McMurray, Joseph Harry 1864-1950

MCMURRAY, SMITH, GUZEMAN, SIEHL

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 6/26/2011 at 15:40:23

The Grinnell Herald-Register

LONG LIFE OF J.H. MCMURRAY REACHES CLOSE

Funeral Services For Longtime Resident Wednesday, 2 P.M.

J.H. McMurray, retired businessman whose life span of residence in Grinnell had encompassed a period of sixty years, passed away Sunday morning in a local hospital after a serious illness of only a week. If he had lived until his next birthday on Feb. 17, he would have reached the age of 87 years.

Although he had been retired from active business for many years, he had seen Grinnell grow from a country village into a thriving little city and he was one of the last links between the Grinnell of yesterday and the Grinnell of today.

FUNERAL SERVICES

Funeral services in charge of Rev. Leland W. Mann will be held in the Smith funeral home Wednesday at 2 p.m. Organ music will be provided by Edward Bohstedt and pallbearers will be Carl E. Child, Don Cunningham, Ross Coutts, L.V. Phelps, Homer Richardson and Frank Ritter. Burial will be in Hazelwood cemetery.

Joseph Harry McMurray was born Feb. 17, 1864, in DeWitt, the son of Joseph Harry and Thursia Smith McMurray. In his early boyhood the family moved to Brooklyn, where he grew to young manhood, attending the Brooklyn schools. After a period spent as a student in a business college in Indiana, he was employed for a time in Los Angeles, Calif., but returned to Grinnell about 1890 and shortly thereafter established the dry goods and ladies' ready to wear store which he was to operate for so many years. The McMurray store, at the corner of 4th avenue and Main street, on the site now occupied by the A&P food market, was long one of Grinnell's leading business establishments and Mr. McMurray built up a reputation for fair dealing and honest merchandise which made his store a favorite port of call for Grinnell women shoppers. He retired from active business in 1933 and since then has lived a life of quiet retirement in his home at *1125 Broad street, where his wants have been cared for by Katy Siehl who for the past thirty years has been not only a trusted housekeeper but a valued friend in the McMurray home.

In the early nineties Mr. McMurray was united in marriage with Floy Effie Guzeman and the life thus begun together continued for over sixty years until the death of Mrs. McMurray on Dec. 17, 1949. A fine business woman, Mrs. McMurray was actively associated with her husband in the management of the store as long as Mr. McMurray continued in business.

ACTIVE IN FARMING

Mr. McMurray did more than operate a store. This was his vocation but his avocation was farming and he devoted much care and intelligent attention to his farm properties. Included in his farm was Jones grove, in the old days a favorite scene of college picnics, and in the grove here he built a log cabin, where it was his great delight to entertain his close friends. Of later years he was accustomed to spend the summers in his cottage at Lake Okoboji, where he dispensed the same hospitality. His farm remained his greatest concern during his years of retirement and he sold it only about three years ago.

He was a member of the Elks lodge and was the last surviving member of the old Franklin club, a social organization of Grinnell business men which flourished in the nineties and maintained rooms down town.

Mr. McMurray is survived by three nephews, Harry McMurray of New York City, and Arthur and Don McMurray of Des Moines.

Transcriber Note: *1125 Broad St. is now the Grinnell Historical Society Museum