Archibald Murdock
Like many Civil War soldiers, “Archie” wasn’t officially recognized as a naturalized citizen. And, like many who crossed an ocean to live in America, he enlisted to serve his adopted…
Read MoreMargaret Anna Pulver Smith
The Pulver family had three daughters when they were living in the town of Wayne, New York in the Finger Lakes region. Margaret was the middle child of the three,…
Read MoreJohn Wesley Rose
His preferred formal name was J. Wesley Rose but informally it was just Wesley. Being named for the famous preacher, John Wesley, is an obvious clue that the family supported…
Read MoreGeorge Rogers Maguire
The only information found about this man’s childhood was that he attended Girard College in Philadelphia. Despite the name, the school was not (and still isn’t) an institution of higher…
Read MoreGeorge Washington Maybery
George was the third of seven children, with three brothers and three sisters. They probably grew up correcting people who should have spelled their last name with just one r,…
Read MoreGeorge Thomas Berry
A “Southerner” by birth, George’s hometown was Portsmouth Virginia. He must have grown up without his father, who wasn’t listed in the earliest available census. In 1850 his mother, Jane,…
Read MoreJohn Henry Harres
Although the surname Harres is not of German origin, that’s the country John’s father, Gebhard, left to settle in Philadelphia and have nine children. John went to Central High School…
Read MoreWilliam H. Letford, Jr.
The name Letford derives from a village named Latchford in either Cheshire or Oxfordshire, England. Only a little more is certain about William’s roots. His parents were both born in…
Read MoreGeorge Young
It’s extremely rare to find a gravestone that mentions a person other than the one buried there, but this man’s marker (shown below) includes a reference to Napoleon Bonaparte. The…
Read MoreWatson Holbrook Farrington
A Hollywood screenwriter making up a fictitious name for the son of a fabulously wealthy oil baron could not have found a more prosperous-sounding name than this. However, the real…
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