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Robert Auburn McMurray Sr. |
Robert Auburn McMurray Sr. (1870-1947) was born on Feb. 4, 1870 in or near Lafayette in Deer Creek Township, Madison County, OH, the son of Alexander Blaine "Alex" and Mary (Houser) McMurray Jr.
He did not marry until later in life. As of 1910, when he was age 30, he resided under his parents' roof in Deer Creek and helped them farm.
In 1910, when the federal census was taken, he lived near his brother George, but in his own household, where he employed two men as hired help on the farm.
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| London, OH, summer of 1938. By Ben Shahn, courtesy Library of Congress |
On June 6, 1911, he married Flora "Flo" Adams (April 18, 1885-1966), a native of South Solon, OH and the daughter of George C. and Eldora (Thomas) Adams. Flo was some 16 years younger than her husband.
The McMurrays together bore three children, Sara Goodyear, Robert A. McMurray Jr. and George LeGrand McMurray.
They resided near London in Deer Creek Township, Madison County, where they spent their years together as farmers. They held a membership in the Lafayette Methodist Church and the Madison County Farm Bureau, and she belonged to the London Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Robert Sr. suffered from diabetes and died from its effects at the age of 77 on Oct. 8, 1947. He was laid to rest at Lafayette Cemetery.
The widowed Flora maintained a home in 1952 along Lucas Pike near the village of Fettrows at the intersection of Route 40 and Route 42. Her final residence was along North Main Street in London.
She was ill for the last two years of her life. At the end, at the age of 81, she was admitted to Madison County Hospital, and passed away therein on Dec. 19, 1966. An obituary was published in the Springfield (OH) News-Sun, which said she "had spent most of her life in the Lafayette and London areas." Her funeral service jointly was conducted in the family church by Rev. Robert Weed and Rev. F. George.
The family is briefly outlined in a section about Flo in the book Our Kinsmen: A Record of the Ancestry and Descendants of Griffith Thomas, by Grace Harper Wingert (Springfield, Sept. 1938).
~ Daughter Sara J. (McMurray) Goodyear ~
Daughter Sara J. McMurray (1912-1992) was born on July 11, 1912.
In about 1925, she received a third prize award in the Ohio National Safety Essay contest, sponsored by the Highway Board of Education of Washington, DC. She was a 1930 graduate of London High School and in young adulthood lived at 517 Oxford Avenue in Dayton.
"For ten years," said the Madison Press, "she was employed as a school teacher in the Lafayette and Monroe schools and served as principal at the Lafayette school for three years. She was later employed for 28 years in Civil Service with the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base."
At the age of 30, in about 1942, she married 28-year-old Wayne Dewitt Goodyear (Jan. 9, 1914-1980), son of Auburn Goodyear. News of their marriage license appeared in the Dayton Herald.
The couple did not reproduce. They lived at 18 Richmond Avenue in London in 1952 and remained at that address for good.
Sara was employed in 1952-1960 in job maintenance and as a production specialist in industrial engineering at Wright-Patterson. The nature of her work involved occasional travel to other military air material sites, among them Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City and Warner-Robins Air Base in Macon, GA.
Circa 1942 Wayne was general superintendent for the London and Cedarville plants of Ohio Tubular which assembled products for the Army and Navy during World War II. Wayne also farmed on the side. They were members of the First United Methodist Church of London and the London Country Club.
On Feb. 3, 1960, Sara was quoted in the Dayton Daily News answering the question, "Can a woman combine marriage with a job that requires travel?" Sara was active with the Country Corner Garden Club. Their residence in 1953 received an award from the club for outdoor Christmas decor, with the "entire front of the house ... decorated with a silver cross as the center motif, greens and colorful ornamentation completing the detail," reported the Madison County Democrat. "Subdued blue floodlights in the front of the yard lighted the house."
The Goodyears are known to have take vacations over the years to Colorado Springs (1952) and Endicott, NY. Sara eventually retired with the grade of GS12.
