MURDOCK MURCHISON AND SARAH HOGUE ROSS
FAMILY BIBLE RECORD
Submitted by James B. Evans & Richard Murchison
As Requested by the Selma Historical Foundation
Selma, Texas
Murdock Murchison was born March 15th, 1801.
Murdock Murchison married Sarah Ross, on November 22nd, 1819.
Sarah Ross was born November 13th, 1799.
CHILDREN:
1. Charles Walker Murchison, b. Feby. 26th, 1820 [Photo below]
2. John McCollough Murchison, b. Sept. 5th, 1822
3. George Newton Murchison, b. June 16th, 1824
4. Morgan Hood Murchison, b. June 9th, 1826
5. Elizabeth Jane Murchison, b. Jany. 18th, 1828
6. Nancy Ann Murchison, b. March 12th, 1830 [Photo]
7. Eleanor Frances Murchison, b. June 16th, 1831
8. Catherine Murchison, b. Feby. 1st, 1833
9. Rebecca Wilmot Murchison, b. Aug. 12th, 1835 [Photo]
10. Mary Ann Murchison, b. Dec. 27th, 1836
11. William Ross Murchison, b. June 16th, 1838
12. Margaret Hester Murchison, b. June 1st, 1839
13. Robert Wilson Murchison, b. Feby. 7th, 1840
14. Isaac Ross Murchison, b. June 6th, 1841?
MARRIAGES:
Charles W. Murchison and Amanda McAlister were married April 2nd, 1846.
John McCollough Murchison and Margaret Isabella Pearce were married by Robt. D. Wyche, September 19th, 1850.
Eleanor Frances Murchison and David H. Coleman were married April 1st, 1852.
Catherine Murchison and William P. Whitaker were married December 15th, 1853.
Elizabeth Jane Murchison and James Weston Smith were married September 18th, 1855.
Nancy Ann Murchison and William Anderson Haile were married September 18th, 1855.
Rebecca Wilmot Murchison and Robert B. Evens were married February 23d, 1858.
Margaret Hester Murchison and Ashley N. Denton were married June 25th, 1861.
THE ROSS FAMILY:
George Ross, father of Sarah Ross, was born July 16th, 1760.
Elizabeth J. Ross, mother of Sarah Ross, was born September 19th, 1765.
DEATHS:
William Ross Murchison, d. Aug. 6th, 1838
Isaac Ross Murchison, d. June 9th, 1843
Mary Ann Murchison, d. Aug. 17th, 1846 (at 10:00 o’clock at night, buried 18th, funeral services by Rev. N. Nichols – very dim.)
George Ross, father of Sarah Ross, died August 21st, 1846.
Elizabeth J. Ross, mother of Sarah Ross, died August 17th, 1826.
William P. Whittaker died April 27th, 1856.
Sarah Murchison, died June 26th, 1859.
Murdock Murchison, died Feby. 4th, 1881.
Joe Naile [Joel/Joe W. Haile], died November 18th, 1879.
Kate Boon, died May 2nd, 1880.
Etta Denton, died September 25th, 1886. [NOTE: Henrietta Russell [Etta] Denton died 18 September 1880.]
Ann Naile [Nancy Ann Murchison Haile], died October 19th, 1880.
Arthur Denton, died May 31st, 1881.
Margaret Hester Murchison Denton, died March 16th, 1921 at Austin, Texas.
John M. Murchison, died December 13th, 1898.
Elizabeth Jane Murchison Smith died ----------
Morgan H. Murchison, died November 6th, 1893.
Charles W. Murchison, died September 21st, 1909.
Margaret Hester, died October 31st, 1853.
The above information was taken from entries made in the Murdock Murchison family Bible, loaned me by Mr. Ashley Newton Denton, Jr., a son of Margaret Hester Murchison Denton, and Ashley N. Denton, Sr.
The entries were, in a few instances, quite dim, and there may be some errors. The Bible was published in 1826.
[NOTE: Louise Cox [Mrs. Lemuel Bascomb Cox, Jr.], Ozona, Texas, included this information in a 20 May 1935 letter to Mr. (?Kenneth, Sr.) Murchison.]
pp. 101-2 in Murchison Family, compiled by Kenneth Murchison, Sr. and Margaret Scruggs-Carruth. Manuscript, Dallas, Texas, 1949.
