Charles
Edgar Murdock
(1851-1921)
Charles Edgar Murdock was born on Sept. 8, 1851 in Kingwood, Preston County, WV, the son of John S. and Rebecca (Miner) Murdock. He has been called “one of the pioneer residents of Ironton,” Lawrence County, Ohio.
When Charles was age three, in 1854, his mother died. His father thereafter remarried and remained in Kingwood, where Charles was raised to manhood.
In January 1873, Charles joined with other young men of the Kingwood Methodist-Episcopal Church and organized a Young Men's Prayer Meetings Association, "to hold meetings at 4 p.m. each Sabbath," according to the 1950 booklet entitled Through the Years: A History of Methodism in Kingwood, West Virginia, and authored by Ethel Peaslee Beerbower. His brother James Eyster Murdock Sr. was elected president of this prayer association.
When
Charles reached age 22, later in 1873, he moved to Ironton, where many of his
siblings were already living. “For a time,” said the Ironton Daily
Register, [he] “was connected with the W.A. Murdock wholesale
grocery….”
On Jan 4, 1876, at the age of 25, Charles married 22-year-old Missouri L. Stone (1854-1921), also a native of Kingwood, WV. She was the daughter of Clayburn Stone.
They had three daughters – Minnie Dodds, Adalyn "Addie" Johnston and Julia Helen Fisher.
The Murdocks resided at 318 South Eighth Street in Ironton. Charles was a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church and was "secretary of the Men’s Bible class for over twenty years. He was justly proud of his attendance record, having been absent but six times in the past thirty years." They were enumerated at this address when the 1900 census was taken.
The Semi-Weekly Irontonian said that Charles "for many years conducted a grocery in West Ironton, where he was widely known and very highly respected. After giving up business he still was identified with local groceries and up to the time he became incapacitated was employed at the Freeman stand at Third and Vernon streets."
Seen
here is a rare old postcard view of Ironton's Second Street, looking west,
circa 1912.
In early February 1921, at the age of 69, Charles suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, and died a week later, on Feb. 13, 1921. He was buried at Woodland Cemetery in Ironton.
His death, said the Daily Register, was like "a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky, … thus removing from this city a noble and upright citizen, a kind and devoted husband and father. The news of Mr. Murdock’s death cast a gloom of sorry throughout the city as his many friends were not aware that he had been ill." On his death certificate, with information provided by son in law J.M. Johnston, the maiden name of Charles' mother was spelled "Minard."
Missouri only survived Charles by seven months. She moved to Xenia, Greene County, OH, to live with her married daughter, Mrs. J.C. Dodds. Sadly, in late September of 1921, Missouri came down with a fatal case of meningitis, with "cerebral exhaustion and muscular uncoordination," wrote her physician. She suffered for about 10 days, and died at the age of 67 on Oct. 10, 1921.
Daughter Adalyn Murdock (1881- ? ) married John M. Johnston (1879- ? ). They resided in Ironton circa 1920, on South Fourth Street, where John was a salesman for a monument company.
Daughter Minnie Murdock (1876- ? ) married J.C. Dodds ( ? - ? ).
Daughter Julia Helen Murdock (1894- ? ) married Harry Fisher (1892- ? ). They resided on Walnut Street in Ironton when the census was taken in 1920. They had at least one son, Harry Edgar Fisher (1918-1921). Harry's employment in 1920 was as circulation manager for the local newspaper in Ironton. Sadly, son Harry died at the age of three on Oct. 4, 1921, in Ironton. Burial was at Woodland Cemetery.
Copyright © 2001, 2008 Mark A. Miner