Having made my Masterpiece V purchase I've been doing some online studying.

Turns out McMurdo Silver's birth name was Edward McMurdo Silver, b 1903 son of John Archer Silver and Mary Agnes McMurdo. His father, John Archer Silver (edited mistake), was a class of 1889 Harvard grad and a professor at Hobart College. Mary Agnes McMurdo was the only daughter of Catherine Albert Wells and Colonel Edward McMurdo. Col McMurdo was an (edited: English army officer...wrong he was a Kentucky Colonel or Union army Colonel in the Civil War depending on what source you believe) and wealthy London based railway tycoon. When Col McMurdo died, Catherine remarried Frederic Courtland Penfield. Penfield was the American ambassador to Austria-Hungary, a journalist, and had also been ambassador to several other countries under Pres Cleveland and McKinley. Catherine McMurdo was several years older than Penfield and when she died Penfield inherited her wealth earned by Col McMurdo. Penfield then remarried in 1908 and again to an older woman with money. This time the widower, Mrs Anne Weightman Walker. Mrs Walker was considered one of if not THE richest woman in American at the time with an estate valued near $60,000,000. Upon Penfield's death in 1922 as written in the June 27, 1922 Philadelphia Inquirer, "A second noteworthy bequest made by Mr. Penfield from his estate which is said to be far in excess of $1,000,000, went to McMurdo Silver, son of the late Professor John A. Silver, of Hobart College, who is to receive the principal of the fund when he attains his majority. This bequest was made by Mr. Penfield in loving memory of his first wife who was a Miss McMurdo, daughter of an English army officer. Friends of the Penfield family in this city, believe young Silver is a nephew of late Mr. Penfield by marriage, but are not certain of the exact relationship."

So it would appear McMurdo had a strong financial family base with which to fund his radio businesses.

I updated McMurdo's family tree that can be followed here:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedig ... e/KCP4-LYC
More work needs to be done so if you have the obituary, suicide, or burial info please update the records. McMurdo's wife, Ruth, lived until 1981.

Secondly I discovered via a State Dept record at the National Archives that McMurdo Silver won the Grand Prix award at the 1937 Paris Exposition. E.H. Scott & RCA got Diploma of Honor and Capehart & Crosley won a Gold Medal.


More pictures of the 1937 Paris Expo Radio Pavilion are here:
http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/memsmn_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_7=SERIE&VALUE_7=%27EXPOSITION%27%20ET%20%271937%27&FIELD_2=EDIF&VALUE_2=%27RADIO%27
Only one image is of the interior and it's of poor quality. I didn't spend much time looking so maybe someone will get lucky and find a picture of the actual radios in the expo.

Matt

matt's basement wrote: I updated McMurdo's family tree...

Is your link a Wiki page for dead people, that anyone can edit?
or is something that you have created?

You have to join/sign-up to see your link!
Greg.

Familysearch.org is run by the Morman Church and is like Ancestry.com except it is always free of charge. I signed up years ago so I didn't realize the link wouldn't work unless you signup. They have never harassed me or asked for money so it's painless. I use it to share ancestry with family members because it's free. Once signed up you can edit, add photos, and add memories to individuals, but you will need to provide a reference or link to substantiate. They don't ask or want any form of payment since it is entirely free.

McMurdo Silver's grandfather and namesake, Colonel Edward McMurdo, was referred to as an English army officer in many newspaper accounts probably because his business interests were located in London. That he was a British army officer appears to have been a gross error. Instead he was a Kentucky Colonel. His railway business was active in building railroads primarily in Portuguese West Africa. He died in London.
https://books.google.com/books?id=MRDpAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=colonel+edward+mcmurdo&source=bl&ots=U4bfYLU9X8&sig=ACfU3U0QsHfzDvqGUOXF40ozjamtTEx2CA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN7ZP1upXiAhVIba0KHXgoBwgQ6AEwA3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=colonel%20edward%20mcmurdo&f=false

Or he was a Colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War per this biographical source:

https://books.google.com/books?id=f0VnzMelzm8C&pg=PA738&lpg=PA738&dq=kentucky+colonel+edward+mcmurdo&source=bl&ots=SKXp7nVufd&sig=ACfU3U0dUxFB2YUnZ8tslSgMkg8sKTlJTg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_u_PUvZXiAhVJ-qwKHbV2D-QQ6AEwB3oECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=kentucky%20colonel%20edward%20mcmurdo&f=false

Thanks for the explanation.

