California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 ABRAM HUNTER MURRAY, Sr. Although several generations of the Murray family have made their home in America they still display, in their rugged constitutions and mental traits, the possession of Scotch proclivities inherited from a long line of sturdy ancestors who lived and labored and died in bonnie Scotland. A strong patriotic sentiment and a love for the stirring life of the frontier were predominant characteristics among representatives of the family in the early days of American history. Originally established in the southeast of the Mississippi river, Thomas Murray, who was a native of Tennessee, removed from that state to Missouri. Accompanying him, among other members of his family, was a son bearing the name of Thomas, who was born in Campbell county, Term., January 28, 1797, and who during early manhood served in various wars. During the war of 1812 he went to the front, later served in the Blackhawk war from Missouri and was an officer in the Mormon war. After making his home for a time at Boone's Lick, Cooper county, Mo., he moved to the mouth of the Moniteau river in Cole county, that state, where he ran a ferry across the river and also carried on farm pursuits. About 1843 ne moved to the western part of Missouri and settled in Cass county near the town of West Point, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. Meanwhile, drawn to the west by the discovery of gold, his sons had joined a party of Argonauts, and in 1853 he and his wife, with their three daughters, followed the westward tide of emigration and joined their sons in California, settling at Petaluma, Sonoma county, where he died at the age of eighty-five years. During his residence in Missouri he had served as county judge about fourteen years and there as well as in California he held office as justice of the peace for many years. The marriage of Thomas Murray, Jr., united him with Barbara Hunter, who was born in Powell's valley, Tenn., July 7, 1797, and died at Cloverdale, Sonoma county, Cal., at eighty-four years of age. The family of which she was a member crossed the ocean from Germany to Vir- ginia in an early day and her father. Abram Hunter, removed from the Old Dominion to Tennessee, where he engaged in farm pursuits. Of her marriage twelve children were born, namely: Mary M. (commonly called Polly), Mrs. Walker, who died at Santa Rosa, this state; Margaret, Mrs. Hensley, who died in Madera county; Jane C, wife of Enoch Enloe, and de- ceased in Cole county, Mo. ; Emily M., Mrs. Hugh Enloe, a resident of Inyo county, Cal. ; Abram H v Sr., who was with one exception the earliest settler of Tulare county; Urith, Mrs. Orr, who died in California ; Barbara Ann, Mrs. Williams, of San Diego county; Joshua H., who came to California in 1850, engaged in farming for years, and eventually died at Visalia ; Josephine, who died at the age of ten years ; Rachel, Mrs. Clark, a resident of Santa Rosa ; Sarah E., Mrs. Stanleys living in Humboldt county, this state; and Hannah Retta, Mrs. Cooper, of Cloverdale. At the home farm, ten miles west of Jefferson City, in Cole county, Mo., Abram Hunter Mur- ray, Sr., was born January 17, 1827. From the age of sixteen years he was a resident of Cass county, Mo., until his removal to California. April 25, 1844, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah T. Hensley, who was born in Cole county. Mo., July 4, 1824. His father, Hon. John Hensley, a native of Tennessee and a pioneer of Missouri, passed through St. Louis when it was still under the Spanish government. For a time he lived in Gasconade county, that state, but later became a pioneer farmer of Cole county. A man of large ability and possessing the qualities qualifying him for leadership, he was three times elected to represent his district in the state senate, where his record was that of an honorable official and progressive citizen. After having engaged in farming and stockraising in Cass county for some years, Mr. Mur- ray decided to remove to the coast. In 1852, accompanied by his wife and three children, he crossed the plains with ox-teams and driving a herd of cattle. On the 19th of April the journey was begun. After leaving Missouri the party traveled up the Platte, thence along the overland trail, and down the Humboldt, then into California by the Carson river route. After a few weeks in Stockton they came up the San Joaquin valley in the then wilderness of Tulare county. S. C. Brown had arrived here a few days before Mr. Murray and they were the only men in all the country. As early as 1850 a Mr. Woods had sought to establish a home here and had built a log hut, but he had been killed by the Indians and seventeen of his men met a similar fate, only one escaping to tell the story of their massacre. The town of Woodville in Tulare county was named in honor of this first settler. Selecting land in what is now the western part of Visalia, Mr. Murray engaged in farm- ing and stock-raising on an extensive scale. From the state and government he bought eigh- teen thousand acres of land, but this he afterward lost through business reverses. He was also unfortunate in losing a large number of sheep during the dry years. In 1879 he removed to The Dalles, Ore., where he was engaged in steamboating and the wood business. However, finding the winters too cold in that climate, he returned to the San Joaquin valley and settled on a tract of two hundred acres. Much of this property has been sold, but he still retains forty acres in vineyard and alfalfa. Politically he is a Democrat and fraternally holds membership with the Masons, being connected with Visalia Lodge No. 128, F. & A. M., of which he was twice elected master; and in addition he is a demitted Chapter Mason. In religion he was liberal, but generous to all denominations and especially interested in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which his wife was a member. Mrs. Murray died July 8, 1902, and since then her place at the old homestead has been filled by her eldest child, Mary F., wife of William J. Adams, who was a California pioneer of 1859. The other children are as follows : Thomas H., who fol- lows ranching near the Toll Gate in Fresno county; John H., also a rancher of Fresno county; Commodore P., a retired rancher in Humboldt county ; Jackson C, who carries on a ranch in Fresno county ; Barbara E., Mrs. Taylor, who died in Tulare county at her home on the White river; and A. H., Jr., court reporter, and a resident of Visalia.