John Murray
Born22 December 1722
Ireland
Died30 August 1794
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Buried
Loyalist Burial Ground. Later re-interred in the Botsford plot in Fernhill Cemetery, Saint John, NB.
AllegianceKing George III
RankLieutenant colonel
Known forTreason, Banishment, Confiscation Act of 1779
Alma materHarvard University
Spouse(s)
  • Elizabeth McClanathan (d.1760)
  • Lucretia Chandler (married 1761–68)
  • Deborah Brinley (m. 1770)
Children7

John Murray was the elected Representative to the Great and General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1751 to 1774 for Rutland, Rutland's Northwest District and later for Hubbardston and Oakham.[1] He was principal in the transactional and legislative founding of Barre, Oakham, Athol and Hubbardston. Often honored by the colonial government he was driven from his home in August of 1774 and forced to flee to Boston.[2]

Biography

Murray immigrated to New England in August of 1718 as a boy with the McClanathan, Shaw and Savage families.[3][4] These Scotch-Irish people numbering some 750 came on five ships from Northern Ireland, an arrangement that had been brokered by Cotton Mather with the colonial government, they originally settled Worcester but after their Presbyterian church had been razed most moved on to Rutland.[5][6] Murray married Elizabeth McClanathan in 1742 in Bondsville and Lucrecia Chandler the daughter of John Chandler (sheriff) in 1761.[7] Because he was the first named proprietor whose grant was from the King and because he was from Rutland Massachusetts, Murray is credited with naming Rutland, Vermont.[8][9] After the War of Independence he finally settled in a house on Prince William Street in Saint John, New Brunswick he died on August 30, 1794, and is buried there.[10]

Public service

Murray served in Rutland as a Selectman and then was elected to Town Clerk in 1742 and to Assessor in 1747.[2] During the French and Indian War he served as a Lieutenant Colonel.[8]

August 24, 1774

After the assault on the Timothy Paine House on Wednesday August 24, 1774 some of rebels marched to Rutland to force Murray to resign as Mandamus Councillor. They stoned his house breaking the windows and terrified Murray and his family.[2][11] Murray fled to Boston where he was garrisoned until Evacuation Day (Massachusetts) March 17, 1776.

References

  1. ↑ Journals of the House of Representatives. Massachusetts Historical Society. 1919.
  2. 1 2 3 Murphy, Timothy (1928). History of Rutland. Rutland Historical Society.
  3. ↑ Bolton, Charles Knowles (1910). Scotch Irish pioneers in Ulster and America. Bacon and Brown.
  4. ↑ Reed, Jonas (1836). A history of Rutland : Worcester County, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement, with a biography of its first settlers. Mirick & Bartlett.
  5. ↑ Lincoln, William (1837). History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to September, 1836; with various notices relating to the history of Worcester County. M.D. Phillips and company.
  6. ↑ Knowlton, John S. C. (1889). Carl's tour in Main Street. Sanford and Davis.
  7. ↑ Sturgis, Mrs. E.O.P. (1903). A sketch of the Chandler family in Worcester, Massachusetts. Charles Hamilton.
  8. 1 2 "18th century Rutland" (PDF).
  9. ↑ Caswell, Lilley Brewer (1899). Athol, Massachusetts, past and present. The Author.
  10. ↑ Lord, William G. (1953). History of Athol,Massachusetts. The Author.
  11. ↑ "Oaks".
  • "Worcester Art Museum : Lucrecia Murray"
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