Photos Contributed by Richard Murchison & James B. Evans
As Requested by the Selma Historical Foundation
Selma, Texas
Son of Murdoch Murchison
Son of Charles Walker Murchison
Mary Alice Murchison Hartley
Daughter of Charles Walker Murchison
Murdock Murchison was born 15 March 1801 in North Carolina. According to Murchison family tradition, his father, Kenneth, died shortly after Murdock's birth. Kenneth's widow then married [unknown] Hester by whom she had two children: [1] Jane who married Dr Massey or Massie and [2] John who died as a young man, leaving two children, Mollie and Willie. Marriage, tax, probate and census records for Rusk County, Texas corroborate the Hester connection. One of the Murdock Murchison family record variants recorded the death of Margaret Murchison Hester on 31 October 1853. [NOTE: Three other family record variants report death of Margaret Hester.] A. A. Watson, county judge of Hardin County, Tennessee, stated Margaret Murchison Hester was buried at Selma, Texas. This place of burial is unverified. At the time of the 1850 census, William Hester, 67, and Margaret, 69, were living in household 923 in Rusk County, Texas. Both were born in North Carolina. A letter dated 29 April 1848 from John McCullough Murchison also documents the Hester connection: "Grandfather and Mother are well and John Hester and family are well and D. Massie and family and Stubblefield family are well and Daniel G. Hester and family.” [My interpretation is that "Grandfather and Mother" refers to William and Margaret Hester. JBE]
According to family tradition, the Kenneth Murchison family moved to Tennessee from North Carolina about 1810. Kenneth Murchison and Murdock Murchison were recorded on the 1812 Bedford County, Tennessee tax roll. Being enumerated on the tax roll indicated that both men were of age. [NOTE: My interpretation: Kenneth was the father of Murdock [1801-1881]; and Murdock [ca 1772-ca 1835] on the tax roll was Kenneth’s brother who married Lucy McIntosh. JBE] Murdock Murchison married Sarah Hogue Ross 22 November 1819. She was born 13 November 1799, a daughter of George Ross [1760-1846] and Elizabeth Jane Walker [1765-1826]. Sarah's sister, Elizabeth Dailey Ross, married Simon Murchison, Murdock Murchison's first cousin. Murdock and Sarah Ross Murchison had the following children: Charles Walker Ross Murchison [26 February 1820-21 September 1909]; John McCollough or McCullough Murchison [05 September 1822-13 December 1899]; George Newton Murchison [16 June 1824-29 November 1916]; Morgan Hood Murchison [09 June 1826-06 November 1893]; Elizabeth Jane Murchison [18 January 1828-08 June 1907]; Nancy Ann Murchison [12 March 1830-18 October 1880]; Eleanor Francis Murchison [16 June 18311867]; Catherine Cook Murchison [0l February 1833-02 May 1880]; Rebecca Wilcox or Wilmot Murchison [12 August 1835-26 August 1908]; Mary Ann Murchison [27 December 1836-17 August 1846]; William Ross Murchison [16 June 1838-06 August 1838]; Margaret Hester Murchison [0l June 1839-16 March 1921]; Robert Wilson Murchison [07 February 1841-29 May 1923]; and Isaac Ross Murchison [06 June 1841-09 June 1843].
The 1830 census for Wayne County, Tennessee recorded Murdock Murkison or Murkerson as head of family with one male 0-5 years, three males 5-10 years, one male 20-30 years, two females 0-5 years and one female 30-40 years which corresponds to information in the Murchison family Bible. [1830 Census Wayne County, Tennessee, p. 292.] A “William Hester” was recorded on the 1830 census for Wayne County with one male 5-10 years, one male 40-50, one female 5-10 years and one female 40-50. The Hester information is basically consistent with ages for William Hester and Margaret Murchison Hester on the 1850 census record for Rusk County and estimated ages for the Hester children, Jane and John.
1836 tax records place Murdok Merkesson in Marshall County, Mississippi, located on the border with Tennessee. He was assessed one white poll tax of 37½¢. In 1837, Merdoch Merchison was assessed one white poll for tax of 37½¢ in Marshall County. There are no further tax records for Murdock Murchison in Marshall County; Daniel Murchison was recorded on the tax rolls 1837-1839, 1841, 1843 and 1846. Daniel Murchison [1804-1882], son of Murdock and Lucy McIntosh Murchison, lived near Holly Springs, Marshall County. Kenneth Murchison, probably Daniel's brother, was recorded on 1839 tax roll for Marshall County. Daniel and Kenneth Murchison were Murdock’s [1801-1881] first cousins.
