|
(Source: History of Guernsey County, Ohio by Col. Cyrus P. B.
Sarchet - Illustrated - Vol. I. B. F. Bowden & Company,
Indianapolis, Indiana - 1911
NOTE: As
always, if there is a particular biography that you want
transcribed,
Please CONTACT ME.
~ Sharon W.
ALEXANDER ROBERT MURRAY.
Prominently connected with the business affairs of Cambridge is
Alexander Robert Murray, of the National Bank of
Cambridge. He was born on Feb. 28, 1843, in Pictou county,
Nova Scotia, the son of James and Isabella (Reid) Murray.
The parents of James Murray were James and Isabella
(Shepherd) Murray, and his wife was the daughter of James
and Anna (Taylor) Reid. Both families were of Scotch
parentage, originally of Bauff county, Scotland.
Grandfather James Murray was a Baptist minister, and
after coming to Cambridge preached in the old Baptist Church.
The Murrays were formerly Presbyterians, and one of the
Murray great-grandfathers was a delegate to the
Presbyterian Reformation convention. The Shepherds
were farmers in Scotland and held one farm for over tow hundred
and fifty years, the record being broken by Henry Shepherd,
about 1890. Great-grandfather Shepherd was what
they called a progressive farmer and tried to keep up with the
advanced spirit of the times. He was the first man to
introduce what was called the "bobtailed thresher" in his
section of the country, a greatly improved piece of machinery of
its time for threshing grain. The Taylors were
merchants and professional men, and are today prominent in the
legal profession and in politics.
James Murray, the father of Alexander Robert,
was a ship-builder and ship launcher of prominence, and
came to Nova Scotia with his family about 1830, where he was
engaged in his work. While launching a large vessel he was
seriously injured, from which he never recovered and which
incapacitated him for his work. The family left Nova
Scotial in 1850, and came to Lowell, Massachusetts, where the
son, Alexander Robert, first attended school at Draket
schoolhouse, where Gen. Benjamin F. Butler once taught.
In 1851 they came to Cambridge, Ohio, coming by lake to
Cleveland, from Cleveland to Newcomerstown by canal, and from
Newcomerstown to Cambridge by wagon. They arrived at
Cambridge after dark on a cold and snowy day in November, cold
and hungry, and stopped at the Needham house, which was
located on the south side of Wheeling, between Eight and Ninth
streets, where the Orme and Hoge buildings now
stand. With the family came the grandfather, Rev. James
Murray, the grandmother having died before the family left
Scotland. In about 1840 three brothers of the father,
William, Alexander and Robert, with their families,
had come to Guernsey county, and were farmers and carpenters.
The father died on Feb. 1, 1852, as a result of injuries
sustained when launching a vessel in Nova Scotia. Both the
paternal and maternal ancestry were noted for their longevity,
many of them living to be pat eighty and ninety years of age.
James and Isabella (Reid) Murray, were the
parents of six children: Anna, who married
Samuel W. Moore; James, of Los Angeles, California;
Mary, who married George W. Gibbs, and, after his
death, John McKennie; John R., a brave soldier during the
Civil war, who married Susan White; Alexander Robert; and
Isabella, who is the wife of Jedediah Williams, of
Cambridge.
Alexander Robert Murray for almost a year
following the arrival of the family in Cambridge was kept at
home by a severe sickness, following which he attended the
Cambridge public schools. When about fifteen years
of age he entered the general store of William Ramsay,
as a clerk, and was there employed for about ten years, when he
was offered an interest in the commission house of Robbins &
Company, of Baltimore, Maryland, which he accepted, and spent
about nine years in that business. In 1880 he returned to
Cambridge, and was tendered the cashiership of the First
National Bank of Cambridge, which he accepted. In 1883 the
bank was reorganized and took charter as the Old National Bank,
which expired in 1903. The bank was then reorganized as
the National Bank of Cambridge, and Mr. Murray was
elected vice-president, which position he yet holds, and is
recognized as a thorough banker and a high minded gentleman.
Mr. Murray has always been a Republican, but not
a politician, yet always manifesting a keen interest in public
matters and always a thoroughly informed and intelligent voter.
In Dec., 1891, because of his well known business qualifications
and high character, he was tendered unsolicited by William T.
Cope, who was about to assume the duties of state treasurer,
to which position he had been elected, the position of cashier
in the state treasurer's office at Columbus. This, because
of other business duties, Mr. Murray was obliged to
decline.
On November 5, 1890, Mr. Murray was married to
Lila Morton, the daughter of Hon. Isaac Morton, a
prominent citizen of Guernsey county, whose sketch appears
elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Murray is a refined
and home-loving woman and is active in many good works for the
betterment of the community in which she and her husband are
such prominent factors.
Mr. Murray is a public spirited citizen,
and actively interested in all movements having for their
purpose the improvement of conditions. He served fro a
time as treasurer of the town of Cambridge. He is a
thirty-second-degree Mason, and affiliates with the Methodist
church, of which his wife has been an active member since
girlhood. Mr. Murray is a man whom it is a pleasure
to know. High minded, intelligent and agreeable, he is a
most companionable gentleman, one in whom the puboic have
confidence, and for whom all have the highest regard.
Mr. Murray's mother was born in Aberdeen,
Scotland, on Oct. 31, 1815, and emigrated with her parents to
Nova Scotia in early childhood. She was married to
James Murray on June 30, 1833, who died in 1852 at the age
of forty seven. Left a widow, to fight the battle of life
alone with her little flock, she right bravely performed the
duty. A devoted mother and a genuinely Christian woman,
she lived and died in the full faith of her God, honoring the
memory of her departed helpmate with love and devotion to her
children. She was a member of the Baptist church, and
continued always faithful and contributed liberally of her time
and means to the support of the gospel - a most lovable
character. |
| |
| |
| |
|
