Our Scotch – Irish 
Background

Our ancestor Charles Murrie was born 
about 1768 and his wife Deborah was 
born about 1770.  The birthplaces of 
Charles and Deborah are not known.  
Were they born in America or were they 
immigrants?
Because our family name is Murrie, we 
know that our country of origin is Scotland. 
The use of last names developed over the 
years as a way of distinguishing between 
individuals.  The last name a person took 
was often based on something that made 
that individual stand apart.  For example, 
Charles the baker became Charles Baker.  
Charles who lived near a woods became 
Charles Woods.  Charles who lived in the 
Province of Moray Scotland became 
Charles Moray. (The word Moray means 
"beside the sea") Moray became Murray.  
Variations include: Murrie, Murrey, and 
Murry.  Our last name then ties our Murrie 
family to Scotland.
Did our ancestors come to America 
directly from Scotland?  Although it is 
possible it is not likely.  Only a small 
percentage of early Scot immigrants came 
to America directly from Scotland.  Most 
came from Northern Ireland where their 
ancestors had migrated in the 1600s.  
After a few generations in Ireland, these 
"Scotch-Irish" migrated in large numbers to 
America.  It is likely that our ancestors 
were among this group.   Most Scotch-Irish 
immigrants could not afford passage and 
may have been indentured for a number of 
years. It is also possible that Murries were 
"transported" criminals or enemies of the 
crown – best not explore that possibility. At 
any rate, we do know that the Charles 
Murrie family was in Maryland in the early 
1790s.  This is proven because some of 
Charles Murrie's children, including our 
Johnson County ancestor Thomas Murrie, 
gave their birthplace as Maryland on 
various census reports throughout the 
years. The family relocated to North 
Carolina by 1800.  
Murries in North Carolina

United States census records show that 
the Charles Murrie family was in Caswell 
County, North Carolina from 1800 through 
1820. These early census records reveal 
little information about individual families. 
The head of household for each family was 
recorded but the individual family members 
were not named.  However the number of 
males and females in various age 
categories was noted.  These numbers 
provide clues about the members of the 
Charles and Deborah Murrie family.
By looking at the census reports from 
1800, 1810, and 1820 one can see 
changes in the family.  New children were 
born and others died or left home and 
started families of their own.  The numbers 
seem to indicate, that Charles and 
Deborah Murrie were the parents of at 
least four boys and six girls.
Our Johnson County ancestor Thomas 
Murrie was one of the four sons.  Another 
was William Murrie who settled in Massac 
County about the same time that Thomas 
Murrie was moving to Johnson County.  A 
third son was named Solomon.  The fourth 
was probably James Murrie who stayed in 
North Carolina when other Murries moved 
to Tennessee.  
The names of the daughters of Charles and 
Deborah Murrie are more difficult to 
discover.  Census records do not name 
female members of a household until 
1850.  Marriage records for Murrie 
women in North Carolina could not be 
found so their families could not be traced.  
However a few of the daughters are 
identified through Tennessee records.  
More on this later.
Like thousands of others, Charles and 
Deborah Murrie, their grown children 
including our Johnson County ancestor 
Thomas Murrie, and other relatives left 
North Carolina to find new opportunities in 
the West.  Land records from Caswell 
County, North Carolina show that Charles 
Murrie sold his farm to James Murrie in 
1821.  James Murrie stayed in North 
Carolina for the rest of his life.

Murries In Tennessee

The first record found for a Murrie in 
Tennessee was for William Murrie shown 
in the 1820 census for Humphrey County.  
Charles and Deborah Murrie had a son 
named William and it is possible that he 
was the William Murrie living in Humphrey 
County.  If he was their son, he may have 
encouraged his parents and his brothers 
and sisters to leave North Carolina for 
Tennessee.

Regardless, the whole family was in Henry 
County, Tennessee by the middle 1820s.  
Charles Murrie bought a farm in Henry, 
County in 1826.  Tax records for 1827 
show the Charles Murrie, the Thomas 
Murrie and the William Murrie families 
were living in Henry County, TN and were 
on the tax rolls.  

Charles Murrie died in Henry County about 
1833.  A probate record from the period 
shows that Thomas Redding and William 
Murrie were executors of the estate.  
William Murrie was his son and Thomas 
Redding was his son in law.

Charles Murrie's wife Deborah stayed in 
Henry County until her death in 1845.  She 
left a will in which her children and two 
grandchildren were named.  Each child 
received fifty cents.  These were Thomas 
Murray, William Murray and Solomon 
Murray.  One daughter was Elizabeth 
McCaul.  The other daughter's married 
name was Reden but the first name was 
difficult to read.  It may have been Emily.
Deborah Murrie's grandson Thomas 
Redden was given a horse and saddle.  A 
granddaughter Ashley Murray was left 
household items.  

