Cecil Munkirs is my grandmother.
The Munkirs line is inextricably intertwined with Missouri history. The name is spelled in a mind-boggling variety of ways: Munkirs, Munkers, Munkres, Munkers, Monkers, Moncus, and several others. My grandmother appears to have used “Munkirs” (although I’ve found a few of her records which used “Munkers”!), so that is what I will use here…fully realizing the huge variations!
The earliest ancestor currently identified with any degree of likelihood is William Simpson Muncus, probably born prior to 1700 in Virginia Colony. He died in 1782 in Pittsylvania, Virginia. One of his children was William (“Old Will”) Moncus (1720-1798). “Old Will’s” life is fairly well documented, including his large family. One of his several children, John Munkers, who served in the Revolution, migrated from Tennessee to Missouri with a large number of other family members and friends in 1816 (he died in Clay County, Missouri, in 1820). They settled in Clay County, Missouri, and were a fixture in the area for decades…well into the 1900’s. I contacted the Clay County Archives and they reportedly have many thousands of pages of documents related to the family.
Clay County was a hotbed of anti-Union sentiment and activity before, during and after the Civil War…and the Munkirs family appears to have been in the center of things. One ancestor, Judge David Laird Ferrill (a great grandfather), was lynched in relation to this. Another, Red Munkirs (a great uncle), rode with the James Brothers Gang and was shot dead on his front porch. More on those things another time!
Solomon Lynch Munkirs was born in 1861 in Clay County. He married Maud Lynn in 1887. The first of their several children was Cecil Munkers, born in Missouri in 1889. The family moved to Oklahoma Territory and in 1911, Cecil married Roy Victor Harp in Waukomis, Garfield County, Oklahoma. They lived the remainder of their lives in the state of Oklahoma where Roy Harp served as a widely-respected and beloved pastor in the Christian Church. They both died in 1972.
Related surnames from whom we descend include quite an array of interesting folks.
CARLOCK – One ancestor was a close personal friend and co-worker of George Washington, serving at his side during the Revolution
CROWLEY – Many believe Samuel Crowley should be identified as the first casualty of the Revolutionary War
FERRILL
CAMERON
As well as many others