No Murchisons were named on tax rolls of Lafayette County, immediately south of Marshall County, until the 1842 record for Charles W. Murchison. Robert and William Stubblefield who had Murchison connections in Hardin County, Tennessee and Rusk and Houston counties in Texas were recorded on the 1842 and 1843 tax records for Lafayette County. In 1843, John J. Osment was assessed one poll tax of 50¢ in Lafayette County; his first wife was Isabella [Ibby] Murchison, a daughter of Murdock and Lucy McIntosh Murchison.
At the time of the 1840 census, the M. Murchison family was living in Lafayette County, Mississippi. The family consisted of one male between 10 and 15, 3 males between 15 and 20, one male between 30 and 40, three females under 5, two females between 5 and 10, two females between 10 and 15 and one female between 40 and 50. This conforms to information in the Murdock and Sarah Ross Murchison family record except for one extra female between 10 and 15. In 1843, M------ [First name is illegible except first letter.] Murchison was assessed one poll tax, $0.50, in Lafayette County. On 23 May 1846, a probate order for the estate of Samuel Harmon in Lafayette County, Mississippi named three appraisers: William Chappel, M. Murchison and David Childress. The Murchison family moved from Lafayette County, Mississippi, to Rusk County, Texas between May 1846 and April 1848. A. A. Watson, county judge of Hardin County, Tennessee, wrote, "Murchison [family] mov[ed] with related families into Texas about 1849. Over 100 wagons gathered in Wayne Co., Tn and settled in Rusk Co. Tx. Then to Bexar, Crockett."
William Hester appeared on the 1830 census for Hardin County, Tennessee with one male and one female between 5 and 10 and one male and one female between 40 and 50. William Hester was head of a household of seventeen people in the 1840 census for Hardin County. By 1842 William Hester had moved to Rusk County, Texas where he was first assessed taxes on a slave more than 10 years old. D. G. Hester was recorded on the 1844 Rusk County tax roll. In 1845, John A. Hester was assessed one poll tax of $0.50 in Rusk County. John A. Hester also had taxable property in Rusk County in 1847 and 1848. John A. Hester died 1848, based on Rusk County probate index. [NOTE: The Rusk County Probate Index survived a courthouse fire; however, the probate records were destroyed.]
On 29 April 1848, John McCollough Murchison, then living in. Rusk County, Texas, wrote his brother Charles Walker in Lafayette County, Mississippi that the Murdock Murchison family had bought between 1300 and 1500 acres of land in Harrison County, paying fifty cents per acre. The letter reported twenty five acres of land had been cleared and three cabins built. The area was "fine stock country... The clover is pretty much all over the woods and wild onions to any amount almost and there is a kind of plum here they call Hog Plum. They grow about two feet or two and a half high and the hogs get fat on them, and there is a kind of grape here that grows as large as a muscadine. They are very plenty [sic]." In 1849, Murdock Murchison was first assessed Rusk County, Texas taxes on 160 acres, J. A. Hester survey, valued at $160. Murdock Murchison's sons were also named on the Rusk County tax rolls: John Murchison with 297 acres, valued at $297, and a watch, $5, and G. N. Murchison with a gun, valued at $12. On 31 October 1849, Daniel G. Hester sold John McMurchison 296 acres of land, part of Gideon McCowdry survey, for $296. Murdock Murchison and George N. Murchison witnessed the deed. [Rusk County, Texas Deeds, Vol. F, pp. 391- 2]
At the time of the 1850 census, the Murdock Murchison family was living in Rusk County, Texas. The household included: Murdock, 50, farmer, born in North Carolina with property valued at $2500; Sarah, 51, born in Tennessee; George Newton, 26, with property valued at $300; Morgan H., 24; Elizabeth J., 22; Nancy Ann, 20; Ellen F. [Eleanor Frances], 18; Catherine, 17; Rebecca, 15; Margaret, 11; and Robert W., 9. According to this census all the children were born in Tennessee although this is inconsistent with other evidence. [1850 census Rusk County, Texas, Rusk District, 386/386] Household number 387 belonged to “John McMurchison", a 28 year old school teacher, born in Tennessee with property valued at $1000, and Isabella, a 22 year old woman born, in Tennessee. "John McMurchison" was John McCollough Murchison who married Mrs. Margaret Isabelle [Isabella] Dickson Pearce. Kenneth Murchison, a 40 year old farmer born in Tennessee, Murdock's cousin, was head of household 388.