At the age of 66, Wayne was stricken and rushed to Madison County Hospital on Sept. 29, 1980 where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The Springfield News-Sun published an obituary. Rev. Fletcher Shoup officiated the funeral service, with burial in Lafayette Cemetery.
Sara outlived him by nearly a dozen years. With her health in decline, she was admitted to reside in the Arbors of London Nursing Home. The angel of death cleaved her away on April 18, 1992. Interment was in Deer Creek Township Cemetery, with an obituary appearing in the News-Sun.
~ Son Robert Auburn McMurray Jr. ~
Son Robert Auburn McMurray Jr. (1917-2002) was born on April 13, 1917.
He first entered into marriage with Ruth Westra (1927-1965), daughter of Louis and Minnie (Pepeling) Westra of Paterson, NJ.
One known son was Robert McMurray.
During World War II, he joined the U.S. Army Air Forces and was deployed to fly bombers in the Middle East. For his wartime performance, in January 1943, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
The family was posted to Clark Field Manila in the Philippines in 1950. They were devastated in August 1950, when Ruth contracted polio and became paralyzed from the neck down. She was flown 11,000 miles to San Francisco and thence to Mitchell Field at Long Island and from there to her hometown of Paterson. In recounting the harrowing flight home, the Paterson (NJ) Evening News and the Madison County Democrat both said:
Four times in 16 days as Army medical men and nurses changed her form one iron lung to another she fought desperately for breath. Each time nurses bathed her was a period of pain, as polio-tortured muscles and nurves reacted under the slightest pressure. Standing by her though these 16 days of terror was her husband. And with them through it all aware only of the unusual bustle and excitement and oblivious to the drama in which he played a part, was their 18-month-old son.. Captain McMurray went almost without sleep since the flight home began in Manila Deptember 13. Frequently as the ambulance plane reached high altitude he kept his wife alive by giving her artificial respiration. Several times crew members fed her oxygen...While at the Air Base in San Francisco, awaiting the journey to Texas, Hollywood film stars, Donald O'Connor, Vivian Leigh and Keenan Wynn came to the hospital and entertained Ruth in her private room... The trip over the Rockies was the worst link in the 11,000 mile trip, according to Captain McMurray. The plane had to rise to 17,000 feet and even with the pressurized cabin, Ruth was unable to breathe. It was here that Captain McMurray gave his wife artificial respiration for several hours without rest while crew members administered oxygen.
In Paterson, she underwent treatment in the local general hospital. Once her condition was stabilized, she was brought to Columbus and via an airplane fitted with a special iron lung fueled by gasoline. For a period, she resided nearly full time to Children's Hospital. During that period, Robert was transferred to Lockbourne Field to serve as deputy commander of the 801st Operations Squadron.
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| Airfield where Robert served as deputy commander, early 1950s |
Further tragedy was avoided in 1952 when their young son accidentally shot a gun which injured his spine.
Ruth made news in November 1952 when Robert brought her to Lafayette to vote, and was carried to the polls on a stretcher, saying to the Democrat that "a person's right to vote is the most valuable right in the world." The Democrat added that:
The McMurrays are building a brand new house in London and will move into it this month. The house is especially designed for Mrs. McMurray's comfort having oversized doors and many other features necessary for her to be moved about. She will even have a rocking bed which will make breathing easier. London and the whole community as well as their many friends wish the McMurrays the very best for the future. A "Valiant Lady" is surely in our midst.
Then again during the Korean War, he served with the U.S. Air Force. Their postwar home was on Lafayette Road in Madison County. The couple divorced in January 1954. Ruth and their son moved to Haledon, NJ where her mother was living. She became a patient at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York and a new home built for her by her parents at 64 Bernard Avenue.
A number of community groups stepped forward with donations and assistance. In about 1957, the Lost Chords of New Jersey "adopted" her about the same time that a fund was established in her name to pay for a new iron lung, initially led by Rev. Paul Achterman of the Paterson First Reformed Church and succeeded by Thomas Pirone. The Lost Chords helped to coordinate moving her about and providing comfort items. In 1958, she "urged through the newspapers that the March of Dimes campaign be supported," said the Paterson News. "Most of her time was still spent in an iron lung, however, and the Haledon Emergency Ambulance Corps assisted by providing emergency power whenever there was a power failure, it also transported her when she had to be moved."
