Sue L. Murdock
(1873-1946) and
John "William" Fawcett
(1871-1901)
Sue L. (Murdock) Fawcett was born in 1873 in Wheeling, Ohio County, WV, the daughter of Godfrey Guesman and Amanda (Stephens) Murdock.
Sue married one of her cousins, John "William" Fawcett (1871-1901), the son of Charles Wesley and Margaret Elizabeth (Herndon) Fawcett. He is thought, but not proven, to have been a physician. When William was age 26, in 1897, his mother died, and his father married another cousin, Julia Hanshaw.
The Fawcetts had two children -- William "Murdock" Fawcett and Thelma M. Fawcett.
They first lived in Kingwood, Preston County, WV, where son Murdock was born in 1894. Later, the family moved to Wheeling, where they resided at 27 Virginia Street.
Tragedy
struck when John became ill while in Kingwood in the summer of 1901. He died
there at the age of 30 on June 8, 1901. The Wheeling Register reported
that funeral services were held at the residence of A.L. Edwards, 16 South Penn
Street in Wheeling, followed by private burial at Greenwood.
In 1910, when the federal census was taken, Sue was employed as a saleslady in a dry goods store in Wheeling, and resided with the children on North York Street. That year, 15-year-old son Murdock helped support the family by working as an errand boy for a shoe store.
Daughter Thelma is thought to have died young, but the details are not known.
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| Wheeling's busy Market Street, looking up from 13th Street, turn of the 20th century |
Heartache
rocked the family again in the spring of 1921, when son Murdock died of
pneumonia in Detroit. He had been employed as a salesman in Detroit with the
Harvey Reptoe Stove Company. He became ill while visiting in Wheeling in
December 1920, and "upon going to Detroit when convalescent was again
stricken," reported the Wheeling Intelligencer. "Complications
set in and death resulted." His remains were returned to Wheeling for
burial, following the funeral held at the home of his cousin, Mrs. A. Edwards,
at 16 South Penn Street. The Intelligencer added that Sue was "the only
immediate member of the family now living."
Sue died of acute cardiac failure at the age of 73 on May 3, 1946, and was laid to rest in the Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling. The informant for her certificate of death was brother in law Bertram Seelye of 15 Lenox Avenue, White Plains, Westchester County, NY.
Copyright © 2001-2003, 2008 Mark A. Miner