Unless I'm missing something, this doesn't seem to add up...

matt's basement wrote: Turns out McMurdo Silver's birth name was Edward McMurdo Silver, b 1903 son of John Archer Silver and Mary Agnes McMurdo. His father, John Archer McMurdo, was a class of 1889 Harvard grad and a professor at Hobart College. Mary Agnes McMurdo was the only daughter of Catherine Albert Wells and Colonel Edward McMurdo.

Greg.

What doesn't add up? Maybe this will help:

Thanks.

It was this that threw me. Lol
...His father, John Archer McMurdo,

Greg.

McMurdo's parents divorced in Reno 1911

...and we now know young McMurdo grew up in Paris as a kid.

Oops...I will edit that!

Sorry if this is confusing. I keep finding more info as I post and have discovered some errors I have tried to edit out. So it's a bit of live history at the moment. I do wish Alan Douglas was around as I'm sure he would enjoy it immensely.

It's OK. Keep posting what you find.

Ruth Hanak (McMurdo's wife of 1933) was an accomplished pianist having studied at Univ of Chicago and lived in Barcelona for several years studying under Blanche Selva in the early 1930's. Other than the marriage record at Cook County haven't found much else.

Found two articles regarding antique radio donations of McMurdo:
Nov 26, 1936, Chicago Tribune
"A gift of 20 receiving sets tracing the development of radio from 1917 to the present have been received by the Museum of Science and Industry in Jackson Park. Included in the collection, given by McMurdo Silver, is a Fleming radio tube of 1904. This was the forerunner of the three element DeForest tube which made modern radio possible. Two old examples of the DeForest audio also are included in the gift"

Sep 21, 1939, Report on Progress and Condition of United States National Museum
"McMurdo Silver presented a large collection of wireless and radio tubes and miscellaneous early equipment. The collection includes such interesting radio tubes as the early Marconi-Fleming diode rectifier valve of before 1910, and a Western Electric 211 D, 50-watt, transmitting tube of about 1920 in the original carton; and many other of both American and English manufacture up to date but exclusive of metal tubes." paragraph continues "A wireless tuning coil of 1907-11 and a loose-coupler, crystal-detector receiving set of 1916 were presented by Commander H. H. Lippincott. Both are of conventional design, representative of the apparatus made and used by many amateur wireless experimenters of the period."

By 1940 McMurdo and wife, Ruth, had left Chicago and moved to Clearfield, PA



Aug 13, 1940, Clearfield (PA) Progress Newspaper

Direction Finder Corp. Total contracts from the various Federal government service agencies awarded to the Airplane and Marine Direction Finder Corporation within the last two months have totaled approximately ___ it was announced today and there is a possibility that one of the five orders placed will be increased considerably which will bring the total near __. All these orders are to be filled before the end of 1940, McMurdo Silver general manager of the corporation stated, "All of these orders were awarded with the impetus of this defense speed-up program" stated Silver, "though the Amdico's corporation is bidding for many of these new contracts and expects many from the navy, army, and air arms in the near future. The corporation is not allowed to release information as for what service these contracts are to be filled. However, the five contracts which are now being filled, in round figures, are as follows: All orders require the manufacture of direction finders, radio receiving sets, and other radio equipment. More than of the orders have already been filled, Silver said. Under the direction of William Diehl, in charge of production, about 25 men are now working at the Hyde plant.

I've got to get something done today so this is my last piece of McMurdo Silver trivia.

Edward McMurdo Silver was honored for perfect attendance in first grade at Cortland Street School, Geneva, NY.

From Geneva Daily Times 7 December 1910

Supt. William H. Truesdale has announced the lists of the honor students for the month of November in the various grades of the four grammar schools of this city. The honor rolls in the grammar schools are as follows:

CORTLAND STREET SCHOOL - Perfect attendance, Kindergarten: William Davie, Paul Foster, Gordon Kinney, William Lytle, Paul Maney, Thomas McParland, Norman Schnirel, Thomas Williamson, Paul Vogt. First grade: Elmer A. Coryell, Lloyd S. Dodge, Earl Hartman, William F. Humphrey, Arthur Hyatt, Edward McMurds Silver, Joseph A. Wilson, Bertha M. Morgan, Sarah J. Keyes, Mary E. Runyan. Second grade: Francis A. Bishop, Seth F. Black, Franklin Leroy Dodge, Philip T. Flaxman, Arthur W. Oastler, Philip W. Skinner, Leamon E. Wall. Third grade: George H. Chapman, Leonard Clark, William C. Foote, Albert A. Johnson, Carill A. Kenney, Gustave F. Klube, Harold S. Ritchie, Karl F. Weber, Ethel L. Breger, Anita Carrell, Irene B. Coryell, Marjorie Van Buren Cuer, Allen E. Harvie, Louise D. Olchewske, Grace A. Patrick, Rosalind M. Reynolds, Lillian G. Wilson. Fourth Grade: Harry J. Baeder, Martin C. Bennett, Max H. Borg, Kenneth Borroughs, Herman M. Chapman, Clarence A. Goodelle, Oakleigh W. Janncey, Donald Laskowske, Charles Victor Legg, Alan L. Oastler, Howard E. Seager, George Wilson, Helen W. Schnirel, Sabin A. Underwood. Fifth grade: Edgar S. Albro, Willis Baldridge, James H. Clark, Frank H. Fisher, William B. Goodelle, Gardner H. Harrington, Max Laskowske, William H. Meyers, George E. Phillips, Harold W. Vogt, Ruth M. Brown, Lillian H. Delamarter, Myrtle Hartman, Harriet F. Humphrey, Margaret H. Kelly, Violet E. Mackintosh, Ruth W. Olchewske, Mary Eliz. Stevens, Georgene K. Underwood. Sixth grade: Irving H. Buchholz, Herman F. Kenney, Frank A. Ritchie, Vernon F. Smith, Francis D. Wallace. Seventh grade: Samuel D. Behrens, Ralph D. Brown, Lester T. Fay, Christian M. Hansen, Fredrick H. Hyatt, Lawrence C. Kenney, Frieda A. Berg, Florence M. Flaxman, Christine McKay, Althea B. Reid.

Source: http://ontario.nygenweb.net/genevaschools2.htm

According to Our Silver Heritage:Gershom and Millicent (Archer) Silver, Volume 2, 1976

"Tradition tells us it was he [McMurdo Silver] who sold the Silvertone radio, along with the patent rights thereto, to Sears, Roebuck."

An early biography of McMurdo Silver by A. Henry can be found in...

The Horn Speaker. Vol. IV, No.3 March 1975
https://americanradiohistory.com/Archiv ... 975-03.pdf

and...
The Horn Speaker. Vol. IV, No.4 April 1975
https://americanradiohistory.com/Archiv ... 975-04.pdf

Concludes with accompanying note: The biography of McMurdo Silver will be continued as soon as information about his later life can be gathered.


Other issues: https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Horn_Speaker.htm
Greg.

There was a guy JWF Puett who used to sell books he put together on McMurdo Silver.

another document https://www.newmexicoradiocollectorsclu ... -16-NL.pdf

Matt.. Just so you know, the info below was written by the author who knew McMurdo manufactured radios but not specifics, and therefore related "Silvertone" to McMurdo Silver. Threre is no relationship.

According to Our Silver Heritage:Gershom and Millicent (Archer) Silver, Volume 2, 1976
"Tradition tells us it was he [McMurdo Silver] who sold the Silvertone radio, along with the patent rights thereto, to Sears, Roebuck."



McMurdo was also an avid gun collector. I don't have my file nearby, but I have copies of articles regarding his death and his death certificate and the sale of his gun collection.

His life is a really interesting story and many parts are missing and need to be documented, possibly in Wikipedia. One piece that I couldn't put together was how the British "McMurdo Silver" company was related. They made radios for a few years. The V and the 15-17 were made for sure, and possibly some VI's.

Alan Douglas did a timeline of the McMurdo-Silver, Hallicrafters, Echophone and Howard manufacturing facilities and office
addresses of the 1930's and it was very confusing, but they were all related both in the products and making of them.

Since I own what I think was the very last radio produced by the Silver Marshall Mfg Co, A "Model Q" chassis that was sold
under I think 3 models (in the 725 series or so as I recall) I have a passing interest in the brand.

I think SM Inc was the first outfit, then Silver Marshall Mfg Co, and there was one other. One I think his mom
owned.

There were little "cheapie" radios with the "Silver" or maybe "Silver Marshall" name on them after 1932...
A lot to sort out there...
Mark Oppat

What is all of this suicide nonsense? Armstrong and Silver had much to live for. Thankfully, Browning and other important radio pioneers did not go down the same path.