Person:Helen Wright (18)

Name	Helen Janette Wright
Alt Name	Mocco _____
Gender	Female
Birth`^?`	22 Feb 1864	Corry, PA
Marriage	Abt 1887	to Forrest Oscar Murdock
Alt Burial^[1]	29 Dec 1889	Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USABurial: William Henry Leland Smith
Residence`^?`	1900	Precinct 44 Lake Town, Ward 30Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA
Residence`^?`	1910	Ward 31 Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA
Residence`^?`	1920	Ward 31 Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA
Occupation`^?`		Teacher
Alt Burial^[2]	1926	Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USABurial: Forrest Oscar Murdock
Death^[3]	7 Mar 1951	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Burial^[3]		Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Alt Burial^[3]	7 Mar 1951	Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USABurial: Helen Janette “Mocco” Wright Murdock
Alt Burial^[4]	10 Jan 1973	Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USABurial: Eugene Wright Murdock
Alt Burial^[5]	28 Aug 1985	Dowagiac, Cass County, Michigan, USABurial: Joseph Kepler Murdock

[edit]

Personal History

[edit]

Helen Janette "Mocco" (Wright) Murdock (1864-1951)

She was of English descent. Her mother, Janette Williams Wright, died during Mocco's childbirth in 1864. Although her father, Eugene Wright remarried to Alice O. Seek 7 months later, Mocco was at first raised by her grandmother, Sally Coy Williams, and later by her mother's sister, Melissa Williams with Uncle George Simmons and cousin Elton Simmons in Corry, PA.

Her father, Eugene Wright led a very interesting life experiencing farming, the navy, the first battle of the Civil War, the California gold rush, and finally the oil boom that started only 25 miles from Corry. His cousin William H.L. Smith from Boston partnered with him to build a major oil refinery in Corry which family legend and some evidence says was eventually driven out of business by J.D. Rockefeller's (Wikipedia Page) Standard Oil and points to the cause for his suicide at age 50. See Eugene Wright's bio for more details.

Although William H.L. Smith lived in Boston, he was Mocco's benefactor and guardian and paid for her two-year college education at the normal (teachers) school in Fredonia NY (now SUNY Fredonia?). Photos of her as a young child also suggest she was raised with means, either from her father, the relatives who raised her, or WHL Smith. After she married Forest Murdock, they moved to Chicago where they lived in one of two apartment buildings they owned on Garfield Boulevard. The neighborhood was mostly Irish Catholic and sons Joseph and Eugene Murdock were frequently tormented by gangs of Irish Catholic boys. When Forrest Murdock died in 1926, Mocco sold the apartment buildings and moved into an apartment in South Shore near Lake Michigan and about 75th Street.

Helen was known as "Mocco" in the family and as "Nellie" by her friends (like Helen backwards). She had a beautiful face until a common skin disease required much cartilage from her nose to be removed, an ailment easily curable in modern times.

When her daughter-in-law, Eleanor Barbara (Smith) Murdock (1901 - 1929), died in 1929 from strep throat at Indian Lake, she temporarily moved in with her son, Joseph, to care for her grandchildren, Joellen and Margot, although she was 65 at the time. Joseph and Eleanor also lived in an apartment in the South Shore area of Chicago. She then provided the funds for her son to build a house at 8814 South Hamilton in the Beverly Hills area of Chicago. In her later years she again moved in with her son until she died in 1951.

Mocco was very talented as a poet having written dozens of poems. In 1938 her sons, Gene and Joseph Murdock, printed a small booklet containing those for which her friends expressed a preference. As examples, three follow:

MOTHER WHOM I NEVER KNEW (Re: Mother Janette Williams Wright who died during Mocco's birth ... This poem brings tears to your eyes)
Sometimes the shade of ev'ning brings
Soft mem'ries in her folded wings,
Then in the failing light I wait
To idly dream and meditate,
Or summon tho'ts and visions, too,
Of mother whom I never knew;
Oft in the summer twilight mild
Down distant years a lonely child
Stood by a grave all flowering myrtle grown
Reading o'er the names carved on her white stone,
"Jane, wife of Eugene, age twenty -seven",
"Your mother, child, has gone to Heaven"
They sadly told me day by day,
And I would sadly sigh and turn away,
Yet in my life her presence grew --
The mother whom I never knew;
Now when I sit apart my dreams
Sweet solace bring so near she seems
A thornless rose drops from her hand
Culled from her distant shadowy land;
A spirit offering of peace
That stills my heart and brings release;
Dear Presence calm, I pray thee tarry
Within my soul's dim sanctuary.

NATURE VS. ART
Expressed through the eyes of genius,
(This thing that we call art),
We buy with hoarded savings
From which we gaily part
For man's created beauty
In painting, prose or rhyme
Unheeding nature's loveliness
That's near us all the time:

The silhouette of winter days
Etched in black and white,
The sheen on rippling waters
When stars swing low at night,
The magic life of springtime,
The pageantry of fall
Beside a cottage wall --
For these -- God's greater loveliness
We do not pay at all.

MORNING
Dear God,
I thank thee, for this lovely day
For morning air like sweet new wine,
Let me recall this shining morn
Some dismal rainy day,
And lift eyes above the storm
When I kneel down to pray.

She, Eleanor, and other Murdocks and Keplers are buried in the Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago, IL.

She and Forrest were introduced through a mutual school friend, "Main" Geiger, at Hatch School in Corry, PA per Joe's audio tape. The following note was posted on the Find-A-Grave memorial for "Main."

Mary E "Main" (Drake) Geiger (1863-1951) (Find A Grave ID 42381128)
Following is a story of romance told by Joseph Murdock (Find A Grave ID 50655029) on an audio recording made of him in 1975 (age 78) involving Mary "Main" Drake as matchmaker. Joe clearly tells the story that his parents were introduced by "Main" at her house where they eventually fell in love and were married. All three attended Hatch School in Corry, Pennsylvania, but the happy couple did not know each other until after Main introduced them. They are Helen Janette "Nellie" Wright (1864-1951) (ID 133909283) and Forrest Oscar Murdock (1863-1926) (ID 133909353).

All us descendants of Helen and Forrest (Wright) Murdock would like to extend warm wishes in memory of Mary "Main" (Drake) Geiger.

WikiTree.com Page [1]
Family Search ID LT5T-FW9

Image Gallery