The Murray Families of Greene County, Missouri

Mr. Murray was born in McMinn county, Tennessee, July 8th, 1825. He was educated in the common schools of Monroe county, Tennessee, and followed the occupation of farming until his emigration to Arkansas in 1848. He came to Greene county, Missouri, in December, 18-50, and took up a tract of government land. He sold out in the spring of 1852 and crossed the plains to Oregon, and went from there to California and followed mining for two years with varying success. He then went back to Tennessee and stayed a year and then returned to Greene county, Missouri, and purchased the place upon which he now resides, about two miles southeast of Ash Grove. He has a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres in his home place, besides a tract of one hundred and seventy-nine acres on Sac river. Mr. Murray was married November 16th, 1856, to Miss Nancy E. Small. She died-March 12th, 1876. Their union was blessed with eight children, four of whom are now living. Mr. Murray was married the second time, December 3d, 1876 to Miss Sarah, daughter of Edward West. They have two children. He and his wife are consistent members of the Baptist church. In making a home for himself in Greene Mr. Murray endured many of the hardships of pioneer life, and now enjoys the profits of his early labors. Mr, Murray's father, Renne Murray, was a native of North Carolina, born May 25th, 1801. His mother was Miss Annie Elliott.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

This subject is a native of McMinn county, Tennessee, born, June 24, 1829. His parents were Renne and Anne Murray, the former a native of North Carolina, born May 25, 1801, and living in Greene county at this writing. When William was a small boy his father removed to Gibson county, Tennessee, where his mother died. From thence they moved to Monroe county, where William was chiefly educated. He came West in 1852, and crossed the plains to the gold country (California) where he remained over two years, returning to Tennessee, in the fall of 1854. In 1855, he came out to Missouri, locating in Greene county, and the next j'ear purchased the place where he now resides in Boone township. He has added to his original purchase from time, till he now owns a fine farm of 360 acres, and is one of the best and most successful farmers of the township. He'was married March 8, 1853, to Miss Melinda Stone, a native of Tennessee. Her father was James and her mother Meriline (Browder) Stone, both of Tennessee. Mr. Murray and wife have nine living children, named: Thomas J., Mahala E., William B., Harvey, Melinda J., Sarah B., Mary E., Charles and George. Both Mr. Murray and wife are members of the M. E. Church South. The land, now comprising Mr. M.'s farm, was an unbroken wilderness when he first came to the county. He has, however, by perseverance and industry, improved it into a splendid homestead, and has 150 acres of it under fence, the most of which is in a high state of cultivation.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

The name of the late Harvey Murray stood out distinctly as one of the central figures in professional circles in Greene county. Continuous application through many years gave him a clear and comprehensive insight into the philosophy and basic principles of jurisprudence, and the largest wisdom as to the method and means of attainment of ends, and he achieved success in the courts when most young men are just entering upon the formative period of their lives. A high purpose and a strong will, together with virile mental powers, close application to books and devotion to duty made him eminently useful. His individuality was impressed upon any work with which he was connected, and he was always ready to assume any amount of responsibility and labor incurred in accomplishing his ends, when once he decided that he was right. He is remembered as a broad-minded, many man, a credit to his profession and one of the leading citizens of Ash Grove during the generation that is past.

Mr. Murray was born on a farm near Ash Grove, Greene county, Missouri, February 6, 1864, and he was a schon of one of the prominent old families of this part of the county. He was a son of William and Malinda (Stone) Murray, natives of Tennessee. The father died in Ash Grove and the mother lives in Ash Grove. The father was a farmer.

A sketch of T. J. Murray, of Springfield, a brother of our subject, will be found on another page of this work.

