Muffley Introduction

This blog narrative, shorn of many details and documentation, presents over three centuries of family history of my Muffley line. Our tale begins in Bern Canton Switzerland, and traces the Muffley migration to the New World. American locations of particular interest include southeastern Pennsylvania, western Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, and southwestern Nebraska. My Muffley line is: Christian - Nicholas – Johannes – Jacob – Thomas – Joseph – Albert - Robert – Gary (me).
(pictured at left is Albert Muffley, age 14)

BERN CANTON, SWITZERLAND

Maffli is the official spelling of the surname in the Swiss Book of Family Names (Familienbuches der Schweiz), which lists the Bernese Maffli primary ancestral home as Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun, and secondary ancestral homes of Oberdiessbach and Buchholterberg. The name form is typically Alemannic German, a patronymic, meaning son of Maff. Maff could be a nickname for Magafrid (personal communication from Elsdon C. Smith, book author and former head of the American Name Society). Magafrid would be a typical two-theme Germanic name. Maga- = Macht (strength, in modern German), plus –frid = Fried (peace).
There is a record that Christian and Barbara Maffli were the parents of our known ancestor Niclaus Maffli (Nicholas Muffley). This information was submitted to the Latter Day Saints Church (www.familysearch.org) by a member, with no other information. Until the Amsoldingen church records are transferred to the Bern Archives, and data placed for sale on CD-ROM, this cannot be confirmed, short of another visit to Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun. Christian Maffli was reportedly born on May 3, 1685, at Amsoldingen, Bern Canton, Switzerland. Barbara was born about 1686 at Amsoldingen. Christian and Barbara were reportedly married about 1707, and their son Niclaus Maffli was born in February, 1707/1708. Niclaus reportedly had a brother, Heinrich Jacob Maffli, born in 1715 at Amsoldingen. (pictured above is - McCreary-Muffley 4 generations)

Niclaus/Nicholas once lived (data found while I was in the Bern Archives) in Zweisimmen District, Bern Canton, Switzerland. Go here and Click on “Summer Panoramic Map” (which faces south) and slide to the right (west). Note the position of Zweisimmen, up the valleys from Lake Thun. Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun lies between Thun and Zweisimmen. At some point prior to his emigration, Niclaus Maffli moved out of the lower land by Lake Thun (Thunersee) to Zweisimmen in the Bernese Uplands (Oberland). It looks like in so doing, he moved from an area of High Alemannic dialect to an area of Highest Alemannic dialect. Maffli would have been pronounced Moofli in the south Bernese dialect, I was told by Swiss genealogist Franz Walter Kummer-Beck. I think that Niclaus probably lived in the Zweisimmen vicinity long enough that he assimilated the different pronunciation of his surname. Upon departure from Switzerland and arrival in America, our ancestor Niclaus Müffli used a “ü”, probably to fit the spelling in other regions to his pronunciation of his name. Modern Swiss cousins spell the name Mafli or Maffli, and I have corresponded with, and met in Basel, Maffli descendants of Höfen origin. Perhaps y-DNA testing could confirm the link of our Muffley line and any known Höfen-origin male Maffli.

In the course of three trips to Switzerland (1967, 1973, 1977), I visited the main Maffli ancestral village of Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun, west of Lake Thun in Bern Canton, a secondary Maffli ancestral village of Oberdiessbach, as well as Zweisimmen, and the Bern Archives. I interviewed Swiss genealogist Dr. Robert Oehler in his home, and he provided some Maffli names, the oldest being a Peter Maffli born in 1588 in Oberdiessbach.

“N. Muffli” (Bern Archives) listed Zweisimmen as his home when he paid the Swiss emigration tax, 1734-1735. The tax of 10% of his total worth (about 12 pounds) was not much money, so Niclaus was by no means wealthy then. Zweisimmen, in the south of Bern Canton, is not far from St. Stephan village; both are in the Upper Simmen Valley (Obersimmental). When Niclaus took ship from Rotterdam to Pennsylvania in 1737, a fellow passenger (next line on the roster) was Christian Jäggi, from St. Stephan. Christian became the father of Maria Barbara Yockey, who married our ancestor John/Johannes Muffly. It is not known if Nicholas & Christian knew each other in Switzerland, or met later. An hour or so at the Bern Archives would probably turn up Christian’s exit tax record, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find it in close proximity to that of Niclaus. It might also be the case that Niclaus and Christian were neighbors in the Obersimmental, but on opposite sides of a Gemeinden (municipalities) border.

There is a gap in time between when Nicholas paid his 1734-1735 “Abzug” emigration tax, and his taking ship from Rotterdam in 1737. Where was he, and how did he manage to accumulate money for onward travel? When he arrived in America, on Oct. 31, 1737, his ship “William” was said to be carrying of a group of Palatines. However, experts have noted that the term “Palatines” was used carelessly, and included other Germanic groups. Some of Nicholas’ shipmates in fact came from Baden-Würtemberg, especially from southeast of Heidelberg. It is noteworthy that when, or shortly before, Nicholas left Switzerland, the Rhineland was in a bit of turmoil due to the War of Polish Succession. The French had overrun the Rhineland in 1734. It was no doubt an interesting time to be headed down the Rhine. I wonder if Niclaus might have been more comfortable stopping awhile before he left Alemannic dialect territory, say in Alsace or Baden.

