NBC-10-Philadelphia-kimwolterman

Margie & Betty

My sister and I drove to Cincinnati last weekend for the Crusham reunion, typically held every other year. Jim was invited to a Nascar race in Bristol, Tennessee so he did not come to the reunion with me. Of the eight children in my mom's family only two are still alive. Margie is 91 and Betty is 86. They joke, with a hint of seriousness, that they should not let me take a picture of the remaining siblings because each time I do there is one fewer in the next picture. I love these two ladies like my own mother, so I don't want to think about them not being around next time I make a trip "home". We lucked out with the weather as it was in the low 80's with a nice breeze and a low humidity level. There were fewer people at the reunion though. My sister counted 27. Six of Aunt Betty's seven girls were there, so it would have been a smaller crowd yet without them. A benefit of the smaller gathering though is that I was able to have a nice chat with almost everyone. Normally there are people I don't get a chance to visit with.




Kathy and I went to the Cincinnati Public Library downtown Saturday morning before heading to the park. (I will make a genealogist out of her yet!) We looked up the Kubler and Metz families that I am gathering information on prior to my trip to Germany and Switzerland. I am trying to get a better feel for when the Kublers, in particular, arrived in Cincinnati and when the father no longer shows up there. Because we split up the city directories, I haven't had a chance yet to see how my list compares to Kathy's.

Victor Kuebler

Sunday morning my cousin and I met up at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Cemetery to look for the grave of Victor Kuebler. He was the brother of my ancestor Joseph Kubler (and I am really curious as to why his tombstone spells the name Kuebler when it is not spelled that way in many of the directories or back in Switzerland), and I had seen his grave on findagrave.com. On the website it listed his parents, so I am positive I have the right guy. At the base of the stone of Victor and his wife were three flat stones that read Stella, Mother and Father. I don't have a Stella Kubler in my family tree so I don't know who she is, and now I am curious about the other two. Are they Victor's parents? Victor's brother Joseph also has stones saying Mother and Father in his plot in Connersville, Indiana. The cemetery records there are quite poor, so I can't tell who they are. Maybe the St. Als records will be better and I can identify the three stones. It is possible they don't belong with Victor at all. My dead relatives never make it easy for me!









We had an uneventful drive home on Monday, after stopping to buy our supplies of frozen Skyline Chili and goetta. Now to analyze the new information I found...

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.

Saturday my friend Linda and I drove down to Ste. Genevieve to see some artwork that was on special display, and to look at the old buildings. While it was a little cool and windy, at least the sun was out to make the day more inviting. We decided to go on a tour of three of the buildings in addition to going through the museum where the art was displayed. Our tour guide could have been better (she admitted that it had been a long time since she had conducted a tour), but seeing the old buildings on the inside made up for it.

We had lunch at the Cafe Genevieve. It is located in an old hotel, and while the decor was cool the food and service were just so-so. Following lunch we headed off to the Catholic Church, which was amazing! The outside of the church is not all that remarkable, so when you walk inside you are not expecting to be blown away. I'd love to attend mass there some Sunday.





Our last stop was the cemetery in town, which is proclaimed to be the oldest cemetery in Missouri. I guess since St. Genevieve is the oldest town in Missouri, that makes sense. I was disappointed that I did not see any headstones older than 1812. Since the town was founded in 1735, I expected to see some older stones. Perhaps the early settlers were buried elsewhere? The town relocated in the late 1700s due to flooding. All in all, it was a fun day and great to be with someone who likes to take as many pictures as I do.

Especially if the home is no longer there. Today I went to see if I could find the house my mom and dad lived in while my dad was stationed at Jefferson Barracks. I have a picture of the house, and even though I don't have the exact address my dad had indicated that it was on Perrin near Notre Dame High School. A quick Mapquest review showed that Perrin is not a very long road, so not having a house number shouldn't be a problem.

The house was no longer there, however. There are several lots with no houses on them at all, so perhaps one of those is where the house once stood. I could see Jefferson Barracks from the area, and I wondered if dad walked there each day?

I decided to drive through the cemetery since the day was sunny, if not warm. There were two funerals taking place that I came across. I went to the highest part of the cemetery and got out of my car to look around. Though I have visited Arlington National Cemetery a couple of times, I have never visited Jefferson Barracks before. It was really sobering to realize that each of those stones represents someones past; a life lived and now gone. As I drove out the gates of the cemetery, a funeral procession was heading in. And so the cycle continues...