In the book's own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1841
From Biographical records of Linn County, Iowa .. (1901)
JOHN E. MURRAY.
[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]
As printed in Biographical records of Linn County, Iowa .. (1901). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1901. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.