Niclaus & Christian sailed from Rotterdam, Netherlands, aboard the ship “William”. The ship’s master was John Carter, and there were 180 passengers. There was a stop at Dover, England (the British required such a stop en route to their colonies). The ship arrived at Germantown (Philadelphia) on Oct. 31, 1737, and Niclaus took an oath at Philadelphia courthouse that day. “Niclaus Müfli” was his signature in early America, and by 1752 it was “Nicholas Muffly”.

MUFFLEY y-DNA, AND SWITZERLAND
(11/08 update)

It now appears (www.familysearch.org) that Muffley ancestry can be traced back to Christian and Magdalena Juzeler Maffli, paternal grandparents of Niclaus Maffli (b. Feb. 1707/1708). Christian Maffli Sr. was reportedly born about 1655 at Amsoldingen, Bern Canton, Switzerland. Magdalena Juzeler was reportedly born at the same location about 1657. Christian & Magdalena were married on November 4, 1678. Their children reportedly were: Peter, Anna, Elizabeth, Magdalena, Christian Jr. (father of Niclaus), Hans, and another Magdalena (presumably the first had died).

Thus, my Y-Chromosome SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) marker presumably is identical to that of my 7th Great-Grandfather Christian Maffli Sr., born about 1655, i.e. 288 years before my birth. It is possible to gather some information stretching back much further in time on the male line.

A SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) is a change to a single nucleotide in a DNA sequence. The mutation rate is extremely low over the millennia, so that this genetic information can be used as an aid to understanding human history. Each mutation point defines a new Haplogroup, and these suggest geographical points of origin of male ancestors. In the Swiss population are found at least 7 common male Haplogroups, so far as I understand, including E3b, G, G2, J, I1b2, R1a1, & R1b.

I have had a simple kind of SNP testing done. My Haplogroup was determined to be R1b1c. This marker has its highest concentration in the Irish and Basque peoples, but is widespread throughout Western Europe.

The M269 genetic marker defining R1b1c may have originated in central Asia, and was widespread in Europe throughout Paleolithic times. Men with this genetic marker are believed to have been associated with the Aurignacian Culture (say, ±32,000-21,000 B.C.?) of the Upper Paleolithic Age. These people were the cave painters of southern France, Spain, and Portugal. There were advances in flint tools. Hunting points were from antler, bone, and ivory. There were no atlatl spear-throwing sticks, or bows and arrows. There was body ornamentation. Concentrations of the culture were in several locations surrounding Switzerland, but not so much within modern Switzerland itself.

During the last Ice Age (=Last Glacial Maximum), men of the R1b1c Haplogroup are believed to have withdrawn to the Iberian Peninsula (one of the Ice Age “Refugia”), and then to have repopulated Europe beginning about 15,000 years ago.

Further genetic subclade testing of myself might be helpful. Reportedly, R1b1c10 (Continental Celt, probably of the Helvetii Tribe) is common in Switzerland. Pending further genetic testing, my Deep SNP subclade is likely either R1b1c10 (Continental Celt), or R1b1c9 (likely the Alamanni/Alemanni, a Germanic group which came later into Switzerland). (see now my recent 9/09 Genetic testing Update!)

Switzerland has sites of both Hallstatt and La Tène Celtic culture. The Helvetii Celts reportedly moved from southern Germany into Switzerland by the late 2nd Century B.C., pushed south by Germanic groups. The Helvetii were settled on the Swiss plateau in the 1st Century B.C., and were mentioned in Julius Caesar’s “Commentary on the Gallic War”. A bit of Helvetii history is at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetii#Earliest_historical_sources_and_settlement The Helvetii eventually came under Rome’s rule. Maffli ancestral homes in the Aare River Valley were centuries earlier settled with Celts.

Later during Roman times, the Alamanni Germans moved into Switzerland from the north. Well after the fall of the Roman Empire, Alemannia came under Frankish rule, and later under Habsburg rule. The Habsburg family’s power had actually begun with Radbot of Habsburg, who about 1020 built a castle of that name in northern Switzerland.

Switzerland’s traditional founding occurred in 1291 with the confederation of the Cantons Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. Bern Canton and others joined the confederation in 1353. Maffli traditional homes in the Aare Valley of Bern Canton came under the rule of the Zähringen and Kyburg dynasties. Thun Castle (Zähringen and Kyburg families) and Spiez Castle are fairly close to the main Maffli ancestral home of Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun. In time, patrician families became more autocratic. The Swiss Peasants’ War of 1653 occurred two years before the birth of Christian Maffli Sr., and did involve Bern Canton. This was only a few years (since 1648) after Switzerland became totally independent from the Holy Roman Empire.

In the time of Maffli-surname (at least back to the 1500s), people in the Aare River Valley spoke a High Alemannic dialect. Niclaus Maffli moved from his birthplace at Amsoldingen, near Lake Thun, to Zweisimmen, an area of Highest Alemannic dialect. In the latter dialect, Maffli was pronounced “Moofli” and so the spelling upon migration to America in 1737 found the “a” changed to “u”: Muffley.

SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA

According to a Muffley history of 1889, Nicholas was unmarried upon arrival in America. He married before land purchases. Nicholas reportedly married a Miss Wyant in America, probably by 1739. Their children included 4 known sons: Peter, Christian, Joseph, and John/Johannes. Nicholas took a sacrament in a Moravian church (which served persons of other denominations), but later was a member of a Lutheran congregation.

