives. She says that if the record is not in Fold 3, then he wasn't in the Civil War. I don't think she will find any surprises.

I may not win any friends in going forward with this. After all, it sounds pretty cool to say that your city was established on land once owned by a Civil War general. But John J. Murdock was a very interesting man in his own right, and he has quite a story to tell. I may just become the vehicle to make that happen. He certainly has me hooked!

With the centennial celebration, I mentioned that I would be happy to give a presentation on researching house history if that fits into what they are doing. Since we own a business in the area that was once a home, it would be a fun talk for me to give. In the meantime, I'll continue to dig into the Murdock Mystery.

Cemetery Digging

Fall colors at Calvary Cemetery

Since it was such a beautiful day I headed up to Calvary Cemetery to do a little digging - figuratively speaking. Since I have been continuing my research on the building we own at 7722 Big Bend I have become a little obsessed with John J. Murdoch. Mr. Murdoch was a very successful auctioneer in partnership with Charles K. Dickson from around 1854 until Dickson died in 1871. They owned a LOT of property in the city of St. Louis as partners, and Murdock owned quite a bit of land west of the city in the area which was to later become Shrewsbury. He farmed the property and I can place him there from around 1857 through 1879. When he died in 1880 he was back in the city. Later census records and directories do not show any of his family members living in the county, so I believe the property was disposed of before 1880.

When Dickson died there apparently were more liabilities than assets in Murdock & Dickson, and as the sole remaining partner all the debt fell to Murdock. He began to sell off the property in the city to pay down the debt. Then Dickson's family filed lawsuits against him, and I can see that at least until 1903 the suits were still active. One document indicated that Murdock was insolvent when he died, having assigned all of his individual estate for the benefit of his creditors. That may mean that Murdock Farm fell victim to the liquidation.

But back to why I made the trip to Calvary. Articles and books about Shrewsbury state that the city was formed on land that was once Murdock Farm, owned by John Murdock who was a general in the civil war. I have been trying to figure out where they came up with him being a general. He was not even in the Civil War as far as I have been able to find out. First of all, he was born in 1814 so that would have made him 47 when the war began. Second, generals in the Civil War were pretty well documented and I find no record of him at all. Third, I can place him in St. Louis through census records and city directories during the time period of the war. Heck, he got married here in 1855. Fourth, his obituary makes no mention of him being a general.

So I thought perhaps his tombstone might have a marker indicating his service. He and 7 of his family members are buried on the same plot as 9 members of the Charles K. Dickson family, which I think is interesting in light of the lawsuit. Imagine my surprise when I got to the plot and found this tombstone.

Dickson-Murdock family plot

Dickson tombstone

You can see all the open space on the plot, but the only headstone is for Dickson. And even they only list 5 of the people who are buried on this plot. So strange... And even if the Murdocks were destitute at the time of John's death, you would think that somewhere along the line a family member would have erected headstones, wouldn't you?

So I will not have a tombstone to help me answer the veteran question. At any rate the man in the office at Calvary said it was up to the family whether the stone stated anything about military service. It is possible it would not have been listed anyway. I will continue to look for clues, but unless I have the wrong John J. Murdock I think someone made up a good story for how Shrewsbury got its start.