Other Murchisons in Rusk County recorded in the 1850 census included household 357 headed by Isabella Murchison, a 21 year old woman born in Tennessee, and Sarah Dixon, a 12 year old born in Arkansas. This is a duplicate listing for John McCullough Murchison’s wife. John M. Murchison was head of household number 358; he was described as a 28 year old teacher with property valued at $800 from Tennessee; this is also a duplicate listing. This household also included W.C. Wright, a 27 year old farmer born in Tennessee, with property valued at $2000; Martha Jane Wright, a 1 year old female born in Texas; and William H. Cole, a 24 year old man born in Tennessee. Simon Murchison, son of Murdock and Lucy McIntosh Murchison, was head of household number 379 in Rusk County. His wife, Elizabeth Dailey Ross, was Sarah Hogue Ross Murchison's sister. Daniel Hester was head of household 380. William Hester, 67, was head of household number 923 with wife Margaret Hester, 69; both were born in North Carolina.
In the early 1850’s the Murdock Murchison family settled on Cibolo Creek near Selma, Texas. The earliest deed for Murdock Murchison in Guadalupe County was dated 15 March 1854 when he bought 583 acres from Isaiah A. Paschal of Bexar County, paying $350. The land was on the east bank of Cibolo Creek adjacent to land owned by John M. Murchison. The deed stated that Murdock Murchison was from Guadalupe County. [Guadalupe County, Texas Deeds, Vol. E, pp. 310-1]
Texas Scholastics [census] 1854-1855 for Guadalupe County reported Murdock Murchison was the parent of two school-age children, ages between 6 and l6, Margaret and Robert. On 30 June 1859, San Antonio Daily Herald, Sarah H. Murchison, "consort of Murdock Murchison, Esq., postmaster at Selma” died 25 June 1859. She was the first member of the family to be buried in the Evans Cemetery, Selma, Guadalupe County on Cibolo Creek. Although the Sarah Murchison obituary indicated Murdock was a postmaster at Selma, he was not recorded on official lists for Selma or Cibolo. M. Hood Murchison was postmaster at Selma from 10 August 1857 until 19 July 1859.
The Murchison and Haile letters written from 1867 to 1869 frequently mentioned Murdock Murchison. On 22 January 1867, Callie Murchison wrote that her husband’s place had nearly been destroyed during the Civil War. The letter states, “Pa has come up to help Mr. Murchison [George N.] build another room which we are needing very bad.” On 22 August 1867, William A. Haile wrote to Allie Murchison, “Your Aunt Maggie Denton lives at Sutherland Springs twenty miles south of this. Your Grand Pa lives with her.” William and Nancy Haile wrote on 21 June 1868, “Your Grand Pa Murchison is up on a visit now, his health is good.” In an October 1868 letter Callie Murchison commented, “Pa is here with me now, putting up a smokehouse. He is putting up rock which will be a lasting house and good too. He is very well now.” Later in the same letter, “Your Uncle Robert has moved to himself. He built where your Grand Pa used to live, which is a quarter of a mile from us.” In the last letter dated 28 February 1869, William and Nancy Murchison Haile wrote, “We are all tolerable well except your Grand pa Murchison who is very unwell with the erisipelis in the side, he has been sick three or four weeks and he is confined to his bed most of the time.” [NOTE: The modern definition of erysipelas: a bacterial skin infection caused by Streptococcus. An alternative diagnosis is shingles.]
On 08 January 1868, Murdock Murchison of Wilson County, Texas sold his son George N. Murchison 142 acres in Guadalupe County on Cibolo Creek for $150. This land was adjacent to a tract owned by Robert W. Murchison. W. A. Haile and J. Weston Smith, Murdock's sons-in-law, witnessed the deed. [Guadalupe County, Texas Deeds, Vol. K, pp. 728-9.] On 09 January 1868, Murdock Murchison sold R. W. Murchison 142 acres of the Herrera survey. [Guadalupe County, Texas Deeds, Vol. K, pp. 726-7.] Murdock Murchison eluded the censuses of 1860, 1870 and 1880. Murdock Murchison died 04 February 1881 and was buried in the Evans Cemetery, Selma, Guadalupe County on Cibolo Creek on the homestead. An obituary in Texas Christian Advocate on 09 April 1881 stated Murdock Murchison had been "a member of the society at Selma, and a class-leader and steward. For more than fifty years he had been a devoted Methodist and most of that time had held official positions in the church."