Nicholas Muffly had a son Peter, and a son John, as well as the other kids. Peter had a son John. The Johannes/John Muffly who was my ancestor was almost certainly the brother of Peter, not the son of Peter (the latter view is reported by some researchers). My father, Robert Pierce Muffley, concluded that our John was the brother of Peter, after searching old records in all areas of Pennsylvania associated with our ancestry. John the brother of Peter migrated to Westmoreland County Pennsylvania, married Maria Barbara Yockey, and died in Westmoreland in 1813. John the son of Peter died in Lehigh County, according to the 1889 “Genealogical Record of the Muffly and Eckert Families” by Joseph Robert Muffley (1837-1908).

Nicholas’ first known land grant by the Penn family was in 1745. This was at Maxatawny Township (then Philadelphia County, later Berks County). Over the years there were acquisitions, sales, and gifts of parcels of the Maxatawny land, east of Kutztown. My father Robert P. Muffley mapped the location of the Muffly’s Maxatawny holding, and I have visited this place. Nicholas deeded some land to his eldest son Peter in 1763, the year of the end of the French and Indian (Seven Years) War.

Well before the Revolutionary War, Nicholas had moved away from Maxatawny to Northampton County. During the war, Private Peter Muffly of Northampton Co. Penn. was in the Company of Capt. Frederick Coons, and this company was part of the militia regiment of Lt. Col. Frederick Kerns. Also in the Northampton militia was Frederic Sechler, ancestor of Kathryn Carson Muffley, my wife.

Nicholas Muffly died in 1786, thus after the Revolutionary War, but before the first U.S. census of 1790. Nicholas and his Wyant wife were buried at the Old Towamensing (now St. Johns) Church cemetery, in Palmerton, north of Lehigh Gap, in Carbon Co. (then Northampton Co.) Penn.

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA

My ancestor Johannes/John Muffly (born in Berks Co. Penn.) probably migrated to Westmoreland Co. in the fall of 1773 with the Yockey family, who had lived near the Muffly clan in southeastern Pennsylvania. John Muffly may have married Maria Barbara Yockey as early as 1775, but various researchers place it later. In 1776, the Yockeys had bought 500 acres of land at the site of future Bell Township, Westmoreland County. Muffley, Yockey, and related kin attended Yockey’s Meetinghouse (later St. James German Reformed and Lutheran Church), southwest of Salina, Pennsylvania. There are Muffley and Yockey graves there. Near St. James Church is Muffley Hollow (so labeled with a road sign) and the site of Adam Carnahan’s Blockhouse. Incidentally, the graves of Christian and Catharina Christ Yockey are reportedly in Bell Township, Westmoreland County. Catharina’s mother, Anna Götz Christ (born in Alsace), had made it to Berks Co. Penn. before her death.

Westmoreland was a frontier, subject to Indian attacks. The fall 1773 Yockey migration into the area took place as Lord Dunmore’s War was heating up. John Muffly signed the 1774 Fort Allen Petition, along with his kin, or future kin, Peter Wannamaker (Peter Muffly married Catherine Regina Wannamaker), Christian Yockey, and Abraham Yockey. The petition stated, in part, “…there is great reason to fear that this part of the Country will soon be involved in an Indian war.” It went on to note how defenseless the area was, emphasizing vulnerability of many people. The populace were filled with … “apprehensions of seeing their Hepless Infants fall a sacrifice to savage Cruelty…” The petition appealed to Gov. Penn to provide protection. Dunmore’s War ended following colonists’ victory over the Indians at the Battle of Point Pleasant, Oct. 10, 1774.

Westmoreland County during the Revolution was subject to attacks by the Indian allies of the British. Local defenses decreased when Gen. Washington sent the Westmoreland 8th Regiment east in early 1777. That year, settlers in the vicinity of Muffley Hollow had to pull back south towards Hanna’s Town, & there was also an attack on Carnahan’s Blockhouse (just above Muffley Hollow). Twin American offensives against the Iroquois League in 1779 helped, but nevertheless Senecas and British rangers were able to burn Hanna’s Town in 1782. (Hanna's fort pictured- south of Muffley Hollow).

On April 16, 1784, John Jacob Muffly was born in Westmoreland Co., and he appears in records as the son of Johannes & Maria Yockey Muffly. John Jacob was called Jacob, to distinguish him from his older brother John Muffly Jr. Jacob was the known grandfather of Joseph Pierce Muffley, my great-grandfather.

The 1790 census shows John Mufly in Washington Township, Westmoreland Co., Penn.; he was head of household in which were 3 males under 16, and 5 females. The 3 boys would be John Jr., our Jacob, and William (3 more sons born later). The five females would include Maria Barbara Yockey Muffley and daughters Susanna, Sara, Catherina Elizabetha, and an unidentified female (more daughters were born later). This John Mufly household was listed on the 1790 census next to that of Abraham Yockey, near Adam Carnahan, and on the same page as Peter Yockey and Christian Yockey.

John Muffly Sr. appeared in the 1800 and 1810 censuses for Westmoreland. Our Jacob Muffly (born April 16, 1784) probably married before 1808. The surname of his wife Elizabeth/Elissabetha is unknown. Some of Jacob’s brothers married Yockey cousins. Jacob’s brother Joseph was a teacher, married Eliza Eckles, and they were the ancestors of e-mail correspondents of mine in Illinois.