Harvey Murray grew to manhood on the home farm and there assisted with the general work when a boy. He enjoyed good educational advantages in the schools of Ash Grove, later studied law and was in due course of time admitted to the bar and established himself in the practice of his profession in Ash Grove. He was successful from the first and his business increased until it assumed large proportions and he ranked among the leading lawyers of the county. He was painstaking, earnest and diligent, kept fully abreast of the times in all that tertained to his profession and all fully recognized and appreciated his character for personal and professional integrity. He never failed to fulfill all proper obligations and appointments in all the relations with his fellow men, and he was ever "ready to identify himself with his fellow citizens in any good work and extended a co-operating hand to advance any measure that bettered the material, civic and moral condition of his home community,

Mr. Murray was married in Bois D'Arc, Missouri, October 19. 1898, to Fannie Lambeth, who was born in Lawrence county, Missouri. She is a daughter of Jennings \V. and Julia (Bymaster) Lambeth, a highly esteemed family, who finally removed from Lawrence county to Bois D'Arc, where the father of Mrs. Murray became a prosperous merchant, and there he and his wife spent the rest of their lives, both dying a number of years ago. And it was there that Mrs. Murray grew to womanhood and received a good education in the common schools. She has an attractive home in Springfield, which is a favorite gathering place for Iter many friends, who never fail to find her a genial, entertaining and charming host.

The union of Mr. and Mrs. Murray was blessed by the birth of one child. Marjorie Murray, whose birth occurred on December 25, 1899. Sheis attending high school at this writing, and is a young lady of much promise.

Politically, Mr. Murray was a Republican, and influential in local party affairs. Fraternally, he belonged to the Masonic order.

The lamentable and untimely death of Harvey Murray occurred on September 5, 1899, by accident, resulting from a fall from a stairway in the business section of Ash Grove. His death was a shock to the people of this community where he was regarded as a leading citizen and an able and successful attorney, a man who was universally liked and respected.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

LILBURN H. MURRAY.

Mr. Murray is the son of John and Sarah (Luttree) Murray, and was born in Crawford county, Missouri, September, 1834. His parents came to Greene county, Mo., and settled seven miles northwest of Springfield, where they lived one year and then moved to Grand Prairie, where L. H. was reared and educated. At the age of twenty-one, he went to California, where he was engaged in the stock and mercantile business for about ten years. He returned to Springfield, Mo., in September, 1866, and soon went into the hardware business. The firm was McGregor & Murray for some five years, and Mc- Gregor, Murray & Noe, until 1876, During a part of this time he lived in the country upon what is now the Judge Cowan farm. In 1871 he was elected mayor of Springfield, and in 1874 Avas elected to the Legislature, being the only Democratic representative Greene had had since 1858. He has been a councilman from both the Second and Fourth wards. He took active part in the building of the Gulf railroad. John M. Richardson graded the road to Ash Grove and it lay for several years unironed, until Mr. Murray, H. E. Havens and May. Sheppard bought the roadbed and organized the Springfield and Western Missouri Railroad Company. They then took into the company, L. A. D. Crenshaw, G. D. Milligan, Judge Ralph Walker, C. H. Heer and W. J. McDaniel. Mr. Murray was elected president, and the road was run until 1879, when it was sold to the present owners, L. H. Murray being a director for two years thereafter. He was married, November 17, 1859, to Miss A. L. Anderson, daughter of Young A. Anderson, of Napa county, California. She was formerly from this county. They have been blessed with five boys and two girls, all living. Mr. Murray is a Mason, and he, his wife and daughters are members of the M. E. Church South. His mother died in 1845, and his father in 1867. They are buried in the family burying-ground up on Grand Prairie.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

WILLIAM PENN MURRAY.

The deft shuttle which weaves the web of human life and human destiny, constantly and ceaselessly flies backward and forward, and into the vast and checkered fabric is woven the individuality, the efforts, ambitions and achievements of each man, of all men. Within this web may be defined the lines of personality, be they those that lend the beautiful crystal seen of honest merit and worthy effort, or dark, curling and deflecting ones, which penetrate warp and woof, and mar and efface the composite beauty of their darkened threads. The life record of the late William Penn Murray, for many years one of the most progressive agriculturists and stock men of Franklin township, Greene county, indicates that the fabric of which his individuality was woven was of the best and purest, and consequently he left behind him "that which is rather to be chosen than much riches, a good name."