Murries Migrate to Illinois

The Thomas Murrie family migrated to 
Johnson County in the late 1830s. This 
was a trip of about 100 miles. The move 
included all ten children of Thomas Murrie 
and Margaret Redden (Redding) Murrie.  
These were: Elizabeth, Thompson, William, 
Stanford, Margaret Ann, Mary Ann, 
Washington Jackson, John W., Jefferson 
Monroe, and Charles W.  Deborah Murrie, 
Thomas Murrie's daughter from his first 
marriage, was also with the family.  
Thomas' son James from his first 
marriage remained in Henry County.  
James was in his midtwenties when his 
family moved.  He may have stayed to help 
his widowed grandmother Deborah Murrie 
with her farm.  James Murrie married in 
1844 and eventually came to Southern 
Illinois but settled in Massac County.

Three daughters were born to Thomas 
Murrie and his wife Minta Short Murrie in 
Johnson County.  These were Louisiana, 
Indiana, and Martha.  All three girls 
married in Johnson County but died young.  
There are no descendants of these three.

 Thomas Murrie bought land from the 
federal government on June 1, 1840.  The 
price was $1.25 per acre.  Federal land 
sale records from later dates show many 
purchases of land by his sons and sons in 
law.  Thomas Murrie died in Johnson 
County on September 23, 1865.  All of his 
children except for Margaret Murrie 
Pangburn spent the rest of their lives in 
Johnson County.  Margaret and her 
husband Benjamin Franklin Pangburn sold 
their Johnson County farm in November of 
1851 and moved to Missouri.

Thomas Murrie's brother William Murrie 
sold his farm in Henry County, Tennessee 
in 1840.  He is shown on the tax rolls in 
Massac County in 1843.  William Murrie 
was the father of at least nine children.  
Their names were: Hosea, Deborah, Nicey, 
Mary Charlotte, Charles William, Fannie, 
Green L., Parmelia Caroline, and Martha E. 
Some of these children stayed in Massac 
during their adult lives.  Descendants still 
live there. (Descendants still living in 
Massac are through women – no 
descendant with the last name of Murrie 
lives in Massac)  William Murrie died in 
Massac County on November 15, 1877.  
His burial place is not known. 

Three additional descendants of Charles 
and Deborah Murrie came to Massac 
County in the 1840s.  All three were 
children of Thomas Redden (Redding) and 
his wife.  She was a sister of Thomas and 
William Murrie but her first name is not 
known.  Thomas Redding and his wife died 
in the late 1830s and Deborah Murrie and 
other relatives raised their four daughters 
and one son.  These children were: Arbelia, 
Mary Ann, Sarah Jane, Tabitha, and 
Thomas.  The three that came to Massac 
County were Thomas, Mary Ann, and Sarah 
Jane.

Murries Migrate to 
Kansas, Missouri, 
Oklahoma, and Arkansas

As noted earlier, only one of Thomas 
Murrie's children left Southern Illinois.  This 
was Margaret Murrie Pangburn. The 
Benjamin Franklin Pangburn family is 
shown in Maryville, Missouri in the census 
of 1860.  It is known that Margaret was 
still alive in 1865 because she was named 
an heir to her father's estate.  The 
Pangburns could not be found in the 1870 
census.

In the mid to late 1860s, a group of our 
Massac County ancestors sold their farms 
and moved to Kansas.  The group included 
the Green Murrie family, the Charles 
William Murrie family, the Thomas Redding 
family, and the Irvin and Sarah Jane 
Redding Carson family.  With the exception 
of the Charles William Murrie family, all are 
shown living in Ottawa County Kansas in 
1870.

Reddings and Carsons stayed in Kansas 
for a number of years.  Some of their 
descendants moved to other states west 
of the Mississippi.  Green Murrie couldn't 
seem to stay in one place very long.  After a 
few years in Kansas the family moved to 
Ozark Missouri.  From there they moved to 
Oklahoma where Green Murrie died in 
1892.

The Charles William Murrie family is a bit of 
a mystery.  There is some evidence that 
they went to Kansas but they could not be 
found.  Some of the children were shown in 
Stoddard County, Missouri in the census of 
1870.  Marriage records for the county 
show a marriage between Charles Murray 
and Eveline McCully in 1867.  It is likely that 
this was our Charles Murrie. Some of his 
children were also married in Stoddard 
County Later, members of the family 
migrated to Washington County Arkansas.  
One son eventually moved on to Oklahoma.  
There are several Murrie families in 
Arkansas and Oklahoma today.  All appear 
to be descendants of Charles William 
Murrie.

