The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga
Chapter Twenty-three
THE LIFE AND FAMILY OF EMMA MUNSON MURRAY
b. 1855 — d. 1936
SUMMARY
Emma Munson, the third child and first daughter of Mordello and Sarah Munson, was born on February 26, 1855, at Bailey’s Prairie. The origin of the name Emma in the Munson family is not known. Emma was raised at Bailey’s Prairie and was married to the Reverend Joseph Lapsley Murray on June 27, 1882. Emma and Joseph had ten children, eight of whom grew to adulthood. Seven of these married and had children, thus accounting for the large Murray segment of the Munsons of Texas.
Joseph and Emma Munson Murray
Emma was a child while her father was away during the Civil War. She was always called “Daughter” or “Daught,” and her sister was called “Doll.” She was educated at home by her mother and hired teachers, as were all of the children. Family letters tell of her visits to the Adriance home in Columbia and of social gatherings and beach parties during her youth. In 1881, when Emma was 26, she accompanied her mother on a trip to Tennessee to visit her mother’s Waddy aunts, uncles, and cousins.
When Emma was 27 years old she was married to the Reverend Joseph Lapsley Murray, a Methodist minister. Her mother, Sarah, was a devout Methodist, and the family was active in the early Methodist church in Columbia. This may account for the acquaintance of Emma and Joseph Murray. The story of the courtship and marriage are related in the entries is Sarah’s diary. On May 2, 1882 she wrote, “Mr. Munson went to Brazoria and Emma entertaining Mr. M. . .this will be one of the memorable nights, perhaps in our catalogue and particularly to the `Stranger that is within our gates.’” On May 3 she wrote, “Mr. Murray left us today - is to be back tomorrow.” On the fourth she wrote, “Mr. Murray came back and took dinner & left for good this evening.” On May 21 she wrote, "Emma had to stay and get dinner. She rec’d a letter from Mr. M. today and has a very serious proposition under consideration.” On June 2 she wrote, “Mr. Murray talked over his & Emma’s affairs today.” On the twelfth, “The boys went to the depot to get Emma’s dresses, Hat, etc. She is much pleased, all fit nicely.” Her last entry before the wedding, on Saturday, June 24, reads, “Mr. M. came this evening. They commenced baking cakes.” Her next entry is July 2, “First Sabbath after the wedding, and if I can will try to recount some of the sayings and doings of the past week. . .”
The following notation is inscribed in the front of the Murray Family Bible: “Joseph Lapsley Murray of the Texas Conference and Miss Emma Munson of Brazoria County, Texas, were united in marriage at the residence of Colonel Mordello Stephen Munson, June 27, 1882, by the Reverend T. W. Rogers, Presiding Elder of the Galveston District, Texas Conference.”
It appears that they took a honeymoon trip to his parents’ home in Missouri, as they were gone until July 27, and on July 2 Sarah wrote, “I imagine her yesterday passing through the Indian Nation. Some of us spoke of this at the table.”
Joseph Murray was born in Missouri on August 11, 1849. He was one of seven children of David J. Murray and Eveline Mary Bradley. Marriage records in Johnson County, Missouri, list their marriage date as February 9, 1843. The Bradleys had come from Kentucky and the Murrays from Virginia, where David was born. The 1860 census of Johnson County lists David 38, Eveline Mary 37, Baker 16, Penelope 14, George W. 12, Joseph Lapsley 10, John C. 8, and Lulu D. 4. The 1870 census also lists Fannie Lee 9.
Joseph Murray came to Texas from Columbus, Johnson County, Missouri, in 1880 as a circuit rider for the Texas Conference of the Methodist Church. His young bride, Sallie Powell Murray, died soon after their arrival and was buried in the Phair Cemetery near the future town of Angleton.
Immediately after their honeymoon, Joseph and Emma traveled to La Grange, Texas. Sarah wrote in her diary, “Daught off again. They left for Lagrange. Tis hard to have one family so torn to pieces that has been together so long and so happily. Got a letter from Doll today saying she would be home soon to stay with me some.” This and other trips were probably in connection with Joseph’s ministerial duties.
Sometime after their marriage, Joseph and Emma made their home on a 620-acre tract of land given to them by Emma’s parents. Murray family tradition tells that this was given to them as a wedding gift, but no mention of it or of their living there is made in Sarah’s diary. It was possibly given at a somewhat later date. This land was purchased by Mordello from Andrew Roberts, who had received it as a land grant from Stephen F. Austin. It was located about four miles to the east of Bailey’s Prairie on the dirt road to Alvin. This land now lies about one mile west of the center of Angleton, but it was purchased about eight years before Angleton was established. On this property Joseph Murray established a small Methodist church, that was attended by the Munson family. This property, long known as the Murray Ranch, is owned by descendants of the Murray family.
