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. 