Mr. Murray was born in Wyandotte county, Ohio, June 4, 1867. He was a son of David C. and Hulda (Dow) Murray. David Murray, who was also a native of the locality in which our subject was born, grew to manhood, was educated and married there, and in 1869 he removed from the old Buck eye state to Greene county, Missouri, with his family, locating in Robberson township, on a farm of three hundred and twenty acres which he purchased and on which he followed general farming and handling live stock in a successful manner. He became well known here and was considered a man who was uniformly fair in all his dealings with his fellow men, and here his death occurred in 1873, when our subject was six years old. His wife, who was also a native of Wyandotte county, Ohio, also died on the home farm in Greene county, being summoned to her rest in 1879.

William Penn Murray was two years old when his parents brought him to Greene county and here he grew to manhood on the homestead where he worked when a boy, and he received his early education in the common schools. February 18, 1891, he married Jennie Stiver, who was born January 5, 1870, a daughter of Isaac and Susannah (Horner) Stiver. Isaac Stiver was born March 16, 1826, in Pennsylvania. After his marriage he moved to Elkhart county, Indiana, and was living there when Mrs. Jennie Murray was born, and there he engaged in farming for twenty-two years, then sold out and removed with his family to Greene county, Missouri, locating seven miles northeast of Springfield, buying one hundred and twenty acres of good land, and here followed general farming until his death, July 24, 1897. He was a Republican and a Lutheran. His wife was born December 30, 1835, near Dayton, Ohio, and her death occurred on the home farm in Greene county, June 20, 1908. To Isaac Stiver and wife twelve children were born, namely: Daniel J. lives in Newcastle, Indiana; Jacob M. is deceased; Louis J. is practicing dentistry in Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Mrs. Mary L. Risk, of Amsterdam, New York; Isaac N. is deceased; Wesley M. lives in Campbell township, Greene county; William H. lives in Indianapolis; Jennie, widow of the subject of this memorial review; Harrison G. lives in Springfield, Missouri; James is living but his address is not known at this writing; Edward and Calvin J. are both residing in Springfield.

William P. Murray devoted his active life to general farming and handling live stock. Fie owned a valuable and well kept place of one hundred and twenty acres in Franklin township; however, his principal business was raising, buying and trading in livestock, especially cattle, and in this he was very successful, being an exceptionally good judge of all kinds of stock and dealing honestly with his fellow men so that he retained their confidence and good will. He owned over one hundred head of good cattle at the time of his death, March 9, 1911.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

Mr. Murray was born in county Down, Ireland, October 12th, 1854, and was educated in the common schools of that country. He emigrated to America, landing at Castle Garden in January, 1870. He soon after came to St. Louis, but remained only a short time, and then went to Potosi, Washington county, Missouri, where he served an apprenticeship at wagonmaking. In the fall of 1874, he went to Dade county and set up a shop at the Pemberton mines, which he ran a year and then came to Ash Grove and opened a shop, and does a good business. He is the patentee of the new adjustable vehicle wheel, for wagons and buggies, by which a wheel can be set to any grade or dish desired. It is a most useful invention and likely to come into general use everywhere. Mr. Murray's parents are yet in Ireland. He has one brother in Manchester, England, and one in Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Murray is a member of the Knights of Labor.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

W. H. MURRAY.

Mr. Murray was born in this county, March 30th, 1858, being the eldest son of Thomas A. and Nancy E. Murray. He laid the foundation of his education in the common schools of the country, and at the age of seventeen entered Drury College, at Springfield, where he completed his education. On leaving school, he taught one term of school in Greene county, after which he-began farming and continued till July, 1880. He then, in connection with his father went into the grain business, under the firm style of Murray & Son, and have done a large grain shipping business from Ash Grove since that time. In November, 1882, Mr. Murray was elected justice of the peace for Boone township, which position he fills in a becoming manner, though few younger men than he have ever so served the public. He was married October 23, 1879, to Miss Fannie, daughter of James McCrory, an old citizen of Greene county. Mr. and Mrs. Murray have two children, named Nora and Ethel, the former born August 26th, 1880, and the latter, December 24th, 1881. Mr. Murray is a member of the A. O. U. W., and also of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.