Murphy, Norris, Herring - (1885 to 1930) South Dakota, Iowa, California?
I am looking for information on a Lurana Norris (Murphy).
Lurana was the daughter of James M Norris and Alice M Herring, she had two sisters. Vera and Flora (Florence?).
This is a very complicated person, she was married (at least) 4 times and had quite a few children.
***What I am actually looking for is the husband of Lurana Murphy, known as either Martin Murphy, or Matthew Murphy. Finding her marriage license or records would be a goldmine***
But any information will be of help.
I come across several census records, some are contradictory.
I am at a total dead end, here is what I know so far.
Mother and Father:
James Norris born 27 October 1835 in New York
Alice May Herring born in 1865
Sisters:
Lurana Norris: Born Aug 1887 in Iowa
Vera Norris: Born Jan 1891 in Iowa
Flora (Florence?) Norris: Born Feb 1895 in Iowa
The story I have been told (and my mother may correct me) was that Lurana's first husband was a man named either Matthew Murphy or Martin Murphy (We are not sure which), they had two children, Francis Murphy and Lurana C. Murphy.
Then something happened to Mr. Murphy, we dont know if he died, left, or what happened.
After that incident, she met a man we only know as "Mr. Boling" - she then changed the last names all around, Francis Murphy became Earl Boling before he started school and his sister's last name changed to Lurana C Boling.
I found all three of them in the 1930 Federal Census for Oklahoma City under the name "Lurana N Baling" which is a transcription error from whoever digitized the document.
My great grandfather said that he had a brother named "Ben" who died in WWII, but I'm not sure if his name was Ben Murphy, Ben Boling, or one of the other last names Lurana took.
What we are having trouble piecing together is the "Murphy" husbands information, as we have no information on him at all, were not even 100% sure of his name.
Some interesting notes from the 1930's census:
Lurana N Norris (Boling) is listed as Widowed in 1930, her father listed as born in New York, her mother in Wisconsin, and herself in Iowa.
Lurana C. Boling's fathers birthplace is listed as Iowa with her mother in *South Dakota* but herself being born in Iowa.
Earl Boling (Francis Murphy) 's fathers birthplace is listed as Iowa with his mother in Iowa, with earl being born in South Dakota.
This could be a mistake by the scribe, as we would need sources to confirm that this isnt a mistake before we take it as gosple.
It may indicate that that "Mr. Boling" was Lurana C.'s daughter and they merged the families and Lurana Norris wasnt Lurana C's mother?
Again, that is a guess.
Looked at the 1910 Census,
Lurana Norris (22) is living with her mother Alice M Norris and two sisters:
Vera Norris(19)
Florence Murphy (25)
Florence has a son named Norris Murphy age 10 months, but according to the 1910 census her age jumped to 25?
Alice M Norris is listed as a Saleswoman selling Corsets.
This looks like a very complicated family dynamic here, going to take some doing to get it all sorted out and I am at a dead end.
I hope someone sees this and can help me out, this is kinda the *one* family blackhole we have and it is terribly annoying :(
More Replies:
-
Re: Murphy, Norris, Herring - (1885 to 1930) South Dakota, Iowa, California?
Barb Anderson 6/16/12
-
Re: Murphy, Norris, Herring - (1885 to 1930) South Dakota, Iowa, California?
kathryn Alexander 6/09/12
-
Re: Murphy, Norris, Herring - (1885 to 1930) South Dakota, Iowa, California?
Seb Abel 6/08/12