Maria Yockey Muffly died in 1812 in Bell Township, Westmoreland Co., the township in which lies Muffley Hollow, and her husband Johannes/John Muffly died the next year. John Jr. inherited the family land, some time following the September 25, 1813, death in Westmoreland County of their father Johannes Muffly. There was war with Britain from 1812 to1815.

Before the 1813 death of Johannes, his son Jacob Muffly lived in Franklin Township (e.g. 1810 census). Jacob and his wife Elizabeth moved into Washington Township.
Jacob Muffly (b. 1784) appeared in Washington Township in the 1820, 1830, and 1840 censuses. Jacob and Elizabeth had 8 known kids, including Thomas Muffly (b. Oct. 18, 1821). Also in the 1840 census was the household of Jacob Wilhelm, probable father of Julianna Maria Wilhelm, future wife of Thomas Muffly. Because of the long distance between the Muffley home in Washington Township and the Yockey’s Meetinghouse (St. James) in Bell Township, Elizabeth Muffley (well after her husband Jacob’s death in 1844) helped to found the Pine Run Church (Yockey’s Schoolhouse) - pictured below.

On January 30, 1849, Thomas Muffly (b. Oct. 18, 1821) and Julianna Maria Wilhelm (b. Nov. 18, 1820) were married in Washington Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. They were married near Mamont village, at the Poke Run Reformed Presbyterian Church, as later were Rebecca Thompson and Israel Muffly (brother of Thomas). I correspond with a descendant of Rebecca and Israel.

Thomas and Julia Muffley had 6 children, some born in Westmoreland County, and some after the move to Clarion County, Pennsylvania. The kids were: Jacob Milton Muffley (b. Jan. 21, 1851); Franklin “Frank” Biddle Muffley (b. Feb. 20, 1853); Joseph “Joe” Pierce Muffley (b. Nov. 7, 1854); Sarah Elizabeth “Sadie” Muffley (b. Mar. 17, 1857); William Edward “Will” Muffley (b. Oct. 5, 1859); and Mary Katherine Muffley (b. Oct. 8, 1861).

CLARION COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

The Thomas Muffley family was still in Westmoreland Co. in 1850, but by 1860 they were in Farmington Township, Clarion County, Pennsylvania. Thomas farmed and had a sawmill there, on “Muffy Run”. Two miles straight northwest of Tylersburg the road crosses a small creek (once Muffy Run, on an 1865 map). Just before the creek on the right was the land of the Thomas Muffley family. I think that if one follows the creek downstream (to the east), the mill was close to the junction with Knapp Run. The ruins were slightly visible when my father Robert P. Muffley visited the site, and I have only a single blurry photo of the site. It is not known at what time the family might have visited relatives back in Westmoreland, but my great-grandfather Joe Muffley (b. 1854) recalled visiting kin at the Pine Run Church and in North Washington, Westmoreland Co. Penn.

The Civil War began in 1861, and the young Mary Katherine Muffley died on Oct. 8 of that year. On March 2, 1862, Thomas Muffley died of cholera. His widow Julia Wilhelm Muffley apparently could not afford a headstone for Thomas. It is believed that he was buried at a Lutheran church cemetery (pictured) about 1.5 miles west of the Muffley land, at the junction of Hwy. 36 and Road T-598. Julia sold the land on May 1, 1865. After the Civil War ended, the widow Julia Muffley took the remaining 5 kids by riverboat to Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, home of her brother Adam Biddle Wilhelm.

QUINCY, ADAMS COUNTY, ILLINOIS

Joseph Pierce Muffley (b. Nov. 7, 1854) was my great-grandfather (pictured on left : Joe, his wife Emma and son Albert Muffley. Emma's sister Alice, & her son Herb.). He was 7 when his father Thomas Muffley died early in 1862 in Clarion County Pennsylvania. After Joe’s mother Julia sold the farm in Clarion Co. Penn., May 1, 1865, the family may have gone back to kin in Westmoreland Co. Penn. This probable visit, when Joe was about 11, may have been part of what Joe later remembered as a visit to kin at Pine Run Church and in North Washington. The widow Julianna Maria Wilhelm Muffley with her 5 kids reportedly arrived in Quincy about 1866, by riverboat. The steam paddle riverboat move to Quincy would indeed have been a memorable occasion.

Julia’s brother Adam Biddle Wilhelm had been in Quincy for some time, with an interlude of involvement in the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. He worked in a saddlery, and helped Julia with lodging and employment for her sons. See the Wilhelm Blog. Adam Biddle Wilhelm moved his saddlery business to 517 Hampshire Street, Quincy, in 1868. Julia and her kids lived (definitely from 1873 to 1878) above Wilhelm Saddlery, and the apartment entrance was off a side alley, up a covered iron staircase. By 1871 (and probably earlier), Joe and his brother Franklin Biddle Muffley both worked in harness making. Joe continued to be a harness maker for all of his working life. Their brother Jacob Milton Muffley worked as a tinner, but tragically died young, on Sept. 10, 1872.

