My Moynahan Genealogy Blog: Johnny Murray: The Dashes Between B-M-D

My family tree has grown from 3001 ancestors in August 2019 to 4031 ancestors and I attribute most of the additions to my "On This Day" practice where I manage my online databases on the anniversaries of the ancestor's birthdays, marriage anniversaries, and death dates.

As part of this practice, I review the records I have in my databases, correct any errors and look for any new records.

Searching For New Records

New historical and genealogical records are uploaded online weekly. It is really hard to keep up. I do not rely entirely on ancestry when I am updating my ancestors.

When I'm stuck on a particular ancestor, I rely on Family Search and I am never disappointed. I find the search engine very helpful when I am working with very limited information and I am "taking a shot in the dark".

I also have started using Randy Major's "Ancestor Search on Google Search" and I have achieved some really interesting results.I have landed on some interesting web sites

My favourite resource for updating my ancestors is Newspapers.com. The information that I have found in newspapers really provides important information into the importance of the tiny line between a person's date of birth and the date of their death ... "the dash"

The Dashes Between B-M-D

"The Dash" is a Linda Ellis poem written in first-person by a speaker who "read of a man who stood to speak at a funeral of a friend" (Lines 1-2).

This eulogist offers a funeral congregation wisdom on matters of life and death:

He noted that first came the date of birth

And spoke of the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years. (Lines 5-8)

John Charles Murray (1904 - 9 Dec 1995)

On the 9th of December, as part of my On This Day practice, I was reviewing my records for John Charles Murray.

I knew so little about him. At 32 years of age he married my first cousin (2R) Madeline Broderick (1911-1994) who was the daughter of my 2nd great uncle Windsor Detective Leo William Broderick (1879-1920). Murray adopted Madeline's son and the couple did not have any additional children.

I had written about "The Broderick-Murray Wedding" in 2016 after finding a Border Cities Star article and photograph dated January 5, 1935.

Source: Windsor Star: 5 Jan 1935; Page 6

This year, on the anniversary of John Murray's death, I looked for his obituary and it contained some interesting new information:

John Murray was a former teacher, coach and Athletic Director of W.D. Lowe
John Murray was an inductee of the Essex County Sports Hall of Fame
John Murray was the former Head Coach of the now defunct Windsor Rockets Football team

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 11 Dec 1995, Mon • Page 31

My curiosity about John Charles Murray's induction into the Essex County Sports Hall of Fame led me to a series of newspaper articles where the "dash" between 1904 and 1995 revealed an incredibly gifted star athlete and later coach.

John Charles Murray, known as "Johnny", was born in London, Ontario and says it was a twist of fate that brought him to Windsor, Ontario in 1918.

"Murray's father, after a stint overseas, was lured to the city by Henry Ford's handsome offer of $5 a day for building cars."

When "Johnny" was at Assumption College, he played baseball and was set to make that his career so he said "I thumbed my way down to Texas to play but I dislocated a shoulder and that ended any baseball career."

So he returned to Windsor and played basketball for the Windsor Alumni and they won the Dominion Championship in 1928 so he made basketball his career and had hopes to make the Olympic team and when that did not happen, he decided that was the end of his athletic career.

Source: http://wecshof.org/windsor-collegiate-1928-alumni/

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 05 May 1927, Thu • Page 19

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 16 Mar 1928, Fri • Page 23

In 1929, Johnny was appointed by the Windsor Walkerville Technical School to the position of Director of Athletics. He was the first person to assume this role.

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 28 May 1929, Tue • Page 23

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 12 Dec 1929, Thu • Page 24

Through the 1940s, Johnny Murray appeared in the newspapers many times as the winning coach at many events.

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 20 May 1946, Mon • Page 23

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 24 May 1948, Mon • Page 19

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 29 Sep 1949, Thu • Page 33

In 1983, Johnny Murray was inducted into the Essex County Sports Hall of Fame being the first living inductee in the "Oldtimers" category

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 24 Jun 1983, Fri • Page 23

CLIPPED FROM The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 24 Sep 1983, Sat • Page 15

At 79, Murray was elected to the oldtimer's category for his outstanding service as coach and athletic director at Windsor-Walkerville Technical School.

After graduating from teacher's college Murray says "they told me to go over to Tech and do everything, the phys. ed, the cadet corps, everything ....."

The Dash Between Those Years

"As far as I'm concerned all 42 years at Tech were highlights to me" John Murray said.