Ohio History Journal

COLONEL JOHN MURRAY.

DAVID E. PHILLIPS.

The readers of the Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

can hardly fail to be interested in any matter intimately asso-

ciated with the very beginnings of our "Great Commonwealth."

The famous old mansion in Rutland, Mass., now owned by

"The Rufus Putnam Memorial Association" and called "The

Cradle of Ohio" has become one of the "Shrines of American

Patriotism", and few have had so romantic an origin and his-

tory. It was built about the year 1760 and for many years

thereafter was in the possession of Colonel John Murray, a

violent Tory and a public official under George III.

The story of Colonel Murray's life presents a series of

picturesque episodes of absorbing interest.     His origin and

parentage have been shrouded in mystery very little save tra-

dition and "circumstantial evidence" having been offered con-

cerning his early history, however those best qualified to judge

feel very sure, and believe him to have been a scion of the

noble "House of Atholl" whose surname was Murray, and

whose family seat was at "Blair Castle" in the north of Scot-

land.¹ A tradition at this old homestead still survives, to the

1From a study of the records of this family, the presumption

becomes very strong that Colonel John Murray was a grandson of John

Murray the second Earl and first Marquis of Atholl, whose wife Jean,

was the youngest daughter of Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchy.

This John Murray, who died in 1640, had an eldest son John (1631-

1703) who was the heir to "Blair Atholl" estate, and was for many

years actively engaged in the wars of that period. That there were other

sons, and one of these no doubt was the father of John Murray the

emigrant. An evidence that he was of this family is found in the names

of his elder sons, Alexander, John and Robert, the two latter died in

early youth, and these names were given other sons born at a later

date, all these names were common in the Murray family for many

generations whose records we are considering.

(397)

Colonel John Murray.                  399

years. Upon the evidence of his tombstone inscription in the

"Rural Cemetery" at St. Johns, New Brunswick, "he was born

in Ireland, November 22d, 1720."

The exact time of his appearance in Rutland is not known,

but it was no doubt about 1740, for it was at that time he was

married to his first wife,³ who was of the same ship's company

upon his voyage hither. His natural ability and instinct for

leadership is indicated by the fact that within the next few years

he had filled nearly all the responsible offices in the gift of his

had acquired large landed estates, not only in Rutland but in

the towns of Oakham Barre and Atholl and was accounted

one of the wealthiest men in the county. He built fine homes

for himself and his children. The quaint old farmer historian

of the town thus describes him, "a large portly man, and when

dressed in his regimentals made a superb appearance," "he had

servants, black and white, and his high company from Worcester

and Boston; his entertainments and parade added greatly to the

popularity and to the splendor of the town". Upon the death

townsmen, and before he was thirty-five years old was selected

to represent them in the "General Court" at Boston. In the

meantime he had developed remarkable business abilities and

of the wife of his youth, (the mother of his children, she who

suffered the hardships of the voyage to these shores, and of the

pioneer life in the New England wilderness) in 1760, he married

Miss Lucretia Chandler of the intensely artistocratic family of

Judge John Chandler, (the third Judge of that name). At this

time he had his own as well as his wife's portrait painted by

the celebrated Copley, both of which are still extant, the latter

in Boston and the former in St. Johns, New Brunswick.

and very picturesque, Blair-Atholl, a fertile vale on the Garry and the

forest of Atholl containing some 100,000 acres are stocked with red deer

and game. It gives the title of Duke to the head of the Murray family

its chief proprietor, whose seat is at "Blair Castle" near Mts. Benygloe

and Gairn Gower.

3Reed's history of Rutland (1836) tells us that "John Murray

after his arrival in America did not forget the girl, Elizabeth Mc-

Clanathan with whome he made the voyage, but made her his wife,

and to them were born ten children." Her brother John McClanathan

was a captain under Colonel Murray in the "Old French War".

Colonel John Murray.                401

sent to his father's farm in Rutland, with the positive injunction

not to pass its limits without permission. When the final rup-

ture came, the "Mandamus Councelors" and other officers of

the Crown were asked to resign. Many did so through fear of

losing their estates and the favor of their fellow citizens, while

many fled at once to England or the Provinces.⁵ Colonel Mur-

ray had been a special mark for the Provincial's disfavor, having

long enjoyed their confidence by serving them in almost every

capacity in their gift for thirty years. He was about to accept

a high office from the Crown, had sworn allegiance to the King

and to support the laws of the Realm, when on August 22d

some fifteen hundred men from Worcester and other towns re-

paired to the Murray home in Rutland prepared to enforce de-

mands. He had evidently taken the alarm, for although every

nook and cranny of the premises was searched, he could not

be found. Before they took their departure one indignant visitor

declared he would show Colonel Murray who had been there, and

thereupon thrust his bayonet through the canvas of the Colonel's

portrait which hung upon the wall. The wound shows to this

day, and can be seen in the reproduction of the portrait ac-

companying this article. Colonel Murray returned two or three

days later and removed his family and their more valuable

belongings to Boston, reaching that town in safety, and soon

afterwards removing permanently to St. Johns, New Bruns-

wick, where he again engaged in business, acquiring considerable

fortune before his death in 1794.

Colonel Murray left a numerous family from whom has de-

scended a notable posterity (through his daughters), bearing the

names of Botsford, Hazen, Bliss, Wilmot, Weldon and others,

Mr. Burton W. Potter in his valuable paper upon Col. Murray

says "that the Revolutionary war was in a sense a civil war, with

members of many families arrayed against each other. At the beginning

the whigs and tories were pretty evenly divided, but the tories were

soon overawed and silenced and while several thousands embarked for

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and colonized those provinces, they

comprised but a small minority of those who preferred silence and

aquiesence, to proscription and banishment."

Vol. XIX. -26