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Anyone that may have information on this line. Especially if you are in Ireland.
Immigrated from a small fishing village in Ireland.
Settled in Knox County, TN in 1802.
Purchased a farm from David Maxwell on Aug 5 1802 as recorded in Knox
County Courthouse deed book, vol. 1, page 437. This information is
from papers on the Murray's in Tennessee by Raymond L. Murray, Jan
1973.
The Murray’s in Tennessee
Most Murray’s in Tennessee today are descendants of the Murray’s in Ireland who did not like the English Kings and came to America just before or just after the American Revolution in 1775.
News of the American revolt and the French Revolution in 1789 stirred up a strong spirit of agitation in Ulster. Theobald Wolfe Tone formed the Society of United Irishmen in 1791 to abolish all unnatural religious distinctions, and to unite all Irishmen against the unjust influence of Great Britain.
When France declared war on Britain in 1793 after Pitt had ordered the French minister to leave England, Tone (with the backing of an estimated 150,000 united Irishmen) persuaded the French to support him in a war of insurrection. Tone, wearing a uniform of a French general, sailed from Brest to Bantry Bay in 1796 with a French fleet carrying a force of 15,000 soldiers. Due to stormy weather, the fleet turned back from the Irish coast without landing.
The United Irishmen staged a disorganized uprising by themselves in 1798. This was put-down by troops under the command of Lord Cornwallis who had surrendered earlier to George Washington at the battle of Yorktown in the American Revolution.
Tone brought another contingent to Ireland. This time he was captured and sentenced to be hanged like a common criminal. He committed suicide in a British prison cell.
William Pit, the British Prime Minister under King George III, decided that the only way to keep Ireland under British control was to enact an Act of Union transferring legislative control of the country from Dublin to the British Parliament and merging the Irish economy into that of Britain. Roman Catholics could vote, but could not hold office or be members of parliament. About seven-eighths of the Irish people were Roman Catholics and only one-eighth Protestants.
The Act of Union was finally passed in 1800. 1,260,000 pounds and 48 new or promoted titles in Irish peerage were used to buy votes in one of the most shameful political bribery transactions in history. Pitt also promised that Catholics would be included among the Irish representatives seated in the British house of Parliament. This was vetoed by King George III.
Family tales handed down from generation to generation tell of Robert Murray’s refusal to swear allegiance to the British King. He was a ship builder who built fishing boats for the fishermen who lived in the fishing village. Feeling so strongly against the English, he decided to turn all his assets into cash and emigrate to America. With everything he owned invested in lumber and materials stored by the sea for his last ship, a very high tide swept everything out to the open sea. Thus it would become the property of anyone who recovered it. The local fishermen were doing well.
After a visit to the village’s Catholic Priest, the church bell began to ring. All the men gathered in the church to learn of the emergency. The priest told of Robert Murray’s troubles and vowed to send any man to purgatory who failed to return the lumber and materials. Each piece was returned and put in its proper place. The ship was completed and sold for cash.
During this period a son, William, was born to Robert Murray and young wife, Margaret, in 1799. They put the cash and two guns in a feather bed, slipped out of the village at night with son William and boarded a ship to America. (The barrel from one of these guns is in the possession of Tim and Tony Murray - 7th. generation in America - of Cleveland, Tennessee.)
An interesting story that happened on the six month‘s voyage to America is worth recording. During a violent storm, Mother Margaret was upset and worried especially about her infant son William. She kept going to the Captain and inquiring about their safety and what was going to happen. He told her to go to the lower cabins and check on the off-duty crew members. If everything was going to be alright they would be “drinking and cursing.” She rushed back to the Captain’s quarters, wringing her hands happily and shouting - “Thank God, they are drinking and cursing.”
After landing in America they went to Knox County, Tennessee and purchased a farm from David Maxwell on August 5, 1802 as recorded in Knox County Court House, Deed Book Vol. 1, page 437.
Meanwhile, a second son, James D., had been born in Knox County in 1801. John N. was born in 1803. Charles Madison, ancestor of most of the Bradley County Murray’s' was born in 1823. A daughter Margaret had been born in 1820 and another, Nancy, was born in 1824.
Charles Madison Murray married Mary Ann Bell in 1846. She was from a prominent Knox County family in the Bell’s Community near Knoxville. Bell’s camp ground and graveyard are located near the old Bell’s farm.
Records, deeds and wills, as recorded in the Knox County Courthouse, show that Charles Madison Murray maintained the original Murray farm and that he and wife Mary Ann had twelve children. Family Bible lists their births and deaths as:
Joe N. 1847-1922
John R. 1848-1922
James R. 1850-1854
Evelyn 1852-1866
Charles M. Jr. 1857-1867
Margaret Naoma 1860-1860
Samuel Francis 1862-1940
Mary Ellen 1864-1933
Gilbert L. 1866-1945
Susan Alice 1867-1943
Thomas A. 1870-1938
After the war between the States hard times hit the Murray family as did most other southern families. The boys began to move to Bradley County and bought farms west of Cleveland.
Samuel Francis Murray - who kept the original rebel rifle - married Margaret Ellen Seaborn and purchased a farm from Judge Traynor. Margaret Ellen was the daughter of James Landon (Dad) Seaborn and the grand-daughter of James Monroe Seaborn (b. 1799) and one of the early settlers of this section. Their children were:
Oscar 1885-1885
James Dossett 1886-1953
Mattie 1888-1961
Claude 1890-1893
Gilbert H. 1892-
Floyd l. 1893-
Eugene 1895-1955
Annie Bell 1893-1919
Maude 1900-
Clyde 1903-
Lois 1901-
Floyd L. Murray kept the gun, which had deteriorated to a metal barrel only, for his son, who had his first grandson. Gail Murray’s (local wheelhorse dealer) son, Larry, was born some 30 years ago. His son’s Tim and Tony are the seventh generation in America. They will have to determine who gets the rebel rifle.
Raymond L. Murray
January 1973
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