Charles and Deborah Murrie were in Maryland as early as 1790.  It is not known if they were born in America or if they immigrated.  The couple or their ancestors were likely among the thousands of ScotsIrish who came to America in the 1700s.  These were people whose own ancestors were originally from Scotland but who had immigrated to Ireland in the 1600s. Most were poor and had to borrow money for passage.  After a period of indenture, many bought or rented small farms.  ScotsIrish settled in the Eastern part of the U.S. By the early 1800s many migrated to "western states" such as Kentucky and Tennessee.  Charles and Deborah Murrie were among them.

Charles Murrie was born about 1768 and his wife Deborah was born about 1770.  The couple lived in Maryland but moved to Caswell County, North Carolina by 1800.  They sold their farm to James Murrie in 1821 and moved to Henry County, Tennessee.  Census reports and tax records show that other family members also relocated to Henry County in the 1820s.  Charles Murrie died in Henry County about 1833.  Deborah stayed in Henry County until her death in 1845.

Census records show that Charles and Deborah Murrie were the parents of six girls and four boys.  The older children were born in Maryland in the 1790s.  The younger children were born in North Carolina.  Census records for families prior to 1850 only noted the name of the head of household and the number of males and females in the home. As a result, other documentation had to be found to determine the names of their children.  There is clear evidence that Thomas, William, and Solomon were the names of three sons. The fourth son was probably James.  Daughters identified from other documents were: Elizabeth, Emily, Sarah, Nancy and Mary.  Another daughter may have been named Telia.  Telia and Sarah may be the same person.

Thomas Murrie was born about 1791 in Maryland.  He married four times and was the father of  fifteen children.  His first marriage produced two children but his wife died young and he married Margaret Redden (Redding) in Orange County, North Carolina in 1818. This marriage produced ten children. The couple moved to Henry County, Tennessee in the early 1820s.  After farming there until the late 1830s,  the family moved about one hundred miles north to Johnson County, Illinois.  Margaret died and Thomas married a third time and fathered three daughters.  He did not have children with his fourth wife.  Those of us who trace our Murrie ancestry to Johnson County are all descendants of Thomas and Margaret Redden Murrie.  The couple are buried in Murrie cemetery near Vienna, Illinois.

William Murrie was born about 1792 in Maryland.  He and his family also migrated from North Carolina to Tennessee in the early 1820s.  Like his brother Thomas, William Murrie moved to Southern Illinois about 1840.  He settled in Massac County.  (Massac County adjoins Johnson County.)  William was the father of at least nine children.  He farmed in Massac and stayed until his death in 1877.  By the late 1860s many Americans began to move west of the Mississippi in search of cheap or free land. Charles and Greene Murrie, sons of William Murrie, were among these homesteaders.  Greene Murrie farmed in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma during his life. Some of his children must not have liked life on the frontier and returned to Massac County.  Charles Murrie could not be found after he moved from Massac but a number of his children were in Stoddard County Missouri in the 1870s.  They eventually moved on to Washington County, Arkansas.

Elizabeth Murrie was born in North Carolina about 1805.  She moved with her parents to Henry County Tennessee where she married John Milton McCall about 1825.  The couple joined the Mormon Church in 1838.  In 1839 Joseph Smith and other members of the church established a colony in Nauvoo, Illinois.  John and Elizabeth Murrie McCall and their children migrated to this new settlement and are shown there in the census of 1840.  While in Nauvoo, Elizabeth Murrie McCall "baptized by proxy" her father Charles Murry, her sister Sarah Ridden, her sister Nancy Comer and her sister Mary Brown.  (Mormons believe that baptism is required for salvation and so they baptize deceased relatives.).  In early 1846 Brigham Young decided that Mormons should leave Nauvoo.  John and Elizabeth McCall apparently left Illinois at that time but could not be found in later census records for Utah.  However, some of their children “followed the Saints” and were in Utah as early as 1855.  Martha Mariah McCall and her husband John Theodore Montague arrived in Utah in the late 1860s and settled in Payson.  Many descendants of this couple stayed in the Payson area.  Others moved to Idaho, California, and other Western states.

One daughter of Charles and Deborah Murrie was married to Thomas Redding (Redden).  Her first name is in question.  She is identified as Telia Murrey by one researcher but no proof is given.  It’s also possible that her first name was Sarah.  (See notes above -  Elizabeth McCall baptized by proxy her sister Sarah Ridden).  At any rate, the couple died leaving four daughters and a son.  The son Thomas Redding and one of the daughters Sarah Jane Redding Carson (Irvin Enloe Carson) eventually moved to Massac County, Illinois.  Like their uncles Greene Murrie and Charles Murrie, the Carsons and Reddings moved to Kansas in the late 1860s.  Another daughter named Tabitha married Bartlett Simmons in Tennessee.  Some of their children were in Texas by 1870.

Emily Reden is named as an heir in the will of Deborah Murrie.  The only Redden family still in Henry County, Tennessee at the time of Deborah Murrie’s death was headed by James Redden.  His wife is identified in later documents as Millie Redden.  It is likely that Millie and Emily are the same person.  The widow Millie Redden and her children moved to Massac County and settled near descendants of Charles and Deborah Murrie.  Several Reddens from this family are buried in Vienna Fraternal Cemetery in Johnson County.  Three graves identified only as Redden women may be found in Murrie Cemetery in Johnson County.

Solomon Murrie is identified as an heir in the will of Deborah Murrie and his name appears in several documents of the period.  However, he could not be found after the middle 1840s.

James Murrie is not named in Deborah Murrie’s will but  was probably her son. James and his wife Tabitha Browning Murrie remained in Caswell County North Carolina when other Murries moved to Tennessee in the early 1820s.

Mary Murrie Brown and Nancy Murrie Comer could not be found in any documents.  There names are only known because their sister Elizabeth Murrie McCall baptized them by proxy in the Mormon church.  Since only the dead could be baptized by proxy and since neither is mentioned in the will of Deborah Murrie it is likely that both died before the middle 1840s.