According to the 1880 census of Quincy, Julia lived between 5th and 6th streets, an alley entrance off of Vermont. Her kids Joe, Will, & Sadie, all in their 20s, lived with her. Joe worked as a harness maker, and Will as a bookbinder. Sadie at various times was reported to work as a seamstress. Frank by that time had married Florence Kansas “Cannie” Tyrer, lived nearby, and worked as a commercial traveler.

On Mar. 8, 1882, in Quincy, our Joseph Pierce Muffley married Emma Jane McCreary. She was the daughter of John Skinner and Margaret Williamson McCreary (John b. 1825, Warren Co., Ohio). John was a descendant of Hugh McCreary (b. abt. 1744 in Pennsylvania). Margaret (b. May 29, 1835) has interesting Dutch ancestry, well researched (e.g. Van Voorhees ). John Skinner McCreary was a livestock dealer in Quincy. The McCreary family had previously lived in Springfield, Illinois, where they had initially lived across the street to the west, and up the block to the north, from Abraham Lincoln in 1861 just before Abe moved to Washington D.C. as President. Emma Jane had a brother Abraham Lincoln McCreary. (pictured: Back, from left: Christine, Alice, Marilla. John Skinner & Margaret Williamson McCreary. Silas, Emma, & Abraham Lincoln McCreary.)



The 1884-1885 Quincy directory first places our Joe Muffley at Schott Saddlery, while his brother Frank B. Muffley worked as harness maker at John B. Kreitz. Joe and Emma McCreary Muffley then lived at 525 Maiden Lane, and their son Albert Harold Muffley (my grandfather - pictured here with his mother Emma) was born on Dec. 19, 1885. Frank’s family lived at 92 S. 3rd. Julia and her kids Sadie and Will lived behind 518 Vermont. Will worked as a book binder from then, and Sadie shortly was a seamstress.

QUNICY Continued

By 1887, Joe & Emma Muffley had moved to 318 Maple. Joe continued to work at Schott Saddlery. Will Muffley married Lillie Mae Kimmel (her brother Peter was a harness maker at Schott Saddlery) in 1890. Lillie’s father and uncle worked as steamboat mates, so lived in a succession of river towns. Will & Lillie Muffley were in Omaha in 1900, and later went to Washington, D.C., where Will continued his bookbinding work with the U. S. Government Printing Office. My daughter Lara & I have visited places in D.C. associated with Will and Lillie, e.g. place of employment and place of burial. I have photos of their church and one of their homes.

Julia Wilhelm Muffley died in 1894, and was reportedly buried in Halstead, Kansas, home then of her daughter Sadie. Sadie had married William Henry Lentz, harness maker, in 1892. The Lentz family had a farm near Halstead, Kansas.

The John Skinner McCreary family moved from Quincy to Galesburg, Illinois, sometime after Emma Jane McCreary married Joe Muffley (1882). This probably was after John’s stockyard burned. The insurance had lapsed, and McCreary family fortunes took a dive. In Galesburg Ward 6 in 1900, John McCreary was a day laborer at age 72. This, after years of having several businesses. In 1890 in Galesburg, Silas William McCreary (brother of Emma Jane McCreary Muffley) married Mary Alice “May” Jagger. May Jagger was a sister of Edna Una Jagger, who later married Albert Muffley (son of Joe & Emma Jane McCreary Muffley). Thus, the initial link between Jagger and Muffley was via the McCreary family.

The year 1906 was very eventful. Joe, Emma, and son Albert Muffley lived at 328 Chestnut. Joe was still at Schott Saddlery. Albert worked for George Ertel. Frank B. & Florence Muffley lived at 308 S. 3rd, and Frank worked for Schott. On Jan. 18, 1906, fire began in the harness area and was discovered in the barn and livery stable at Schott Saddlery by 3:10AM. It became one of Quincy’s most destructive fires. Blazing saddles. On June 11, Effie Wilhelm (daughter of Adam Biddle Wilhelm) married Harry J. Eickmeyer in Quincy, and four days later her cousin Albert Harold Muffley eloped to Monmouth with Edna Una Jagger of Galesburg, Illinois. Albert’s mother had wanted him to marry Bertha Slotman (whose photos are in Emma’s album). Previously, when a letter from Albert arrived in Galesburg, sisters of Edna Jagger tried to snatch it away. Edna read the letter on the run, and then ate the letter. With the marriage, Albert’s Uncle Silas William McCreary (married May Jagger) became also a Jagger in-law of Albert. Silas and May (= “Cuz-Unc” & “Cuz-Aunt”) had a son Dick McCreary who soldiered in World War I. Before 1909, any Muffley presence in Quincy probably ended.

HANNIBAL, KANSAS CITY, and St. LOUIS, MISSOURI

In 1906, after Albert Harold Muffley of Quincy (pictured above) eloped with Edna Una Jagger of Galesburg, they initially lived in Quincy, Illinois. Albert and Edna Jagger Muffley (my grandparents) lived at 317 Paris Ave., Hannibal, Missouri, in 1909, and he worked for City Electric Light. Their first home (1910-1912) was rather basic. Their 3 kids were born in Hannibal: Mary Louise in 1909, Robert Pierce Muffley (my father) in 1911, and Kenneth Muffley in 1913. Albert worked at the Electric Light Company in subsequent city directories. The family lived at 804 N. 6th (1911-1912) pictured below on left, then rear of 1008 Paris Ave. (1912-1913), and finally 830 Hazel (1914-1918)- pictured below on the right. Incidentally, Hannibal had been the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and was the inspiration for the fictional town of St. Petersburg in the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn stories.