All ten children of Joseph and Emma Murray were born during the nineteen years that the family lived at the Murray Ranch, and all were born at Emma’s parents’ home at Ridgely Plantation. It was a common practice for a daughter to go to her parents’ home for the birth of her children. The children were:
- Mordello Stephen Murray, born August 22, 1883, died November 22, 1923.
- James Lee Murray, born December 7, 1884, married Lula Catherine Pattison, died February 17, 1962.
- Emma Mary Murray, born July 18, 1886, married George Allen Guild, died September 10, 1909.
- Sarah Murray, born December 13, 1887, married Edwin Hobby Chesnutt, died October 25, 1974.
- Frank Dimmitt Murray, born January 4, 1890, married three times, died January 27, 1953.
- George Bascom Murray (1), born January 22, 1892, died February 10, 1892.
- George Bascom Murray (2), born December 22, 1892, married Ella Elizabeth Walling, died May 4, 1963.
- Fannie Louise Murray, born September 12, 1894, died December 13, 1897.
- Lina Murray, born May 22, 1897, married Andrew Joseph Taylor, died January 8, 1984.
- Lola Murray, born May 22, 1897, married Edmund G. Minor Jr., now lives in Clover, S. C.
Sometime after the establishment of Angleton in 1890, a Methodist church was established there, and it is assumed that this eventually replaced the church on the Murray Ranch. The history of the present First Methodist Church of Angleton shows that the first full-time pastor was the Reverend C. M. Thompson and the second, in 1898, was H. G. Williams. The third preacher for the little congregation was the Reverend Joseph Lapsley Murray, who was pastor during the terrible 1900 storm. A story in the Angleton Times published on September 14, 1900, reports as follows:
During the lull in the storm the editor of The Times went to secure the services of Dr. Smith for Mr. Stamper, who had been badly hurt, and as he passed the heap of rubbish where formerly had stood the neat Methodist parsonage, Reverend Murray was humbly kneeling on the top of the pile, offering thanks to God for his mercy in sparing his little flock, all of whom were saved as by miracle. . .
Another family story adds that a wealthy businessman whose property was also destroyed passed by this scene and remarked, “I fail to see what you’ve got to be thankful for.”
Since the church and the parsonage buildings were completely destroyed, the church bought a house which had partially survived the storm, just one block east of the former church, to house the Murrays. The Reverend Murray worked diligently to have a new church built. A year later, in the fall of 1901, he was transferred to the Montana Conference (assumed to also be in Texas), and by the time the new pastor, the Reverend E. L. Ingram, arrived with his new bride, the new church was ready for use.
A program from the Sixtieth Anniversary of the First Methodist Church of Rosenberg, Texas, lists the Reverend J. L. Murray as the pastor there from 1903 to 1905.
In about 1905, Emma, Joseph, and their eight surviving children moved to Houston to a two-story house on Harvard Street in The Heights. Their oldest son, Mordello Murray, went to work at Lumberman’s National Bank, and son Lee Murray enrolled at Texas A. & M. College. At home were children Emma Mary, Sarah, Frank Dimmitt, George Bascom, and the twins, Lola and Lina. In 1915 the family was living at 3108 Caroline Street, having moved some time after 1910.
While they lived in Houston, the Murray Ranch was kept in operation by two Mexican families, the Damians and the Sorias. These two families were very loyal and valuable to the Murrays and the Munsons, and their descendants still live in Angleton.
Joseph Murray died in Houston on December 25, 1919, at the age of 70. Emma moved back to the Murray Ranch, where the Mexican families cared for her during her last years. She was at the ranch during the 1932 storm. She died there on February 15, 1936, eleven days before her 81st birthday. Both Emma and Joseph are buried in the Munson Cemetery at Bailey’s Prairie, as are most of their children.
The Descendants of Emma Munson and Joseph L. Murray
Mordello Stephen Murray
Emma Munson and Joseph Murray were married on June 27, 1882, and their first child, named Mordello Stephen Murray, was born on August 22, 1883 at Ridgely Plantation. He grew to adulthood on the Murray Ranch near Angleton and never married. In his early twenties, he moved to the Heights in Houston with his family and worked for many years as an officer of Lumberman’s National Bank, today part of Bank of the Southwest. He helped obtain jobs at the same bank for his twin sisters, Lina and Lola. Mordello Murray died in Houston, from a brain tumor, on November 22, 1923, at the age of 40, and is buried in the Munson Cemetery at Bailey’s Prairie.
