SEGMENT: FAMILY BACKGROUND
Marie Burch>UIS Collection B's>UIS Collection B's, Segment 5
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- FAMILY BACKGROUND
- Marie was born in 1897 in Divernon, IL. Thomas B. McMurray and Fannie E. Haire McMurray had two children, Fannie Marie and a son. Paternal grandparents, Nancy Parks McMurray and Joseph E. McMurray. He was a Wabash RR ticket agent in Cerro Gordo. Came from Sweet Water Valley, Tennessee. His father owned slaves, but he hated slavery so moved north. Maternal grandparents immigrated from Ireland. Scotch-Irish (King of England took over Ireland and moved farmers from Scotland to Ireland.) Marie visited her grandmother's house in Sleigo, Ireland on a trip she made to the British Isles in 1930 to attend a World Poultry Congress. Tells of her train and ferry journey from England to Sleigo. Only woman traveling alone. Her cousins met her and took her home. Slept in grandmother's bed in a thatched stone cottage. Grandparents emigrated from Ireland in 1853. Doesn't know why he landed in Illinois. This grandfather died of pneumonia in 1869, leaving seven children and a pregnant wife. Neighbors urged her to give up some of her children, but she refused. Neighbors helped her continue farming her 320 acres. Her investments yielded one dollar a day to help expenses.