Meanwhile, Joe & Emma Muffley resided in Kansas City, and then in St. Louis. In 1907, Joe & Emma initially roomed at 1233 Pennsylvania in Kansas City, Missouri. Joe was a harness maker at Velie Saddlery. Stephen Velie Jr., founder of the saddlery, was a grandson of John Deere. Velie Saddlery had a charging bull logo (pictured). The address for the saddlery appeared in 2001 to be at the site of an FBI building. Joe continued employment at Velie all during the Kansas City years, although Joe and Emma moved a number of times. They lived at 1817 Pennsylvania from 1908-1911; that location appears to be at a current Interstate site. Their residence in 1912 and 1913 was at 1819 Washington, and there is now a house there which might be of that age. Joe & Emma Muffley moved from Kansas City to St. Louis, and in 1914 (to 1917) lived at 2340 Louisiana Ave., the first of their 4 homes in St. Louis.

In 1918, the Albert & Edna Muffley family moved from Quincy to Gary, Indiana. However, the Muffley presence in Hannibal was not at an end. Albert’s Uncle Franklin Biddle Muffley and Aunt Cannie Tyrer Muffley had children (Frank Raymond and Ora Vivian Muffley) who had put down roots northwest of Hannibal. Franklin Biddle and Cannie Tyrer Muffley retired to the farm there by 1925. I occasionally correspond with my cousins from this line.

MUFFLEY FAMILIES FROM 1918 TO 1930

The Albert & Edna Jagger Muffley family home in 1918 was in Gary, Indiana. Albert worked for a power plant. The family spent some time at a beach on Lake Michigan. They appeared to be in Indiana at the time of their June 15 anniversary, and they attended the big Weidenhamer 1918 reunion in Galesburg. (see photo)

By 1920, Albert & Edna Muffley lived in Bushnell, McDonough Co., Illinois. Albert was working as an electrician. Albert’s parents Joe & Emma McCreary Muffley about this time moved from 3118a Sidney St. to 2544a Eiler St. (to 1923) in St. Louis. From 1924-1928, Joe and Emma lived at 3227a Dakota, and Joe worked at J.B. Sickles Saddlery.

In 1921, Margaret Williamson McCreary (mother of Emma Jane McCreary Muffley) died. Margaret’s husband John Skinner McCreary had died in 1911 in Galesburg. Incidentally, John Skinner McCreary (my great-great grandfather) had in 1869 and 1870 been the mayor of Canton, Fulton County, Illinois.

Historian Tom Wilson wrote an article in the Galesburg Register-Mail on Feb. 22, 2008. “In February 1925, Galesburg placed an electric traffic signal in the intersection of Main and Seminary streets in downtown Galesburg. City electrician Bert Muffley was instructed to check the new fangled device daily to assure a smooth operation. On the 10th day Muffley opened the signal box to check the machinery and much to his shock discovered it was jammed with letters intended for the post office. The mail that was deposited in the traffic signal by confused citizens was intended for Wataga and Macomb and the states of Kentucky and Nebraska.”

Mary Louise Muffley wrote in her Galesburg High School Memory Book, on Sunday July 5, 1925: “We went out to Camp Shaubena to bring Bob home. While we were there we saw what wonderful times the boys can have. I almost wish I could go out when the girls go.” Camp Shaubena is at Lake Bracken, which I vaguely recall.

Tragedy struck on May 8, 1926, when Mary Louise Muffley (pictured), age 16, died of pneumonia in Galesburg. This is an aunt I never knew, but I have an album of hers, with photos of her and her friends, and her writings. More loss occurred in St. Louis in 1928 with the death by pneumonia of Emma Jane McCreary Muffley at age 66 (I have her death certificate). She had had an extensive period of ill health. The widowed Joe Muffley moved in with the family of his son Albert. Emma Jane was buried at Linwood Cemetery, Galesburg, as were Joe, Edna, and Louise Muffley.

At the time of the 1928 death of his sister Emma Muffley, Abraham Lincoln McCreary lived in Seattle. In the 1930 census, A. Lincoln McCreary was a real estate agent, living alone at 3706 East 55th in Seattle. It is not known what became of him after this.

Recall that Joe Muffley had a brother Will, who had married Lillie Kimmel. In 1930, Will was age 70, but was still working in the bookbinding department of the U.S. Government Printing Office. Will and Lillie lived then at 339 Shepherd NW in Washington D.C.; that was the last of their several homes in D.C. Will lived another 10 years, and Lillie died in 1946. They are buried at the Ft. Lincoln Cemetery, Brentwood Md. I have photos of a couple of their homes, their church, the printing office, and the cemetery. In 1930, Joe Muffley’s brother Franklin Biddle Muffley and his wife Cannie were living northwest of Hannibal. Joe’s sister Sadie Muffley Lentz died in 1930.

Albert Muffley was not working at his electrician work in 1930; according to the census, he was a confectionary salesman that year. The Muffley household in that census of Wethersfield, Illinois, consisted of Albert, Edna, Bert’s father Joe, Robert, and Kenneth.

