Family History Writing Challenge Day 5

1857 map of St. Louis County

In the 1857 Kennedy's Saint Louis Directory, John Murdoch is listed as living "in country", though the business of Murdoch & Dickson remained located on Main Street in downtown St. Louis. An 1849 deed indicated that John J. Murdoch, Charles K. Dickson and Mary T. Dickson, his wife, purchased 613.71 acres of land in the County of St. Louis from Adam G. Stewart and his wife. A portion of this property was sold by Murdoch and Dickson in 1850 to John J. Wilshusen. Wilshusen was a farmer in St. Louis County, and his property abutted what would become the farm of Murdoch. It is likely then, that Murdoch Farm was carved out of the 613.71 acres purchased by him and the Dicksons in 1849.

illustration of Murdoch mansion

The farm was part of Lot 10 in the Kenneth McKenzie subdivision. McKenzie was a fur trader in St. Louis before purchasing 3,000 acres of the eastern half of the Gregoire Sarpy lands. In 1842, McKenzie had his lands surveyed and divided into forty acre tracts, which he put up for sale.

The Murdoch family lived in a two-story stone mansion, and the 350 acres included orchards as well as farm land. There were several outbuildings as well, including at least two slave houses and a barn. A newspaper article described the barn as "one of the finest in the county, being three stories high including the basement, and cost about $15,000."

It is interesting to note that Laclede Station on the Pacific Railroad, which both Murdoch and Dickson helped to finance, was located just north of this land. Was it a coincidence that the two men purchased over 613 acres in the area where the new train line would be built? In the same year that Missouri issued the charter for the Pacific Railroad? In any event, perhaps Murdoch took the train each day from his farm to the office in St. Louis.

In 1859, John and Julia had their first child, whom they named John. The 1860 census lists a total of sixteen people at the farm. The value of Murdoch's real estate is $85,000, and his personal estate is $10,200. In addition to John, his wife and their son, John's brother William and his two daughters are listed, as well as his and William's mother Maria. There are also two farm hands and two servants shown. The remaining people on the census are William M. Plant and his family. Plant's occupation is Merchant and Farmer, the same as Murdoch, but his real estate is valued at $8,000 and his personal estate at $10,000. Plant settled in the Webster Groves area nearby in the 1860s. It would be interesting to know why his family was living with the Murdochs. Were they waiting for their home to be built?

The 1860 U.S. Federal Slave Schedule shows John J. Murdoch as the owner of ten slaves, four females and six males, ranging in age from four years to thirty-eight years. One of the slaves of a neighboring estate ran away, and Murdoch placed an ad in the newspaper offering a reward for the return of the thirty-five-year-old male to the office of Murdoch & Dickson. Apparently this was another service offered by the firm.

notice of runaway slave

The Civil War was right around the corner. What impact would it have on business in St. Louis? And on John Murdoch with his large farm?

Family History Writing Challenge Day 4

1850 Census

Despite the cholera epidemic and devastating fire in 1849, a resilient St. Louis continued to grow in 1850, becoming the largest city west of Pittsburgh. It also was the second largest port in the United States, with commercial tonnage exceeded only by New York. The economy was boosted by the sheer number of Forty-Niners, those heading to California for the gold rush, who came to the area. In addition to outfitting the would-be gold seekers passing through St. Louis, local merchants also shipped supplies to Independence and St. Joseph, Missouri, the jumping-off points for the trail west.

John Murdoch was living in the 3rd Ward with five other non-related people, according to the 1850 census. That same year, on January 19th, his firm established the John J Murdoch and Charles K Dickson Addition. The ten block area ran between Randolph and Market Streets, with Adolph Street as the eastern property line.

In 1851, construction began on the Pacific Railroad (known as the Missouri

locomotive

Pacific Railway by 1872). The Pacific Railroad was chartered by the State of Missouri in 1849 to extend from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. St. Louis City and St. Louis County contributed $5,000 each, and the County also issued $875,000 in bonds. Murdoch and Dickson both participated in the financing of the railroad. Ground was broken on July 4, 1851, and on December 9, 1852 the first passenger train west of the Mississippi River ran on the initial section of track from Fourteen Street to Sulphur Springs - a distance of five miles. Sulphur Springs was located in St. Louis County, and was later renamed Cheltenham. By 1853, the line had extended through Webster Groves and Kirkwood, and out to Franklin (later called Pacific).