Murries Return to 
Massac County

Life in Kansas was difficult for settlers.  
Thousands returned to their homes in the 
Midwest.  Three children of Green Murrie 
were back in Massac by the 1870s.  These 
were Elizabeth Jane, Virginia, and Laben.  
Elizabeth Jane and Virginia both married in 
Kansas and returned to Massac with their 
husbands.  Descendants of these two still 
live in Massac.

Laben Murrie was only about thirteen when 
he returned.  He became a very 
prosperous farmer and businessman.  His 
major business was the Murrie lumberyard 
in Metropolis.  Laben Murrie died in 1948 
and is buried in the Masonic Cemetery in 
Metropolis. Laben Murrie and his wife had 
a daughter named Effie.  She married but 
the family moved from Massac and there 
may not be descendants of the couple in 
Southern Illinois.

More on Thomas Murrie

Our Johnson County ancestor Thomas 
Murrie was married four times.  Two of his 
marriages were in North Carolina and two 
were in Illinois.

Thomas Murrie's first wife is not known for 
sure.  He must have married about 1812 
because his first child Deborah  (probably 
named after his mother Deborah Murrie) 
was born in 1813.  A search of North 
Carolina marriage indexes showed only two 
marriages involving a Thomas Murray in 
1812.  The one that is most likely was 
between Thomas Murray and Peggy Eccles 
in Orange County on December 19, 1812.  
The time is right because Deborah Murrie 
was born in 1813.  The location is right 
because Thomas Murrie married his 2nd 
wife Margaret Redden in Orange County.  
As final evidence, consider that Thomas 
Eccles, father of Peggy Eccles, died in 
1818 and left one dollar to his son in law 
Thomas Murray.  The will also mentioned 
"other considerations already made."   
Since Thomas Eccles named his other 
daughters as heirs, one may conclude that 
Peggy was deceased and that Thomas 
Eccles passed along her share to Thomas 
Murray for the benefit of his grandchildren.
 
Thomas Murrie's second marriage was to 
Margaret Redden in Orange County, NC on 
March 28, 1818.  The couple had ten 
children.  All of us who have our roots in 
Johnson County share Margaret Redden 
as our ancestor.  The Murrie and Redden 
(Redding) families must have been close.  
Thomas Murrie had a sister who was 
married to Thomas Redden - likely 
Margaret Redden's brother.  There is 
some evidence of one or two other 
marriages between Reddens and Murries.  
Margaret Redden died in Johnson County 
sometime between 1840 and 1848.  She 
is buried in Murrie cemetery.
 
Thomas Murrie's third marriage was to 
Minta Short in Johnson County on Feb. 1, 
1849.  The couple had three daughters.  
These were Louisiana, Indiana, and 
Martha.  All three married but died young.  
Without checking my records, I can't 
remember if one or two of these Murrie 
women had babies.  I do know that none 
survived and so the line stopped.  No one 
can trace his or her roots back to Minta 
Short Murrie.  Minta is buried in Murrie 
cemetery.
 
The fourth marriage was to Elisabeth 
Huston in Johnson County on January 16, 
1862.  Thomas Murrie died about three 
years later.  No children were born to this 
marriage.  Some years after the death of 
Thomas Murrie, an Elizabeth Murrie died.  I 
expect that this was Thomas Murrie's 
widow.  Jefferson Monroe Murrie was the 
executor of the estate.  Elizabeth Huston 
Murrie was his stepmother.  It is not known 
where she is buried.

The tombstone for Thomas Murrie in 
Murrie Cemetery gives his birth as May 14, 
1797.  The month and day could be 
correct but the year of birth must be an 
error.  

As noted earlier, Thomas Murrie's first 
child was Deborah Murrie Walker.  
Deborah Murrie was born in 1813.  
Thomas Murrie would have only been 
sixteen when she was born and only fifteen 
when she was conceived – possible but not 
likely.

Stronger evidence for an earlier birth 
comes from census records.  The 1850 
census lists Thomas Murrie as age sixty.  
The census of 1860 shows his age as 
sixty-nine.  


B. J. Murrie did research on family history 
a number of years ago.  I seem to 
remember that his notes mentioned a 
family bible.  This may have been the 
source of the May 14, 1797 date.  
Perhaps 1791 was misread as 1797.  If 
anyone is aware of such a bible, a 
photocopy of birth dates, marriages, etc. 
listed would be appreciated.

Family bibles and other records are a 
valuable source for genealogists.  It would 
be greatly appreciated if readers of this 
newsletter would make copies of 
appropriate documents and mail them to 
me.  Acquiring family documents makes 
doing family history more personal and fun.  
Your help will be appreciated.

Ed Murrie
2235 West Acres
Joliet, IL 60435


Emurrie@Home.com