In all, she had lived for 15 years with her extreme debility, with her days coming to an end at Van Dyke Nursing Home in Ridgewood, NJ. She died at the age of 38 on Jan. 22, 1965. In an obituary in the Passaic Herald-News, Robert was named as her husband. Rev. Herrmann Braunlin, of the Hawthorne Gospel Church, presided at the services. Burial was in her parents' plot in Laurel Grove Memorial Park in Totowa, Passaic County, NJ.
Robert's second bride was Mary Leona Hoge (May 30, 1919-1991). In company with his sister Sara Goodyear, they attended the McMurray/McMurry family reunion, held at Lake Pike on July 20, 1986. A Greenfield (OH) Daily Times article about the event said that a "display table of memorabilia, including books, pictures, clippings and family records going back to 1801, was prepared by Margaret McMurry Mercer, Jim McMurry and Isabel Cropper. A centerpiece of yarrow, statice and greenery in a drift wood arrangement was designed by Margaret. Family genealogical were compiled and distributed by Jim and Margaret." Eventually he retired with the rank of major "after 21 years of service," said the Madison Press. Mary passed away on Oct. 17, 1991. Robert survived for another nearly 11 years and dwelled in Marysville. He passed into the arms of the angels on Sept. 29, 2002. He and Mary sleep for the ages in Deer Creek Township Cemetery.
Son Robert Auburn McMurray (1949- ? ) was born in about 1949, possibly in Manila, the Philippines. He was only about a year old when his mother became paralized from polio. Robert grew up in Lockbourne near Columbus. At the age of two, on April 26, 1952, he accidentally fired a .22 caliber target pistol with a bullet injuring his spine. Said the Madison County Democrat, "The accident occurred when the child obtained the gun from the glove compartment of his father's car while Major McMurray was visiting at the home of John Dillion, 87 South Madison Rd., London. The men ... had been target-shooting and placed the gun in the car and the boy obtained it while they were away from the car. The child was given first aid at a local physician's office and taken to the hospital by ambulance." He was taken to Children's Hospital in Columbus, with doctors saying he would eventually recover. As of 1965, at the death of his mother, he was living in London, OH.
~ Son George LeGrand McMurray ~
Son George LeGrand McMurray (1922-2009) was born on May 25, 1922 in London, Madison County.
He served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
George was a lifelong farmer in the county of his birth.
On Aug. 11, 1956, when he was age 34, he was joined in wedlock with Wilda M. (Huber) Borgeman (April 4, 1916-2013), a native of Huntsville, OH and the daughter of Frank and Chloe (Hanks) Huber. The wedding was held in the parsonage of Lafayette Methodist Church, by the hand of Rev. William Turner, and announced in the Madison County Democrat. She was six years older than her husband. Their union held fast over a remarkable 53 years.
The pair's only daughter was Cindy Davis.
At the time of marriage, the McMurrays dwelled in Columbus. They eventually relocated back to London. George attended the Church of the Nazarene in London, was a co-founder of the Central Townships Fire Department, and belonged to the Chandler lodge of the Masons, Madison County Farm Bureau and H.V. Christopher post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
With his health in decline, he was admitted to Madison County Hospital, where he died at the age of 87 on Oct. 31, 2009. Presiding over the funeral rites was Pastor Russ Fairbanks. The remains were placed into honored rest in Deer Creek Township Cemetery in Lafayette.
Wilda survived as a widow for nearly four years and at the end was living in Sisters on Main. Death swept her away at the age of 97 on June 27, 2013. Rev. Greg Wolfe led her services.
Daughter Cindy McMurray wed Robert Davis. They put down roots in London and are the parents of Kendra Davis and Dana Davis.
- Granddaughter Kendra Davis made her home in Columbus in 2013.
- Granddaughter Dana Davis dwelled in 2013 in London, OH.
Copyright © 2004, 2007, 2008, 2022, 2023 Mark A. Miner