James Lee Murray
The second child of Emma and Joseph Murray, born December 7, 1884, was named James Lee Murray. His early schooling was at home with his mother and a governess, Miss Lina Hamilton. He later enrolled in the new public school in Angleton and attended Texas A. & M. College. While living in The Heights in Houston, he met a neighbor, Lula Catherine Pattison, and they were married at the home of her parents on September 11, 1915.
Lula Pattison was born on September 16, 1889, the daughter of George Madison Pattison and Lavinia Chilton, long time residents of Houston and of Pattison in Waller County. The Handbook of Texas states that the town of Pattison was named for George Madison Pattison, “who gave land for the townsite… in 1877.” Members of the Murray family tell that it was named for Lula’s grandfather, James Tarrant Pattison.
Lee and Lula Murray made their first home in Houston, where he was employed by Carter Music Company; but the call of the country was too strong, and in 1918 they moved to the Murray Ranch near Angleton, where he engaged in ranching. This was the birthplace of their first child, a daughter named Lavinia Chilton, born April 6, 1918. In 1921 the family moved to Pattison, near Sealy in Waller County, to help Lula’s parents with the large farming and ranching operation which they owned there. In Pattison, a second daughter, Mary Emma, was born on July 11, 1921. In about 1925 the family moved back to Angleton with their cattle, because an epidemic of anthrax was causing the cattle in Waller County to die by the hundreds.
Mary Emma graduated from Angleton High School and attended Rice University for two years. In 1938, at the age of 16, she was the Queen of the first Brazoria County Fair. Mary Emma married Victor Willard Stasny on July 19, 1940. They lived first in Baytown, Texas, where Victor worked for Humble Oil & Refining Company and Mary Emma for Citizens National Bank. In 1958 they moved to the Murray Ranch, where they engaged in farming and ranching. Victor died April 4, 1989 at age 69, and Mary Emma died July 26, 2002 at age 81. Both are buried in the Munson Cemetery at Bailey’s Prairie. Mary and Victor Stasny have two children, five grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. The first of their great-grandchildren, Joshua Lee Morehead, born on September 9, 1983, in Austin, Texas, was the first great-great-great-great-grandchild of Mordello and Sarah Munson.
During the years when the Murrays lived in Houston and Mordello Murray worked at the bank, he borrowed money and mortgaged the ranch in order to make improvements. When his health failed, his brothers Lee and Frank Dimmitt assumed the mortgage and became owners of the ranch, which they later divided. Lee’s portion was 323 acres of pasture land, and Dimmitt’s, which was later sold, was 293 acres with home, barns, and pens. Lee Murray kept his part, added 115 acres in 1930, and purchased several adjacent tracts in the years that followed. This large property on the western edge of Angleton, still known as the Murray Ranch, is still owned and operated by his descendants.
Lee Murray died on February 17, 1962, at the age of 77, and Lula Pattison Murray died on February 12, 1981, at the age of 91. Both are buried in the Munson Cemetery.
Emma Mary Murray
The third child of Emma and Joseph Murray, born July 18, 1886, was Emma Mary Murray. She married George Allen Guild and they lived near her parents in Houston. Emma Mary died the day of the birth of her first child, a son, Marion Murray Guild, on September 10, 1909. George Allen Guild died January 15, 1915. Marion Murray Guild was raised by his grandparents, Emma and Joseph Murray, and his aunt, Sarah Murray Chesnutt. He married Cordelia Palmer, but the marriage was annulled, and he died on October 15, 1939, at the age of 30.
Sarah Murray
The fourth child of Emma and Joseph Murray was Sarah Murray, born December 13, 1887, at Bailey’s Prairie. Sarah married Edwin Hobby Chesnutt, a claim agent for Missouri-Pacific Railroad Company, on June 3, 1915, at the Murray family home at 3108 Caroline Street in Houston. One child, Emma Lee Chesnutt, was born to this marriage on September 8, 1926. Sarah Murray Chesnutt died on October 25, 1974, and is buried in the Munson Cemetery at Bailey’s Prairie. Edwin Hobby Chesnutt died June 6, 1932, and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Houston.
Emma Lee Chesnutt grew to adulthood in Houston and married Willard Garland Falls on June 28, 1969, at West University Church of Christ in Houston. Willard Falls is the founder and owner of A-1 Trash Service, Inc. Emma Lee and Willard live in the city of West University Place and have no children.
