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Edward Murdock Gribble was born in 1870 near Uniontown, Fayette County, PA, the son of James and Susan (Murdock) Gribble.

Edward married Susan Jane Jobes (1879- ? ) on April 3, 1901, the daughter of Winfield and Mary (Inks) Jobes. Their wedding photo is seen here. 

The Gribbles had at least seven children -- Cecil Gribble, Kenneth Gribble, Kathleen Cramer, Robert M. Gribble, Chester A. Gribble, Wilma Cook and Eugene Gribble. 

They resided in North Union Township and Colonial No. 3, both near Uniontown. Edward and Susan were members of the Grindstone Christian church. 

When the federal census was taken in 1910, the Gribbles were farmers and lived next door to Edward's brother Thomas "Ira" Gribble and family. Just a few houses away was their married sister and brother in law, Lola and John W. Jeffries. 

By 1920, Edward and Susan and their brood of seven children resided along the New Salem and Searights Road, with Edward employed as a "top man" in a coal mine. The Oct. 8, 1929 issue of the Uniontown Daily News Standard reported that "Mrs. E.M. Gribble and Mr. and Mrs. Russell Cramer and children of Rowes Run accompanied by Mrs. W.B. McClelland and children and Mrs. George Dowlin and daughter Jean of Uniontown motored Sunday to Washington, Pa., where they called on Mr. and Mrs. Harold Mowl."

The 1930 shows the family in Redstone Township, with six children and two grandchildren living under their roof. That year, in 1930, Edward worked as a teamster in a coal mine, while son Kenneth and Robert were laborers and miners in local coal mines. In October 1930, they drove to Toledo, OH with Mildred Renninger to stay as guests of Miss Renninger's uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Renninger, former residents of Race Street in Uniontown.

In their final years, the Gribbles made their home at Continental No. 3, House 464, near Grindstone, Fayette County. 

Edward died at home at the age of 84 on March 29, 1954,  "following a lingering illness," said the Uniontown Evening Standard. He was "a retired Frick employee [and] resided at Colonial for the past 24 years."

Susan died at the age of 88 years at Uniontown Hospital on March 25, 1967. At her death, she was survived by 15 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. She was laid to rest in Salem View Cemetery. 

~ Son Cecil Gribble ~

Son Cecil Gribble (1904- ? ), circa March 1934, boarded in the home of Harry Wells in Uniontown, and worked on a CWA state highway road construction project. That month, he had a paycheck stolen from his private mailbox, making headline news in the Uniontown Daily News Standard. 

He lived in Washington, DC in 1938-1954, but died sometime before 1967.

~ Son Kenneth Gribble ~

Son Kenneth Gribble (1906 -1961) lived in or near Brownsville, Fayette County. He married Ruth Bradmon ( ? - ? ). They had no children. 

Kenneth was a veteran of World War II, and belonged to the Kramer-Axton American Legion Post in Brownsville, and to the First Christian Church of New Salem. He resided in Hiller, Fayette County for 14 years and then moved to Virginia toward the end of his life. 

He died in Winchester, Frederick County, VA at the age of 55 on Dec. 18, 1961. His remains were returned to Fayette County for interment at Lafayette Memorial Park.

~ Daughter Kathleen (Gribble) Cramer ~

Daughter Kathleen Gribble (1908- ? ) married Russell Cramer in 1927. They had two sons, Charles Cramer and Russell Cramer. 

In 1930, when the census was enumerated, 22-year-old Kathleen and her young sons made their home with her father in Menallen Township, Fayette County. Russell's whereabouts that year are not yet known. 

Kathleen lived in Brownsville, Fayette County circa 1954 and in Hiller, Fayette County in 1972.

~ Daughter Wilma (Gribble) Cook ~

Daughter Wilma Gribble (1916-1938) married Ira Curtis Cook Jr.  They made their home at Colonial No. 3 (Rowes Run), Fayette County. The Cooks had one son, Ira Curtis Cook III. 

Sadly, Wilma died at the age of 22, on Aug. 30, 1938. The Uniontown Morning Herald reported that her death occurred in the Brownsville Hospital "after a month's illness of a complication of diseases." The funeral was led by Rev. Richard Purnell of the Rowes Run Primitive Methodist Church, with burial in the family lot in Fairview Cemetery. 

Ira apparently married again, to (?) VanMeter, and maintained a home at Colonial No. 3.

• The specter of death visited son Ira Curtis Cook III (1937-1954) when he was age 17. A junior at Redstone Township High School, he died suddenly in Brownsville Hospital on Dec. 3, 1954. He was laid to rest near his mother at Fairview Cemetery.

~ Son Robert Gribble ~

Son Robert Gribble ( ? - ? ) made his home in Colonial No. 3 for many years, at least as recently as 1972. 

In July 1974, he served as president of the annual basket picnic reunion of the Winfield Scott Jobes family, held at Rainbow Park in Haydentown, Fayette County. The Uniontown Morning Herald reported that Jean Bowlin Schuety was secretary of the reunion.

~ Son Chester A. Gribble ~

Son Chester A. Gribble ( ? - ? ) was married to Alvira M. (?). They separated in October 1939, with Chester running an advertisement in the Uniontown Morning Herald, stating that she had "left her bed and board without just cause" and that he would "not be responsible for any debts contracted by her." They apparently divorced. 

He resided in Detroit in the 1950s and in Traverse City, MI in 1972.

~ Son Eugene Gribble ~

Son Eugene Gribble ( ? -1972) moved to the Detroit area following World War II, and made his home in Romulus, MI for more than two decades. He married Marilynn (?), and they had two children -- Donna Kay Motley and Thomas Gribble. 

Eugene was employed by the White Star Trucking Co., Inc., and was a president of the Michigan Travel Trail Club. With a large white beard, he gained fame playing Santa Claus, having entertained an estimated 200,000 children on his knee over the years. Eugene passed away of cancer at the age of 53, on Aug. 10, 1972, at Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. He was laid to rest in the Michigan Memorial Cemetery. A front page obituary, with photo, ran in his old hometown newspaper, the Uniontown Morning Herald. Said the Herald: 

The man on whose knee sat hundreds of thousands of wide-eyed youngsters gained national acclaim recently when he was the subject of stories carried on the Associated Press and United Press International wires. Receiving no other compensation other than the knowledge that he had warmed the hearts of and brought smiles to the faces of so many children, Mr. Gribble has played the role for the past 13 years. He set up his own 'Christmas Fantasy Trailer' during each Yule season in Romulus and it was later moved to Belleville. The trailer reportedly was the most elaborate display by a private citizen in Michigan... Last year alone, Gribble estimated that 8,000 children enjoyed the pleasures of his Christmas display.

Edward and Susan's descendant, Sandra Theis, came to our 2007 national Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor Reunion, the first of the Murdock-Gribble family to ever attend.