On September 9, 1851 the seventy-two block Stoddard's Addition, established by Henry Stoddard and including purchases by John Murdoch and Charles Dickson, was dedicated by Stoddard and Murdoch. Bounded by Jefferson, Laclede, Leffingwell Avenue and Dayton Street, its lots were sold in the first great auction of real estate in St. Louis. The elevated location of Stoddard's Addition made it a desirable place for the city's wealthier residents to build fashionable mansions. Stoddard was later sued by the heirs of the original owner of the property, Amos Stoddard, with the litigation lasting for many years. There is no indication that either Murdoch or Dickson were parties to the lawsuit, though they were mentioned in the proceedings.

Old Cathedral

At the age of 41, Murdoch married Julia Hull on January 31, 1855 at the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, more commonly known as the Old Cathedral. Julia was the twenty-year-old niece of Charles Dickson, his sister Susan Dickson Hull's daughter. Marcia Smith, first bridesmaid, described the wedding festivities to her sister in a letter written April 7, 1855.

"They were married in the Catholic Cathedral at half past six in the evening-afterwhich we all went to Mrs. Dickson's and had a most magnificent wedding [reception]. The bride's dress was a white silk, with a thule dress over, made with three skirts, each embroidered with chenille, and a large thule veil embroidered in the same manner with the skirt. She looked sweetly, but her dress was very plain indeed, (at least so considered there, for everyone was so elegantly). She selected this dress because it was plain; she desired something different from what bridal dresses had been this winter: her veil was fastened on with three or four white Japonicas, and [she] held in her hand a very beautiful bouquet of flowers and a silver holder. I being the first bridesmaid, wore a white silk made with low neck and short sleeves, and a double skirt of thule, each skirt with a wide hem and looped up on one side with a bunch of artificial flowers."

Miss Smith goes on to describe in great detail the dresses of the other bridesmaids, the decorations, the music that was played, and the interior of the rooms in the Dickson house where the dining and dancing occurred. She ends by stating, "Mr. Dickson's house is an immense one and so well adapted to giving a large party. There were about 476 invitations out."

Things were going quite well for Murdoch & Dickson.

Family History Writing Challenge Day 3

St. Louis Levy 1848

Disaster struck St. Louis in two different ways in 1849. With a population that had grown to about 73,000 people, immigrants were steadily pouring into the area. On January 2, 1849 the steamboats Aleck Scott and St. Paul arrived from New Orleans carrying many seriously ill passengers. They were just the first of many boats bringing victims of cholera to the city. Though it wasn't known at the time, cholera is a bacterial abdominal infection that spreads mainly through water contaminated by human waste. It can kill within hours. At the time, the city had no sewer system. By mid-May an average of twenty-five people per day died, many of them young children. The highest death rates were in the slums where the living quarters were over-crowded. The death toll was at least 4,317, or nearly six percent of the population, by the end of the year.

St. Louis Fire of 1849

While it does not appear that Murdoch or Dickson were personally impacted by cholera, what happened in the midst of the epidemic most certainly affected them. On May 17, 1849 a steamboat named White Cloud caught fire while it was moored at the foot of Cherry Street. The flames spread to neighboring boat Edward Bates, which either broke free or was cut loose. The current carried it into other docked boats, catching them on fire as well. Strong winds carried the flames to piles of freight stacked on the levy, then on to the wooden warehouses on Front Street. Despite the heroic efforts of over 1,000 volunteer firefighters, the blaze carried to other buildings downtown. The fire continued throughout the night. Eventually, the fire destroyed four hundred buildings in fifteen city blocks, leaving hundreds homeless and thousands without work. Additionally, twenty-three steamers and nine flatboats and barges were lost. The total damages were estimated at nearly $6,000,000.

There is no question that Murdoch & Dickson lost their business location that night, as it was only one block away from the levy. Murdoch also lost his home, since he lived above the business. (Dickson had married and moved into a home with his wife in 1847. It was not impacted by the fire.) One can only imagine what it must have been like to rebuild the business once the building and all the merchandise inside of it were destroyed. Their records were lost, so it must have been trying to reconstruct the payables and receivables for the company. This experience may have been the impetus for Murdoch & Dickson later taking a prominent role in the establishment of several insurance companies.

One positive result of the fire was a change in the building code in St. Louis. The city was rebuilt with an emphasis on fire-proofing. The streets were wider and the new buildings were generally four to five stories in height, with heavy brick walls facing the street front. Murdoch & Dickson rebuilt downtown, with the new office building located at 63 N. Main (formerly N. First Street).