Person:Eleanor Smith (46)

Watchers
Eleanor Barbara Smith
b.21 Mar 1901 Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA
d.29 Jul 1929 Dowagiac, Cass, Michigan, USA
Parents and Siblings
(edit)
m. 27 Oct 1897
  1. Stanley Constable Smith1900 - 1958
  2. Eleanor Barbara Smith1901 - 1929
Spouse and Children
(edit)
m. 14 Oct 1922
  1. Joellen Wright Murdock1925 - 2008
  2. Margot Murdock1928 - 2019
Add another spouse & children
Facts and Events
Name[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Eleanor Barbara Smith
Gender Female
Birth[1][2][3][4][5][6] 21 Mar 1901 Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA
Residence[9] 1910 Ward 32, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA7315 Princeton Ave.
Residence[9] 1920 Ward 32, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA7315 Princeton Ave.
Marriage 14 Oct 1922 Cook, Illinois, USAto Joseph Kepler Murdock
Death[3] 29 Jul 1929 Dowagiac, Cass, Michigan, USACause: Died of strep throat in a Dowagiac hospital
Burial[10] 1929 Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Alt Burial[10] 29 Jul 1929 Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USABurial: Eleanor Barbara Smith Murdock
Cause of Death? 29 Jul 1929 Strep throat, one year after penicillin was discovered
Alt Burial[11] 2 Aug 1935 Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USABurial: Percy Douglas Smith
Alt Burial[12] 28 Aug 1985 Dowagiac, Cass County, Michigan, USABurial: Joseph Kepler Murdock
Alt Burial[13] 6 Mar 2008 Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, USABurial: Joellen Wright Murdock Donkle
Alt Burial[14] 24 Aug 2019 Fullerton, Orange County, California, USABurial: Margot Murdock Eby
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Personal History

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Eleanor Barbara (Smith) Murdock (1901-1929) (age 28)

Eleanor graduated from Monticello College, Alton, IL on June 7, 1921 and was engaged to Joseph "Joe" Murdock (1898-1985) one month later on July 11, 1921. They were married at her parents home at 73rd Street and Princeton Avenue in the South Shore area of Chicago on October 15, 1922 which was near where Joe lived.

Five years later they moved to a new house they built at 8814 South Hamilton Avenue in the Beverly Hills area of Chicago. Her father, Percy "Dad Smith" loaned them much of the money for the house and didn't make them pay much back. It was the first house built on the street.

Eleanor died of a strep throat on July 29, 1929 at age 28 while she and her family were visiting her parents' summer cottage at Indian Lake, near Dowagiac, Michigan. Her children, Joellen and Margot were only age 5 and 2. Tragically, penicillin had only been discovered in 1928 and was not widely known and available in 1929.

Initially Joellen and Margot were cared for by Eleanor's parents, Percy and Edith Constable Smith ("Gompy and Nanny"), but later her husband Joe's mother Helen "Mocco" Wright Murdock, moved in. Mocco raised Joellen and Margot until Joe remarried to Virginia Sherwood in 1933.

Eleanor, "Mocco", and other Murdocks and Keplers are buried in the Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

Home-movies of Eleanor in 1929, shortly before she died:
Jacob "Clarence" Hershey (1882-1954) took a home-movie of himself and his wife Helen Forrest with Joe Murdock, his wife Eleanor Smith, and their young children, Joellen and Margot, while visiting Joe at his cottage at Indian Lake, Michigan, in spring 1929. A short time later, 7-29-1929, Eleanor tragically died of strep throat at Indian Lake just one year after penicillin was discovered but not yet widely available.

This is very rare footage of Eleanor and the movie is available from Lucius Donkle III, Joe's grandson, upon request.

"Uncle Clarence" Relationship to Joesph Murdock:
"Clarence" was a good friend of Joseph Murdock (1898-1985) for whom "Clarence" and Helen Forrest were his uncle and aunt. Helen Forrest, was the granddaughter of Maria Forrest (1810-1852) who married Israel Kepler (1807-1886) who was Joe's great-grandmother, hence the relation. From the Clarence obituary, he started his career in Chicago about 1920, when Joe was 22. It seems reasonable that, as somewhat distant relatives, they were friends with Joe's parents, Forrest Murdock and Helen "Mocco" Wright, and thus became friends with Joe.