Bexar County, Texas Tax Records 1850-1872.
Guadalupe County, Texas Tax Records 1850-1886.
Haile, William A. 22 August 1867 letter to Mary Alice [Allie] Murchison. [collection of Prentiss M. Hartley, Brandon, Mississippi.]
Haile, William A., and Nancy Murchison Haile. 21 June 1868 letter to Mary Alice [Allie] Murchison. [collection Prentiss M. Hartley, Brandon, Mississippi.]
Haile, William A. and Nancy Murchison Haile. 28 February 1869 letter to Mary Alice [Allie] Murchison. [collection Prentiss M. Hartley, Brandon, Mississippi.]
Harrison County, Texas Tax Records 1846-1851.
Lafayette County, Mississippi Tax Records 1836-1846
Lu, Helen Mason. Texas Methodist Newspaper Abstracts. Dallas, Texas: Dallas Genealogical Society, 1987 [microfiche] and 1992.
Marshall County, Mississippi. Tax Records 1835-1891. [Fragmentary records with many years missing]
"Murchison" in Texas Christian Advocate, 09 April 1881. [Murdock Murchison’s obituary]
Murchison, Carolina [Callie]. 22 January 1867 letter to Allie Murchison. [Collection Prentiss M. Hartley, Brandon, Mississippi]
Murchison, Carolina [Callie]. 27 October 1868 letter to Mary Alice [Allie] Murchison. [collection Prentiss M. Hartley, Brandon, Mississippi]
Murchison, John McCullough. 29 April 1848 letter to Charles W. and Amanda Murchison. [collection of William Polk Murchison, Dallas, Texas, ex collection Kenneth Murchison, Sr.]]
Murchison, Kenneth, Sr. and Margaret Ann Scruggs-Carruth. Murchison Family. Manuscript, 1949, pp. 101-5.
Poemer, Arlen Steubing, et al. Lest We Forget Cemeteries of Comal County, Texas and Surrounding Areas. New Braunfels, Texas: Comal County Genealogy Society, 1989.
Rusk County, Texas Tax Records 1843-1851.
San Antonio Daily Herald, 30 June 1859, p. 2. [brief obituary for Sarah Hogue Ross Murchison]
Texas Scholastic Census for Guadalupe County 1854-5
Watson, A. A. "Murchison Family" [brief unpublished error-laden manuscript of the Ross, Murchison and related families in Hardin County, Tennessee. A. A. Watson was county judge of Hardin County.]
Wheat, Jim. Postmasters and Post Offices of Texas 1846-1930. [microfilm at Dallas Public Library]
White, Gifford E. Texas Scholastics, 1854-1855: A State Census of School Children: Copied from the Originals in the Archives Division, Texas State Library, Austin Texas. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, ca 1991.
Murchison, Sarah H., died at Selma, in Bexar County on Sunday last [June 25th], aged 60 years, and consort of Murdoch Murchison, Esq., postmaster of that place.
30 June 1859, San Antonio Daily Herald, p. 2, col. b.
MURCHISON - At the second quarterly conference of Cibolo circuit of San Antonio District of the West Texas Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, held at Sandy Elm school house, March 19, 1881, the pastor announced the death on the 4th of February, 1881, of Murdoch Murchison, aged eighty years, a member of the society at Selma, and a class-leader and steward. For more than fifty years he had been a devoted Methodist, and most of that time had held official positions in the church. On motion, a committee of three was appointed to prepare suitable resolutions expressive of the feelings of this conference in the loss sustained in the death of so faithful and efficient a member of the church. The committee reported as follows, which was adopted:
WHEREAS, It has pleased the great head of the church to removed, by death, from the church militant to the church triumphant, our beloved Brother Murchison, after a long and remarkably useful life; therefore, be it
Resolved, That while we deeply lament our loss, we will endeavor to bow with submission to the divine command that has released our brother from his labor on earth and admitted him to his reward in heaven.
Resolved, That as officers in the church we will endeavor to imitate his zeal for the cause of God, his love for the church, and his devotion to duty.
Resolved, That we sympathize with the church of which he was a member, and with his large circle of relatives, and hereby tender to them our condolence.
Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be sent to the Texas Christian Advocate for publication, with a request that the Nashville Christian Advocate copy the same. Respectfully submitted.
James McCann
N. M. Newton
R. D. McGee
Committee.
