Reuel Ewer's origins and association with the Murray family...

   recent (late 1999 & later) discoveries...

    ...thanks to David Ludwig and Sid Ewer

1850

   David Ludwig, a Clayton cousin, researched the Murray family in Grant County, Wisconsin, and found on the 1850 census: [page 84 of District 24]

Name              Age  Sex Birthplace

William Murray     50   M  Scotland
Sally Murray       38   F  NY
Ruel Murray        19   M  Pa
Pricilla Murray    13   F  Pa
William Murray     10   M  Wis
Issac Murray        8   M  Wis
Ambrose Murray      3   M  Wis
Charles A Murray   6/12 M  Wis

    Undoubtedly our Ruel Ewer.  

   Sally is Sarah Carr.  Married to Murray when Ruel was about six. Given the ages for Pricilla and William, it appears that the family moved from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin after 1837 and before 1840.
   Sally's (Sarah) parents were Lewis Carr and Sarah Orvis Bartholemew of Oswego County, N.Y.

Reuel and Ellen are married...

Be it remembered that on the 31st day of August AD 1851 in the town of Cassville Mr. Ruel Ewer and Miss Ellin Wamsley both of the town of Cassville were with their mutual consent legally joined together in holy matrimony which was solemnized by me in presence of Thomas F. Dudley and John Longmeyer both of said town attending witnesses having been first satisfied by the oath of Mr. Ruel Ewer duly administered by that there was no legal impediment to such marriage.
Given under my hand at Beetown this 15th day of September 1851
William Holford
Justice of the Peace
Registered October 6 1851
   Attest J C Squire Clerk

   Dave Ludwig also researched the LDS Library ancestral files and found the children of William and Sarah Murray, 1853 or later: [IGI Record, Batch number 5006286, Source Call No. 1553294, Sheet 17]

Name      Birth   Place

Effie      1836   Penn
Priscilla  1837   Penn
Horace     1838   Penn
Ruel       1839   Penn
William G  1840   Wisc
Isaac      1842   Wisc
Ambrose    1846   Wisc
Charles A  1850   Wisc
James A    1850   Wisc
Harriet    1853   Wisc

   Ruel is an unusual name. Is this our Ruel or a namesake 10 years younger?  The 1839 birthdate for Ruel may be a misprint. Or someone may have corrected what they thought was a misprint ?
   If this is our Ruel, why is he enumerated with the Murrays? Working there? And where are Ellen and son Nicholas?

   The details of the 1860 census regarding Reuel Ewer reveal much more information than originally obtained through a third party [originally researched in the late 1960s by Rod Stover, page author]; further research of the 1860 Grant County, Wisconsin, courtesy David Ludwig, shows that Reuel and Ellen and family were living in the same household with Mary Carrow (more later, Ellen's younger sister).  Note that Abraham Lincoln Ewer is not yet part of the Ewer family.

Household  Name           Age    Occupation Worth Birthplace

297    Mary Carrow    25   F Washerwoman 50   England
       Peter   "       8   M                  Wisconsin
       Louis    "      5   M                    "
       Charles  "      3   M                    "
       Angelica "    5/12  F                    "
       Ellen Ewer     30   F Domestic         England
       Ruel    "      30   M Miner       50   Penn.
       Nicolas "      12   M                  Wis.
       Mary E. "       7   F                   "
       Angeline"       5   F                   "
       Clara   "       3   F                   "
       Rosalie "       1   F                   "

298    Charles Wamsley 23? M Laborer     70   England
       Mary Wamsley    25  F                  Ireland
       .

   The Charles Wamsley in the adjoining household is undoubtedly Ellen Wamsley's younger brother, the "Uncle Charlie" mentioned by Bette Ewer Hinz and Gram May Stover in the PipeLine series.

   Sid Ewer, descended from Abraham Lincoln Ewer, offered the following regarding Mary Carrow/Carroll:

Mary McCormick... is Ellen's sister.  On the 1860 census, Ellen and Reuel and family were living with her.  At that time she was Mary Carrow.  But her husband died sometime after 1860, and she remarried to a McCormick.  The information on Mary McCormick came from correspondence with Mary Durley.  Most of Mary McCormick's children were with Carrow, and she also outlived McCormick and then married a Wells and moved to Ozark, Missouri.... But she outlived that husband as well and moved to Kansas where she died living in the home of one of her children.

   Reuel Ewer was "Mustered into the Service" September 14, 1862.  David Ludwig found more information in the Wisconsin roster of Civil War Soldiers:

- Isaac C. Murray; corporal; company C; 25th Infantry regiment; residence Glen Haven; enrolled Aug. 8, 1862; wounded July 22, 1864, Decatur, Ga.; Mustered out June 7, 1865.
- William G. Murray; Private; Company B; 5th Infantry regiment; residence Beetown; enrolled Dec. 7, 1861; Drowned May 20, 1862 in the Missouri River.

   Company "C." Reuel Ewer's Company.  Issac Murray is listed on Reuel's discharge certificate.  It's been there all the time, but it took us over 130 years to make the connection.

   Ellen Ewer, now widowed, files for pension, researched by Sid Ewer:

   As a part of Ellen's claim for a Widow's Pension that she made December 26, 1864, Ambrose Murray signed as a witness also avowing that he knew Ellen and Reuel during Reuel's lifetime and knew Reuel and Ellen to be legally married and cohabiting as husband and wife and that he knew of Angelina and Clara and Rosalie and Abraham having been born to them.

   Further research by Sid Ewer from Reuel's Civil War records:

   On January 25, 1868, John H. Sneclode, as already guardian of the Ewer children, made some other application regarding the Ewer children pension.  I cannot tell exactly what, but maybe it was to extend his guardianship.  I am not sure what the guardianship was for either, but maybe it was routine in the matter of pensions on behalf of children of dead servicemen of the CW.
   On that application Mrs. Sally Jane Murray, age 56, swears an oath that she resides in Glen Haven and lived close neighbor (..?) to Reuel Ewer and Ellen Ewer from 1856 to 1860 and that there were born into the said Reuel and Ellen, his wife, during this time, Clara V., and Rosalie.  Further, that she is a professional midwife and was called on to attend Ellen professionally during the births of Clara and Rosalie.
   Another document at the time is one which a Mary [Carrow - rrs] McCormick makes the same declaration regarding the births of Angelina (born prior to Clara and Rosalie) and Abe (born after).  Mary McCormick also avowed that the children were now living with their mother Ellen Higgins, so John Sneclode as guardian apparently does not have the children living with him.

   So, Sarah (Sally) Jane Carr Murray, presumably Reuel Ewer's mother, helped deliver at least two of Reuel and Ellen's children.  According to Gram May's "Early Days on the Cedar Creek," Ellen Higgins was a mid-wife in the Cedar community in the 1880s and 90s; did she learn those skills from her mother-in-law?

The Grant County Herald
November 9, 1869
Pg 2a, Column 2:

Died.— We learn that Wm. Murray died at his residence in Glen Haven on Wednesday morning last from the effect of injuries received the day before.   It seems that on the evening of election day, while returning home his horse became unmanageable and ran away, throwing Mr. M. to the ground and severely injuring him.—He was found almost lifeless. late in the evening and taken home where he suffered until  relieved by death the following morning. The deceased was about sixty years of age, was long a resident of Beetown, and for 35-years a resident of this county. — He was familiarly known as "Old Ironsides" and had many good qualities.

    He was about 70, actually.  Abe Ewer would have been almost eight, and his (half?) Uncle Ambrose would be about 23.

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