ROBERT PIERCE MUFFLEY

Robert Pierce Muffley (my father - pictured) was 19 in that 1930 census of Wethersfield/Kewanee, Henry Co. Illinois. Bob had lettered in football and basketball at Wethersfield High School (I have the letters), and was a graduate of that school, “Home of the Flying Geese”. I recall that Dad once went back to a quite enjoyable class reunion. He had a slight knee problem from a sports injury. In his early years, Dad enjoyed cartooning, he played the harmonica, and at some point he built a boat. Dad had great talents in designing and building things, including our home and garage. Later in life he did excellent woodcarving. Dad and his cousin Johnny Weidenhamer once went to a speak-easy. They had one drink of hard liquor and went home. This Johnny Weidenhamer appears to have been John Keith Weidenhamer, grandson of John Chancey Weidenhamer (brother of Frances Weidenhamer Jagger).

FRANCES CHRISTINE LINDSTROM

Frances Christine Lindstrom (my mother) was born in Kewanee on May 28, 1907. Her Lindstrom ancestry is traceable back to a Peter Sunesson born c. 1765 at Mörlunda Parish, Kalmar Län county, Småland province, Sweden. I have been to this place and had amazing experiences of discovery and meeting previously unknown Swedish cousins. It was only days after this meeting in June 2002 that my first wife Anne died of a heart attack at the home of a new cousin in Sweden.

Frances Lindstrom was a graduate of the class of 1928. Her daughter Shirley Ruth Coad was born on Sept. 10, 1928, in Galesburg. Shirley’s father was Robert E. Coad. He was a man shrouded in mystery, as Mom had little to say about him, only that he was an “awful man”. Incidentally, I have been able to track some of what happened to Robert Coad and his descendants in California. By 1930, Robert Coad was living with his mother and other kin in Galesburg.

Frances and Shirley lived with Frances’ parents until Frances married. The Lindstrom family lived on East Losey, East South Street (1930 census), and East Main. In 1930, the Lindstrom household consisted of Albert and Emma, Lawrence (Larry), Ruth, Edna, Frances Coad, and Shirley Coad (age 1). In 1931, Larry died. Ruth married Silas Winberg in 1933. Shirley started school at Weston School, through the 3rd grade.

Frances Lindstrom liked the song “Tea for Two”, and I have her teapot which plays that tune. She liked to dance, and went to the famed Arcade Roof Garden, “where the sky begins”, atop the Weinberg Arcade in Galesburg. Lawrence Welk and his Novelty Band played there in 1931. Big band music was played under the stars in good weather, and on the third floor otherwise.
My sister Shirley said that our mother Frances went to the dances with her sisters Ruth and Edna. Ruth was with Silas Winberg (they married in 1933), and Edna was dating Harry. Frances’ mother disapproved of a divorced woman going to dances. It may have been at such a dance that Frances Christine Lindstrom met Robert Pierce Muffley.

FRANCES and ROBERT MUFFLEY

Frances Lindstrom and Robert Muffley (pictured) were married on June 2, 1937, in Galesburg. A newspaper stated, "Mrs. Frances Coad, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Albert Lindstrom, 808 East Main Street, and Robert P. Muffley of McCook, Neb., son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Muffley, 368 South Whitesboro Street, were married this morning at 9 a.m., in the home of the Rev. W. Harry Freda, 982 North Prairie Street, in the presence of the immediate families. The bride's sister, Mrs. Silas Weinberg, and the brother of the bridegroom, Kenneth Muffley, were attendants. The bride was dressed in blue and white accessories, and a shoulder bouquet of gardenias. Following the ceremonies the group went to the Hotel Custer, where a wedding breakfast was served. The couple left on the Burlington this morning at 10:30 for a 10-day trip to Chicago and points in Wisconsin. Mrs. Muffley was graduated from the Galesburg High School and Brown's Business College, and has been employed in the offices of the W.A. Jordan Company here. Mr. Muffley attended the Galesburg public schools and was graduated from the Wethersfield High School. He is employed as a brakeman by the Burlington, and is located in McCook, Neb. After July 1 the couple will be at home to friends at 506 West Fourth Street, McCook, Neb."

The wedding was not attended by Frances’ parents, her sister Edna, or her daughter Shirley, due to opposition to the wedding. Robert and Frances Muffley went to McCook after the honeymoon, and returned by train to Galesburg in August to fetch Shirley. Shirley had been living with her grandparents. Shirley’s departure from the home was hotly and physically contested by Emma & Edna Lindstrom. Additionally, Edna’s boyfriend Harry reportedly disliked Edna’s mean behavior, and ended their relationship.

So, it was on to McCook. Shirley did not know what to expect, except that she had no contact with her grandparents. She recalls living at the 506 West 4th St. location in McCook. She started 4th grade at Central School, and later went to East Ward School. The Robert Muffley family had moved into a duplex at 509 East 2nd Street. Bob’s Uncle Lee Jagger lived in the other half of the duplex. It was while living here that Bob began the building of a new home at 1006 West 3rd St. By then, Lee Jagger was on the conductors’ seniority list, but cousin Roy Weidenhamer chose to remain at the top of the brakemen’s list for the McCook division instead of moving to the bottom of the conductor’s list (with less choice of work assignments).

