With Memorial Day or with the older generation, Decoration Day, around the corner, there are a dozen or so graves throughout the county where the person for a variety reasons, were buried on their property where they died. This was of course, prior to 1900, and prior to laws enacted where burials were required to be placed in a cemetery. Some of these graves are well marked and others are not. From time to time, we will explore these graves.
For the inaugural, we start with Jacob Murrer, who happens to be my great-great-grandfather. On July 1, 1876, Jacob Murrer, at the age of 49, dropped dead while tending J.P. Wallace’s livestock at Round Valley. The family brought Jacob’s body back to Willow Creek Valley for burial on the land he claimed. It was a simple matter of economics to bury him on the ranch, rather than bringing the body to Susanville for a formal service. The family had little means, and it did not help that Wallace owed Murrer $253 for back wages and other services. While the family’s financial improved over the years, a formal marker was never placed. His grandson, Alfred Murrer, always placed a salt lick there for many years as an impromptu marker.