Frank Dimmitt Murray
The fifth child of Emma and Joseph Murray was Frank Dimmitt Murray, born January 4, 1890. Dimmitt was in the armed forces during World War I, and then was employed by Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Houston. Dimmitt was married three times. He and his first wife, Raymond Belle Harris from Forney, Texas, lived in Houston. They adopted a son whom they named Frank Dimmitt Murray Jr. The marriage did not last, and the boy’s mother remarried and changed the boy’s last name to Landers. Dimmitt moved to the Murray Ranch near Angleton to live with his mother and again married, this time to Mrs. Josephine Peveto. After this marriage also failed and his mother died in 1936, Dimmitt moved to Corpus Christi, where he married Clara Ester Collins. He died in Corpus Christi on January 27, 1953, and is buried in the Munson Cemetery.
The sixth child of Emma and Joseph Murray, born January 22, 1892, was named George Bascom Murray, named for his two uncles, George and Bascom Munson. He died February 10, 1892.
George Bascom Murray
The seventh child of Emma and Joe Murray was also named George Bascom Murray, born December 22, 1892. He married Ella Elizabeth Walling of Houston. The Walling family lived next door to the Murrays on Caroline Street. George Bascom Murray worked for forty-seven years with Texaco, Inc. in Houston. George died on May 4, 1963, and Ella on November 22, 1985. Both are buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Houston.
George and Ella Murray had three children: Mordello Stephen Murray II, born October 27, 1915; George Bascom Murray Jr., born November 28, 1917; and John Alfred Murray, born August 5, 1923. All three of these Murray sons served in the armed forces in World War II. Mordello Stephen II, a corporal in the 19th Engineers, was captured by the Germans in the North African campaign. George Bascom Jr. was a member of the Seabees, and John Alfred was a member of the U. S. Navy.
Mordello Stephen Murray II did not marry. He died on August 17, 1945, at the age of 29, and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Houston.
George Bascom Murray Jr., who grew up in Houston, married Mary Louise Billups on January 6, 1941, and they now live in Bossier City, Louisiana. They have four children and twelve grandchildren. This family represents the largest group of descendants from Emma and Joseph Murray.
John Alfred Murray married Barbara Ann Buie on January 2, 1947. He was an architect in Houston and is now retired to ranching at Red Rock, Texas. They had one son, John Alfred Murray Jr., who married Kelly Bennett Bradley. They have one daughter, Kelsey Irion Murray.
The eighth child of Emma and Joseph Murray, born September 12, 1894, was named Fannie Louise Murray. She died on December 13, 1897.
Lina and Lola Murray
The ninth and tenth children of Emma and Joseph were twins, Lina and Lola Murray, born on May 22, 1897. Lina, Lola, and their mother spent much time with the George C. Munson family at their large house in Angleton and at the beach, and they became very close to this family. Lina and Lola worked at Lumberman’s National Bank in Houston with brother Mordello Stephen during World War I when most of the male personnel were called to serve in the war.
Lina and Lola Murray had a double wedding in Houston on October 27, 1926. Lina married Andrew Joseph Taylor, who was employed by Gulf Oil Corporation in Houston for twenty years and was a member of the U. S. Air Force during World War II. They adopted one son, Joseph Murray Taylor, who was born on November 22, 1945. Lina’s husband, Joseph Taylor, died on July 17, 1946, and Lina raised their son alone. He lives in Houston and is not married. Lina Murray Taylor died in Houston on January 8, 1984, at the age of 86, and both she and her husband are buried in Forest Park-Lawndale Cemetery in Houston.
In the double wedding, Lola married a half-second cousin, Edmund G. Minor Jr. Edmund, born on August 25, 1896, was a great-grandson of Ann Pierce Munson Caldwell and James P. Caldwell. Both Lola and Edmund had Ann Munson Caldwell as a great-grandmother. Lola and Edmund lived in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he was employed by T. T. Word Oilfield Supply (later Republic Supply Company). They adopted one daughter, Lola Ruth Minor, who was born on June 25, 1936. She was named Ruth for Ruth Munson Smith, who had always been very close to the twins. Lola Ruth Minor married John Wilson Faulkner on December 27, 1956. They live in Clover, South Carolina, and have two daughters. Edmund Minor Jr. died on November 23, 1980, and is buried in the Munson Cemetery. Lola Murray Minor, at the age of 90 in 1987, was living in Clover, S. C., with her daughter.
Curiously and regretfully, the Emma Munson Murray family, as with the family of her sister, Sarah Munson Kennedy, has had many members who do not have any living descendants. Emma and Joseph Murray had ten children. Of the eight who grew to adulthood, one never married, and another four who did marry and had children had no grandchildren. Today descendants of only three of the ten carry on the Murray line. All known descendants of Emma Munson Murray are shown on charts 19A and 19B.
