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Joseph Kepler Murdock
b.20 Feb 1898 Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA
d.28 Aug 1985 Silver Creek Township, Cass, Michigan, USA
Family tree▼ (edit)
m. Abt 1887
(edit)
m. 14 Oct 1922
Facts and Events
[edit] Personal History[edit] Joseph "Joe" Kepler Murdock (1898-1985)Joe married Eleanor Barbara Smith in 1922 and they had daughters Joellen and Margot. While at Indian Lake, Michigan, visiting Eleanor's father's cottage, Eleanor died of strep throat in 1929. Tragically, penicillin was only discovered in 1928 and was not widely available yet, which would have easily saved her. Initially Eleanor's parents, Edith and Percy "Gompy" Smith, cared for the children, being close by, but later Joe's mother, Helen Janette "Mocco" Wright moved in and raised the children until Joe married Virginia "Nano" Sherwood in 1933, but Mocco continued to help with the children since her husband, Forrest, had died in 1926. Of note, Nano's parents both died in the 1918 flu epidemic when she was only 10. Joe and Virginia had a third daughter, Helen "Tweedy" Jane Murdock in 1933. His first wife, Eleanor, graduated from Monticello College, Alton, IL (near St. Louis) on June 7, 1921 and they were engaged 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 15 months later 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. Eleanor's 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 and didn't even have a paved road until construction was finished. When Joe was a boy he enjoyed visiting his grandfather, Robert Hammond Murdock, in Corry, Pennsylvania where he was the Pennsylvania Railroad (as in Monopoly) Station Master. This started his life-long love of trains. His childhood Chicago neighborhood at 2041 W. Garfield was very Irish and the boys gave Joe a hard time, adding to his reasons to go to Corry in the summer. During his adult summers he loved going to Indian Lake near Dowagiac, MI. In (about?) 1919 Eleanor's father, Percy "Dad Smith", bought the cottage on the east side of the lake in the "Indian Lake Club" area. After his wife, Edith, followed him in death two years later in 1936 at age 60, the cottage was passed down to his two children, Stan and Eleanor. Since Eleanor had died in 1929, her share went to her young daughters, Joellen and Margot, which was represented by her husband, and their father, Joe Murdock. The two families, the Smiths and the Murdocks, shared the cottage for a number of years but eventually Joe Murdock sold their share to the Smiths and moved to a different home on the other side of the lake. Joe is buried at the Indian Lake Cemetery with Virginia "Nano" Sherwood Murdock. His first wife, Eleanor, is buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago with his parents in the Murdock-Kepler family plot. [edit] Murdock Brothers Printing Company, ChicagoJoe's given name was Joseph 'Muhlke' Murdock, named after his father's law partner, Joseph "Joe" H. Muhlke (1861-1827). Later in life Joe Murdock changed his name to Joseph 'Kepler' Murdock after Joseph William "Uncle Bill" Kepler, his great-uncle through his father's mother, Annie Kepler. Joe dearly loved of his "Uncle Bill" and the feelings were mutual. Joseph William "Uncle Bill" Kepler (1842-1926) was a successful Cincinnati, Evanston, and Chicago businessman. One of his business interests was an "Ice Storage Warehouse" located at 205 East Grand Ave. in Chicago. It was close to Lake Michigan so ice could be "harvested" from the lake in the winter and placed in storage for use in "ice boxes", since electric refrigeration technology was not introduced until the 1920's. His grand-nephew Joseph Kepler Murdock remembers playing in the mountains of sawdust there that was used for insulation before the ice was hauled off by horse and buggy to customers. This warehouse was passed down to his grand-nephews Joseph Kepler and Eugene Wright Murdock where they started the Murdock Brothers Printing Company where they worked their whole careers. JW Kepler was first married to Bessie Betterton Kepler (1850-1896) for many years until she died at age 46 without having had any children. Three years later he was finally persuaded by his younger brother, Oscar Forrest Kepler (1831-1899) who was a printer in New York City, to pursue Martha King. Martha was a never-married, same-age, woman from a well-off family in Pittsburgh. He married Martha King (1843-1926) in 1899 when they were both about 56 years old and they lived at 1022 Greenwood Blvd, Evanston, Illinois for their 27 years together before they both died in 1926. Of note, JW Kepler died two months before his well-off wife, Martha. They became quite fond of a pair of JWKepler's grand-nephews, Joseph and Eugene Murdock, and intended to leave a portion of their estate to them including the ice-storage warehouse building at 205 E. Grand Ave. After Martha's death, as the last surviving child of Robert Hayes King, her heirs were to receive her portion of the RH King estate who were known to be the nephews of her husband, Joseph and Eugene Murdock. However, family legend says that surviving grandsons of RH King claimed her estate and succeeded. They also claimed the warehouse building at 205 East Grand Ave. in Chicago that JW Kepler bought before he married Martha, but Joseph and Eugene's mother, Helen Janette "Mocco" Wright, succeeded in keeping it in the family. Thus, in 1926, the foundation of the Murdock Brothers Printing Company was created, a warehouse building at 205 E. Grand Ave that was passed down from Uncle Bill and Martha King, to Forrest and Helen "Mocco" Murdock, and then on to Joe and Gene Murdock. The knowledge for the printing business was brought by Joe and Gene's father, Forrest Murdock who had learned it from his uncle and namesake, Oscar Forrest "Auk" Kepler, a printer in New York City. Oscar Forrest "Auk" Kepler (1831-1899), as a printer in New York City, was never married and remained a bachelor his whole life. In New York he became acquainted with Martha King and eventually persuaded his brother, JW "Uncle Bill" Kepler, to pursue, and eventually marry, her. He also hosted his nephew and namesake, Forrest Oscar Murdock, on visits while he was attending Yale in nearby Connecticut earning his law degree. During those visits, Uncle Auk taught Forrest the printing business which he used to help his children, Joe and Gene, start Murdock Brothers Printing. Oscar must have also helped his nephews financially with a loan because he forgave a $3,000 debt from Joe Murdock in his will. As remembered by Joe Murdock on his audio tapes in 1976, the printing business was started by his 6-year older brother, Eugene "Gene" Wright Murdock (1892-1973) after college in about 1913 and when he was age 22, WWI started (1914-1918) and he was drafted. Gene and Joe's father, Oscar, decided that Joe should drop out of high school at the age of 16 to keep the printing business alive while Gene was at war. This had the result that Joe never had the opportunity to go to college like his parents and brother did. In Joe's reflection of that time, he says he didn't mind leaving high school, but he has since wondered if it was really a good idea. But regardless, he said his mother, Mocco, could not fight her husband, Oscar's, will, per Joe's account. Startup date mystery ... There is an unresolved date conflict about when the printing business started. Joe remembers Gene started it after college which would have been about 1913, but since Uncle Bill and Martha King did not die until 1926, which would have marked the estate transfer of the building at 205 E. Grand Ave to the Forrest Murdock, there is an unexplained difference of 13 years. Perhaps the building was loaned or rented before their death, or perhaps the business started later, or in a different location. Other family members may be able to help resolve this date disagreement. In 1976 he recorded his lifetime remembrances during interviews with his daughter, Joellen, which is the source of several items in these notes. Those digital recordings are available from his grandson, Lucius Donkle III, upon request. WikiTree.com Page Image Gallery
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