Private, Btry D, 307th Field Artillery, 78th Division.
Died of pneumonia and diphtheria in a military hospital near Winchester, England, March 29, 1918. Age 27.
Town: LeRoy (also Monroe County; see text)
Burial: Brookwood American Cemetery, Plot C Row 11 Grave 5, Brookwood, England
Edgar Roy Murrell was born on May 23, 1890, in Ogden (Monroe County), New York, and lived in that area for much of his life before moving to LeRoy (Genesee County). It’s likely that Edgar Murrell generally went by his middle name. He’s listed as Roy or Roy E in most censuses, and in a 1921 letter to the War Department in his Burial Case File his mother twice refers to him as Roy. His parents were William Harvey Murrell and Anna Murrell. The 1892 NY Census shows Edgar R at age 2 living in Sweden (Monroe County) with his parents and three siblings: Mary I, sometimes listed in sources as Ida; William M, sometimes listed as Milo or Milo W; and Nellie. The 1905 NY Census shows Roy E at age 15 with his parents and two brothers—Milo and an additional sibling, Hobart—living in Parma (Monroe County). The 1910 US Census shows Roy Murrell at age 19 working as a hired man for the William Maddock family in Riga (also Monroe County).
Murrell apparently relocated to LeRoy sometime before or during 1915. That year’s state census shows a “Roy Murril,” age 24 (which would’ve been Murrell’s age at the time), living in the household of, and working for, farmer Eli Boldt of Lake Road, LeRoy. This is the same employer name given two years later on Murrell’s June 5, 1917 draft registration card. On 1917’s Genesee County “Militia Enrollment List,” Murrell gave his occupation as “farm hand” and his address as Lake Street Road, RFD 37, LeRoy; likewise, his address is listed in 1917’s Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County as Rt. 37, LeRoy, the same given in Boldt’s directory listing.
As a member of Genesee County’s second draft contingent, Murrell enrolled in the Army on September 25, 1917, and left the next day for Camp Dix, New Jersey. Like most other members of the county’s first two contingents, he was initially assigned to Battery D of the 78th Division’s 307th Field Artillery. He is listed as a member of that unit in the NY Roll of Honor as well as on his NYSS and in all documents in his Burial Case File. However, 307th Field Artillery muster rolls and morning reports for the period encompassing February 1918 show him among a number of Battery D soldiers who were transferred out of the battery to Camp Merritt, New Jersey, on February 20. Those soldiers were sent to France as replacements shortly thereafter; the 307th Field Artillery itself didn’t leave the United States for France until two months later, in May, 1918. Perhaps Murrell perished before being officially assigned to another unit.
Private Murrell died on March 29, 1918. Most sources say that he succumbed to pneumonia, and both County List 1 and his death announcements in the April 25, 1918 Batavia Daily News and May 1, 1918 LeRoy Gazette-News say that he died in France. Also, according to an article in the April 4, 1918 Hilton Record, Murrell’s parents had received notice that he had arrived safely in France. However, several documents in his Burial Case File state that Private Murrell died of pneumonia and diphtheria, and that he was buried in England, at Magdalen Hill Cemetery, Winchester, on April 3, 1918. Magdalen Hill was near Morn Hill Camp, a military rest camp for troops arriving from overseas before continuing to France. Morn Hill Cemetery records and Private Murrell’s official death certificate confirm that Murrell died of pneumonia and diphtheria in England, at an army hospital in Easton, near Winchester.
In 1922, Private Murrell’s body was reinterred at England’s Brookwood American Cemetery.
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April 25, 1918 Batavia Daily News p8 c3
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May 1, 1918 LeRoy Gazette-News p1 c3
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Source: New York Service Summary from Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919, NY State Archives, Albany, New York
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Source: “Muster Roll, Battery D, 307th Field Artillery, Camp Dix, NJ, Dec 31 1917 to Feb 28 1918,” Army Morning Reports and Unit Rosters, 1912-1959, National Personnel Records Center, National Archives – St. Louis, Missouri.
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Source: “Morning Report for February 21, 1918, Battery D, 307th Field Artillery,” Army Morning Reports and Unit Rosters, 1912-1959, National Personnel Records Center, National Archives – St. Louis, Missouri.
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Source: Death certificate, No. 123, March 29, 1918, Subdistrict Micheldever, District Winchester, England. Scan of certified copy, General Register Office, 30 January 2014.
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Edgar R Murrell headstone, Brookwood American Cemetery, Plot C Row 11 Grave 5, Brookwood, England
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Edgar R Murrell Sources:
– All County Lists
– Sep 25, 1917 BD p1 c6-7, p2 c4
– Apr 4, 1918 Hilton Record p5 c3
– Apr 25, 1918 BD p8 c3*
– May 1, 1918 LG p1 c3
– “New York State Census, 1892.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for Edgar R Murrell, age 2, citing Census Records, Sweden, E.D. 01, Monroe, New York; page number 8.
– “New York State Census, 1905.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for Roy E Murrell, age 15, citing Census Records, Parma, E.D. 02, Monroe, New York; page number 4, line 16.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entry for Roy Murrell (hired man, age 19), in household of William J Maddock, citing Census Records, Riga, Monroe, New York. Murrell entry: sheet number 12A, line number 1, microfilm series T624, Roll 988, page 325. Maddock entry: sheet number 11B, line number 95, microfilm series T624, Roll 988, page 324.
– “New York State Census, 1915.” Online index and images, Ancestry.com. Entry for Roy Murril, age 24, in household of Eli Boldt (indexed as Eri Boldt), citing Census Records, LeRoy, A.D. 01, E.D. 02, Genesee, New York; page number 40, line 26.
– Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County (1917), p 165, p 242
– “Militia Enrollment List” (Genesee County, 1917), p M5
– NYSS
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 65
– WWI database, American Battle Monuments Commission website (www.abmc.gov/search/wwi.php)
– World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)
– “Murrell, Edgar R,” transfer listing, “Muster Roll, Battery D, 307th Field Artillery, Camp Dix, NJ, from last bimonthly muster on December 31st 1917 to the muster on February 28th, 1918,” photocopy, National Personnel Records Center, National Archives, St. Louis, Missouri.
– Morning Report for February 21, 1918, Battery D, 307th Field Artillery; photocopy, National Personnel Records Center, National Archives, St. Louis, Missouri.
– History of the 307th Field Artillery, pp 58-65
– BCF
– Edgar Murrell listing, Magdalen Hill Cemetery records, Hampshire Record Office, England, transcribed in email sent February 3, 2014 from Angela Cowans, researcher, Winchester, England.
– Edgar Murrell death certificate, Certified Copy, given at the General Register Office, England, 30 January 2014.
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