Read Muryl's first diary entry from 1913.
My grandmother, Lucy Muryl Riggin, was born to Charles Riggin and Fannie Adora Blizzard Riggin October 25, 1899 in Bond County, Illinois.
Muryl -- pronounced "Merle" -- had four siblings: Curtis (1894), Sarah Catherine, "Katy" (1896), Bernice -- pronounced "BERnis" -- (1897-1905) and Louise (1902).
Fannie died of pneumonia when my grandmother was four years old. Charles was apparently something less than a responsible parent, and Fannie asked her own siblings to make sure the children were taken care of.
The family's way of "taking care" of the children was to adopt Muryl and Louise out to separate families, send Katy to a foster home and Curtis to a home where he worked for his keep. They were all in and around Greenville, Illinois.
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| Leah and Frank Cable |
Muryl was adopted by Frank and Leah (Robert) Cable. They changed her name to Elizabeth Muryl Cable, but she always went by "Muryl".
Documents show that the adoption cost $2.50. Muryl was Frank and Leah's only child. Leah was the sister of Charles Robert, father of Paul Robert who is my grandfather. So Muryl married her adopted cousin. (Look for references to "Uncle Charlie", "Aunt Lella" and "Paul" in the diaries -- those are her future in-laws and husband.)
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| The Riggin Family: Bernice, Fannie, Curtis (rear) Muryl (front) Frank and Katy |
Following is an introduction to the diaries written by my father, Austin Robert:
By and large, the diaries describe pleasant, carefree years. Muryl had a number of girl friends, family and friends and relatives of the Meeting in this small, Southern Illinois town.
She was 13 years old when this diary was started. She speaks of going to Krugers. Mrs. Kruger was a sister to one of our preachers, Maurice Smith, a very distinguished looking man with a handsome head of white hair. He told wonderful stories when he later talked to our own group of young people. I have no idea what kind of education he had, but he was very well-spoken and knowledgeable, particularly of scripture. He also spoke at Muryl's funeral in 1935.
The account of the school picnic was typical of outings in those days, i.e., flat tires were always to be expected.
She speaks of a visit to see Pearl's graduation presents. This was Pearl Junod Jacobson who was her good friend and remained so until Muryl's death. Pearl was 4 years older. We, of course, kept in touch with Pearl over the years until her death in 1990.
References are made to concerts, practicing piano and singing in the chorus. Music was always a part of her life. She later gave piano lessons (in her adult years), sang in a local chorus, attended any musical event that she could, and was determined that her sons were involved in music. Jack had several years of piano lessons at IWU. Jim had about 1 year at IWU also. Forrest had private violin lessons for a while. I had only a few piano lessons from Muryl -- very few!
