THOMAS MOONLIGHT [is embossed in gold caps on a black leather label with a fancy gold embossed border pattern. The label is pasted inside the front cover of a Bible given to me by my mother. In fine black ink underneath the seal is written] 1848
[The second blank page is inscribed in black ink in a small, fine cursive hand as follows:]
Marriages of children
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ellen Elizabeth Moonlight, 7 PM Wednesday Oct. 18" 1894
Abraham Bennett Brown Leavenworth Kas
Agnes Moonlight Monday Sept. 8" 1884
Edward Emmett Murphy Leavenworth Kan. 5 P.M.
Magdalene Moonlight Monday, July 8" 1889
Theodore Simons Cheyenne Wyoming 9 A.M.
Jessie Edith Moonlight Wednesday Feb. 12" 1896
John W. Haussermann Leavenworth Kas 8 P.M
Walter Scott Moonlight \June
Adeladie Blanche Patterson /Leavenworth K. 5 P.M
[The third blank page begins with two lines in brown ink in a larger, more flowing hand using an italic nib. The third line returns to black in using the same sharp point used on the previous page.]
Joseph Moonlight
Bysock [illegible, ?? Kaild ??]
Thomas Moonlight
Born in Scotland Nov.10" 1833
Died Leavenworth Kansas Feb. 7-1898
and
Ellen Elizabeth Moonlight [Moonlight is struck through twice and] Murray [is written above it]
Born in Ireland Feb 16" 1834
Died Leav. Kan. March 7" 1894
Married in Ringold Barracks, Texas
August 3 [or 8] " 1855
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Children
- - - - -
Ellen Elizabeth March 19" 1857 Florida
Agnes - Dec. 27" 1858 Ft.Leavenworth Kansas
Edwin Thomas - Sept.20" 1860 Kicapoo "
Annie - April Ft.Leavenworth "
Julia Magdalene - March 27" 1864 " "
Magdaline - April 23" 1866 " "
Jeannette - April 1868 " "
Jessie Edith - Nov. 12" 1873 " "
Walter Scott - Aug. 10 1875 " "
[The fourth blank page continues in the same pen and hand.]
Deaths
______
Annie Moonlight - Ft. Leavenworth
Jeannette " Leavenworth 1868
Edwin Thomas " " June 21, 1883
Julia Magdalene " " April 29, 1885
Ellen Elizabeth " " Mar 7" 1894 (mother)
Magdalene Simons Boise Idaho March 29 1895
Thomas Moonlight - Leavenworth Kas Feb.7"
(father) 1898
Edward E Murphy Nov. 23. 1928
(son in law)
Murray Moonlight Brown Jan.15-1928
(grand son)
[The fifth blank page:]
Grand children
- - - - - - - -
Thos. Moonlight Murphy - Saturday - Oct.23" 1886
10 30 A.M. [my grandfather]
Edward Emmet Murphy - Friday - Dec 20" 1889
12 30 A.M.
Margaret Costillo " - Saturday - March 25 1893
5 30 A.M.
Bryan Murphy - Friday - May 20" 1898
All in Leavenworth Kans.
- - - - - - - -
Walter [illegible] Simons - Feb 1891
- - - - - - - -
Murray + Marjorie Brown - Sept. 23" 1896
[The sixth blank page:]
Marriage of grand children
Thos. Moonlight Murphy to Mayone Thompson
in Omaha, Nebraska - Tuesday Oct 24"
1911 - at 8 P.M. in Presbyterian Church
[my mother's parents]
Edward Emmett Murphy to Helen May
in Chicago - Ill - February 9" 1916
at 8 P.M. Episcopal Church Hyde Park
Margaret Costello Murphy to Joseph Monson Murphy in Leavenworth Ks.
at Post Chapel - February 8-1923
Bryan Murphy to Francis Hoose in
Kansas City Mo. at home April 30th 1924
[On the seventh blank page all names are underlined:]
Great grand children
- - - - - - - - - - -
[here the line becomes thicker and uneven, as if the nib or the hand is old; or the paper was damp]
Thos. Moonlight Murphy Jr. born in
Buenos Aries - S. America - Oct. 22. 1913
at 11 50 A.M.
[my mother's brother - died 1982 in Northridge, CA]
[hereafter the ink is blue, and the line thick as before]
James Franklin Murphy - Chicago Ill
March 12 - 1917
Mary Fay Murphy in Kansas City - Mo
Feb.4" - 1919
[Mary Fay Murphy was my mother (died August 8, 1969 in Wilmington, DE), who married William Hayes Swartz (born January 23, 1923 in Summit, NJ - died December 23, 1994 in Wilmington, DE) in Independence, MO on Monday August 13, 1945]
Edward Emmett Murphy III in Chicago
Ill - July 27" 1920
[The publisher's data printed at the bottom of the title page reads:]
Blackie & Son;
Queen Street, Glascow; South College Street, Edinburgh;
and Warwick Square, London MDCCCXLVIII.
[Underneath is hand written in black with a sharp point] 1848 [which is seven years before Thomas Moonlight's marriage.]
[The cover of this sturdy black leather-bound book is embossed with a border pattern that is finer and more intricate but similar in style to the leather seal inside, but on the cover the original gold fill is nearly gone from the embossing, or may never have been as brassy as the lable. The Book measures 5-3/4" tall by 4" wide by 1-1/2" thick. Its tiny print, small format, and sturdy construction seem intended for traveler rather than a man who expects a comfortable life indoors. The covers are in good shape, but all four corners are bent towards the pages, as if the book has been wrapped, packed, and shipped many times; the top and bottom edges of the cover are worn about the same, indicating that it was not kept on a shelf, or not often pulled off.]
[This book seems to have a curious provenence. The third blank page begins, "Joseph Moonlight," in an ink and hand different from any other writing. I don't know who Joseph Moonlight was, but the book having this different name in the logical place for an owner to write his, the attempt to match the cover with a label of similar material and style but comparatively crudely executed, and placed first, inside the front cover, indicate to me that Thomas Moonlight was the book's second owner, and that the Book may not have been new when Thomas added the label. That Thomas never replaced this book with one clearly his own is puzzling. Why keep your very family tree in someone else's Bible? Perhaps the book was a hasty by loving gift from Joseph, believing he would never see Thomas again; or perhaps even if Thomas took the book from Joseph and made off with it, that Joseph was so important to Thomas that Thomas would choose to begin the record his new family immediately under Joseph's name. In any case, Thomas knew the Book would never return to Joseph.]
[The book tends to fall open to] The Book of the Prophet Isaiah.[, ] Chap. LII. [where there are thumbstains on the page corners.]