Joe believed that Clarence was related to the Hershey Chocolate family, but did not known how. Supposedly he retired in Hershey, PA (Joe has movies of a trip to Gettysburg, near Hershey, that may show Clarence?). He was quite a friend of Joe Murdock's from at least 1929-1946 when he may be intermittently in Joe's home movies (is the old guy in the movies Clarence Hershey-Tweedy's guess, or Dad Smith, Elanor's father-Margot's guess?).

WikiTree.com Page [1]
Family Search ID: GQSK-MG4

Image Gallery
Family home, 8814 S Hamilton, Chicago, IL
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Family home, 8814 S Hamilton, Chicago, IL
Joe Memorial 2006 at Indian Lake
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Joe Memorial 2006 at Indian Lake
Eleanor Barbara (Smith) Murdock 1901-1929
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Eleanor Barbara (Smith) Murdock 1901-1929
Eleanor (Smith) Murdock with Margot
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Eleanor (Smith) Murdock with Margot
Eleanor Smith, age 5
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Eleanor Smith, age 5
Eleanor Barbara (Smith) Murdock 1901-1929
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Eleanor Barbara (Smith) Murdock 1901-1929
Death notice, died of strep throat
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Death notice, died of strep throat
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Handsome young gentleman!
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Handsome young gentleman!
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References
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
    "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJ7J-J86 : 1 February 2021), Eleanor Smith in entry for Percy D Smith, 1920.

    Eleanor Smith in household of Percy D Smith, "United States Census, 1920" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJ7J-J86

  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
    "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MK86-BZW : accessed 25 February 2021), Eleanor B Smith in household of Percy D Smith, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1399, sheet 9A, family 210, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 279; FHL microfilm 1,374,292.

    Eleanor B Smith in household of Percy D Smith, "United States Census, 1910" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MK86-BZW

  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
    "Michigan Death Certificates, 1921-1952," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFH4-NYD : 13 March 2018), Elleanor S Murdock, 29 Jul 1929; citing Dowagiac, Cass, Michigan, United States, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing; FHL microfilm 1,973,211.

    Elleanor S Murdock, "Michigan Death Certificates, 1921-1952" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFH4-NYD

  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
    "Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q21J-5R9R : 28 November 2018), Joseph K Murdock and Eleanor B Smith, 14 Oct 1922; citing Marriage, Cook, Illinois, United States, citing Cook County Clerk. Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 102012430.

    Eleanor B Smith, "Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q21J-5R9R

  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
    "Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDC-83BH : 18 May 2016), Eleanor Smith in entry for Margot Murdock, 16 Aug 1928; Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, reference/certificate 37644, Cook County Clerk, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm .

    Eleanor Smith in entry for Margot Murdock, "Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDC-83BH

  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
    "Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKMW-7QP4 : 18 May 2016), Eleanor Barbara Smith in entry for Jo Ellen Murdock, 11 Nov 1925; Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, reference/certificate 50760, Cook County Clerk, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm .

    Eleanor Barbara Smith in entry for Jo Ellen Murdock, "Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKMW-7QP4

  7. ↑ Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
    "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK5C-P9FW : accessed 25 February 2021), Barbara S Murdock in entry for Mrs Joellen M Donkle, Michigan City, Indiana, United States, 09 Mar 2008; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing News-Dispatch, The, born-digital text.

    Barbara S Murdock in entry for Mrs Joellen M Donkle, "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK5C-P9FW

  8. ↑ Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
    "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKRH-RC5Q : accessed 25 February 2021), Barbara S Murdock in entry for Mrs Joellen M Donkle, Indiana, United States, 10 Mar 2008; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing La Porte County Herald-Argus, The, born-digital text.

    Barbara S Murdock in entry for Mrs Joellen M Donkle, "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKRH-RC5Q

  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source)
    "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 09 February 2020, 13:10), entry for Eleanor Barbara Smith(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:GQSK-MG4); contributed by various users. PersonID GQSK-MG4.

    Eleanor Barbara Smith _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:GQSK-MG4

  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Find A Grave
    Eleanor Barbara Smith Murdock 29 Jul 1929.

    _LINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/221258813/eleanor-barbara-murdock

  11. ↑ Find A Grave
    Percy Douglas Smith.

    _LINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173243731/percy-douglas-smith

  12. ↑ Find A Grave
    Joseph Kepler Murdock.

    _LINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50655029/joseph-kepler-murdock

  13. ↑ Find A Grave
    Joellen Wright Murdock Donkle.

    _LINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34798803/joellen-wright-donkle

  14. ↑ Find A Grave
    Margot Murdock Eby.

    _LINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/223475470/margot-eby

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