RAILROAD

Bob Muffley’s Uncle Lee Jagger (see Jagger Blog) helped Bob toward a railroading job in McCook, Nebraska. Bob only had to find a way to get to McCook, which he did by hopping freight trains and dodging railroad police. Bob Muffley made the brakeman’s list on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad on Nov. 4, 1935. As of January, 1937, Bob Muffley was #69 on the brakeman’s list, and his kinsman Jesse Roy Weidenhamer was #1 for the McCook Division. Bob Muffley sometimes went back to Galesburg to visit his parents and other relatives, and must have courted Frances at that time.

McCook NEBRASKA

Back in Galesburg, Albert Muffley in 1939 was working for Berg’s Radio and Appliances at 258-264 E. Simmons, and his family lived at 368 South Whitesboro, near the Jagger family. This was the address from which Albert wrote a letter about Muffley family history to James I. Muffley of Alma, Michigan. Albert said in his letter that an unknown Muffley family lived in Quincy after our branch left. Some John Muffley, of unknown ancestry, died on May 19, 1919, and was buried in Greenmount Cemetery in Quincy; his widow Lutie Bosier Muffley and kids appear in the 1920 census of Quincy. Albert also knew then of the existence of Glenn Muffly, refrigeration engineer, who years later contacted my father about family history.

The new home (pictured) on West 3rd in McCook was completed the summer of 1941, and there was a visit then to McCook by the Galesburg Muffleys: Joe, Albert, & Edna. Shirley recalls that they were not long in the new house before she answered the phone to hear of the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Back in Galesburg,





Robert’s brother Kenneth Francis Muffley married Flossie Wilson on April 5, 1942. (pictured: 1942 Wedding of Ken and Flossie Muffley- from left: Bob, Ken, minister, Flossie, Bessie). Ken was interested in motorcycles by this time, and raced motorcycles. Ken was drafted into the army, and worked as a military policeman. Flossie followed him to his job in Maryland. Ken was in the hospital with a back injury at the time of the birth of their daughter Karren Louise Muffley (b. June 24, 1944) in Havre de Grace, Maryland.


Albert, Edna, & Joe Muffley made a trip from Illinois through McCook and on to the Rocky Mountains in 1942. I was born in McCook, Nebraska, on June 1, 1943, and shortly after that Dad made the conductors’ seniority list. At some point, I inadvertently (I’m sure) dropped some food from my high chair onto the floor. My mother asked, “Did you throw that on purpose?” I reportedly replied, “No, I threw it on the floor.” (That's me on the left- with my first camera).

GENETIC GENEALOGY

9/15/09 update
Further SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) Haplogroup R1b subclade panel testing of Gary Muffley’s yDNA has yielded a code of R1b1b2a1a1 (new coding system adopted in early 2009). It seems that my male-line ancestors bearing the basic R1b Haplogroup y-chromosome may not have entered Europe as early as I had previously thought, so probably did not spend the last Ice Age in the Iberia Refugia after all. My y-DNA is positive for Marker M269 (yielding a R1b1b2 code), which may have developed about 8,000 B.C. in the vicinity of the Caucasus Mountains. The R1b1b type was later found in the Maykop Culture (northeast of the Black Sea) and in adjacent cultures to the south. The Maykop Culture arose about 3,500 B.C. in the area thought to be the origin place of R1b1b2, was an advanced Neolithic culture of farmers and herders, and later saw early development of metalworking and metal weapons. The R1b people in this area comprised part of the Proto-Indo-European peoples, along with their R1a neighbors to the north: The Yamma Culture, first domesticators of horses.

About 2,500 B.C., well into the Bronze Age, there was a sudden decline in the Black Sea Maykop Culture, perhaps due to large scale migrations of this Proto-Indo-European group, possibly crossing the Black Sea and going up the Danube River. By about 2,300 B.C., R1b1b2 was found in central and western Europe. Proto Italo-Celto-Germanic people settled around the Alps, where metals for bronze-making were abundant. The incoming Indo-Europeans had several advantages over European peoples who were already there, particularly the Indo-European use of metal tools and weapons, horses, and chariots. The R1b Haplogroup in time replaced earlier haplogroups as the predominant male haplogroup (female-line mtDNA haplogroups were less affected by the new migrations) in western Europe, and the Indo-European languages came to dominate. As the centuries passed, the Indo-European peoples of the Alpine area differentiated into Italic, Celtic, and Germanic groups.

About 1,500 B.C. (give or take a few hundred years), Gary’s Marker S21 likely appeared (yielding the R1b1b2a1a1 Haplogroup subclade). It is not known exactly when or where this genetic mutation occurred, but places where the R1b1b2 Indo-European group settled for long periods are prime contenders: Old Maykop stomping grounds beyond the Black Sea (least likely); Austrian Alps/southern Germany (suggested by considerable R1b subclade diversity in this region); and the Frisian coast of northwest Europe (highest frequency of S21). By the birth of Christ, S21 was reportedly well-established in future Frisia. The marker has been termed a Frisian or Western Germanic marker. At the birth of Christ, my ancestor bearing the S21 marker would have been at least 55 generations back from me.

The Alemanni may have been the Germanic group who carried my yDNA to Switzerland, as my ancestor Christian Maffli Sr. (born about 1651) was in an area where High Alemannic was spoken. Alemanni operated along Rome’s Rhine frontier, e.g. 212 A.D., and eventually settled in future Switzerland. The West Germanic S21 marker was particularly spread by 5^th Century migrations, especially by Frisians and Saxons to England; by Franks to Belgium, France and Franconia; and by Lombards to Austria and northern Italy.