yesterday's tennessee

MCMURRAY FAMILY

Chaper XIV

Although I am now 71 years of age, and a native of Clay County, Texas, nevertheless I am of Decatur County origin.

For that reason I am sending you all the available information that I have regarding my family on both the maternal and paternal sides, with the hope that it will be of some benefit to you, so that I may hereafter call upon you and your associates to help me open up some of the blind alleys that still exist.

My paternal great grandfather Robert McMurray was born in North Carolina in either 1790 or 1791 and died in Decatur County in 1876. His wife was Frances A. Runnels. He had a brother James McMurry, born in 1794 and died in 1870, whose wife was Gilley Runnels, who was a sister to the wife of Robert McMurry.

These two brothers are buried along with their wives and several descendants in the McMurry Family Cemetery in the Bible Hill Community, in Decatur County.

Robert and Frances McMurry had eight (8) children as follows:

1. Thomas McMurry (My Grandfather)
2. Antoinette McMurry Laster
3. John McMurry
4. William McMurry
5. Robert McMurry
6. Mary McMurry
7. Gilly McMurry
8. Andrew Jackson McMurry

Several of these are also buried in the McMurry Family Cemetery.

My Grandfather Thomas McMurry was born in 1818 in Tennessee and died in Tupelo, Miss. in 1862, several months after he was wounded at the battle of Shiloh. In 1849 he was married to Paulina West, and they had the following children:

1. Frances Isabel McMurry Westbrooks 1850-1936
2. Josephone McMurry 1852-1874
3. Mary Susan McMurry Arnold Burkett 1855-1938
4. Robert Henry McMurry 1857-1931 - My Father
5. William Conn McMurry 1859-1948

After my great grandfather Robert McMurry died in 1876 his property was divided between the children of Thomas McMurry and the surviving children of Robert McMurry, and in 1877 my father and his eldest sister Mrs. Samuel Wesbrooks and his brother left Decatur County and came to Clay County, Texas. However in 1885 my father returned to Decatur County, and lived there until 1893. During this period he taught several schools in Decatur County.

In 1888 my father was married to Eudora Victoria Long, daughter of Gloud Finley Long and wife Flora Ann Shoemaker Long. They moved to Clay County, Texas in 1893, where they remained for the rest of their lives. I am their youngest son.

I am related to the following Decatur County families, either by blood or marriage, to-wit: McMurry, Long, Houston, Arnold, West, Westbrooks, Shoemaker, Rains, Carrington, and perhaps others.

 I am a first Cousin on my Mother's side to the late K.K. Houston, Hary Long, J. C. Connie Long, and Russell Long.

On my Father's side I am a second Cousin of Mr. J. A. McMurry of the Bible Hill Community. He descends from the original Robert McMurry, through his son John.

I have made many attempts to determine where in North Carolina my Great Grandfather Robert McMurry was born, but I have been unable to get any information. Also I do not know when he came to Decatur County, but I suspect that it was prior to 1845 when Decatur was partitioned from Perry County. He definitely was in Decatur County in the census of 1850. It is my understanding that his brother James (1794-1870) left a large number of descendants, and it is possible that some of them might have this information.

Reverting to my Mother's side, her Father G. F. Long was born in 1821 and died in 1897 in Decatur County. The only information I have as to his Father was that his name was Hugh Washington Long, and that he also came from North Carolina. He was also in Decatur County in 1850, as shown in the census.