Winfield Scott MURRAY

Winfield Scott MURRAY Biographical Sketch

Winfield Scott MURRAY was born in 1820 in North Carolina. Nothing is known about Scott's parents. His first wife was named Caroline unknown ~ possibly Caroline ROGERS, the daughter of Robert ROGERS and Clarissa COCKRAM of North Carolina. (This surname was given to me by another researcher, but is undocumented as yet.) The COCKRAM family has roots in Buncombe County, North Carolina, as do the MURRAYs and PETTYs.

W.S. MURRAY may have moved into Georgia with his parents between 1830 and 1840. A James MURRAY appears in Union County at about that time--he is mentioned in a genealogy quarterly as an early settler of Union County. Another MURRAY who moved from North Carolina to Union County, Georgia and appears in the 1850 census is W.C. MURRAY. His family has been traced by others, but there is no mention of Winfield Scott MURRAY in this line. The relationship of James and W.C. MURRAY to Scott, if any, is unknown. At any rate, we first find W.S. MURRAY and his family in Union County, Georgia in 1850. Their household consists of Winfield and wife, Caroline; five children--Robert, William, Raphala, James, and a male infant; and Sarah WRIGHT, aged 79. Her relationship to the family is unknown--possibly she is the grandmother of Scott or Caroline. "Raphala" seems an unusual name, and is possibly a variant spelling of "Raphael."

More about Winfield Scott MURRAY and family, below...

Murray Family in Fannin County instead of Union...
In 1854, sections of Union and Gilmer County, Georgia, are joined to form a new county, Fannin County. Possibly, this accounts for the MURRAY family now appearing in Fannin County, Georgia, in 1860. Further evidence supporting this is that W.S. MURRAY is mentioned on a voter's list for Union County as late as 1867, having been registered on July 8th of that year; so, it appears that he has ties to both Union and Fannin County. By 1860, Caroline MURRAY has disappeared from census and is probably deceased. Sarah WRIGHT is also gone from the household, probably deceased. Only three children are listed in the household: Robert (16), Thomas (12), and Martha (10). Here, Scott's occupation is "merchant."

Scott and Nancy Petty Murray in Census...
1870 finds Scott MURRAY and Nancy PETTY together in census for the first time. The marriage must have occurred in or before 1866, since Nancy MURRAY appears on a list of charter members of Salem Number One church in Fannin County. One child, Georgia MURRAY, born in 1869, is dead by 1870 and does not appear in census. The only proof that we have of Georgia's life is a tombstone erected by Elias Andrew MURRAY, and a niece who was named "Georgia," probably after this child. There is no actual documentation that she is a child of W.S. MURRAY--just strong circumstantial evidence. Scott, Nancy and children are now living next door to Nancy's father, Elijah PETTY. He and his family moved into Georgia from North Carolina between 1850 and 1860. Also in Scott's household is Milton MURRAY, an unknown relation. Possibly, he is Scott's son from the earlier marriage. If so, he was mentioned by a different name in the 1860 census. The fact that one of Scott's children was named "Raphala" (Raphael?) does point to a possible affinity for classical names in this family. Sarah MURRAY makes her first appearance in the 1870 household, too. William "Will" MURRAY, five months old, shows up here, too. Since there was another William in the 1850 household of W.S. and Caroline MURRAY, it is possible that the first William died young.

Winfield Scott Murray dies...
Winfield Scott MURRAY dies in 1877, as does his child, Dovie MURRAY, who was born in 1875. They are buried at Sugar Hill ~ Salem Number One, in Dial, Fannin County, Georgia. Dovie does not appear in any census. The widowed Nancy MURRAY is still in Fannin County in 1880. She is 38 years old and has five of her children at home: Sarah, William, Alice, Mary Jane, and Andrew. Also living in the household is Nancy's sister, Sarah PETTY, a housekeeper. Nancy purchases land in Murray County, Georgia in 1885. 1900 finds Nancy and family in MURRAY County, though Mary and Elias (Andrew) are the only offspring left in her home. Sarah and Alice have married by now. William, too, is out of the household, though it is unknown where he is and whether he has married already. Milton, the unknown relation, is also gone, never to be heard from again, apparently. We do find a mention of a Milton MURRAY in North Carolina, who serves in the Union Army during the Civil War; it is unknown if that is the same Milton MURRAY.

Nancy Petty Murray and Offspring Move to Oklahoma...
Sometime early in the 20th century, before 1910, Nancy MURRAY and her grown offspring, Elias, Will, and Jane, move to Comanche County, Oklahoma, by way of Texas. We know that Elias and possibly Will were in Texas part of the time before settling in Oklahoma.

Will marries Ninnie SNIDER. Their descendants live in Comanche County, Oklahoma. Elias married Vera SMITH late in life. Vera never has any children. Jane MURRAY never marries. Nancy MURRAY of Fletcher, Oklahoma, dies there on the 18th of April, 1917. She is buried at Elgin, but later removed to Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma, because the cemetery at Elgin is neglected. In 1939, Elias orders tombstones for the graves of his father and two little sisters back in Georgia. The stones are erected by NEAL MONUMENT COMPANY of Blue Ridge, Georgia, with the help of Dallas WOODY (a relation of the PETTY family) and Willy Lee Pritchett, the grandson of W.S. MURRAY.

One other son who is never mentioned in census, at least by the name we know, is "Gains" MURRAY. Gains has a son named Jim, whose picture is found among Vera (SMITH) MURRAY's pictures. The caption says that he is the son of Gains, "Will's half brother." Will would be the younger William, Nancy's son, who moved to Oklahoma. This would make Gains the son of W.S. MURRAY and his first wife, Caroline. It is unknown if Gains appears in census under a different name.

Winfield Scott MURRAY has been a difficult individual to research. It took many years of research to put together this skimpy biography, and we still know nothing about his parents. What we know of the children of his first marriage is vague--we only know what we have pieced together from census and from that one photo caption of Jim MURRAY. We do feel that Winfield Scott MURRAY may turn out to be related to the Buncombe County, North Carolina line of MURRAYs. However, we have no real documentation as yet--just circumstantial pointers.

Any and all information on Winfield Scott MURRAY, Caroline ROGERS, or their children would be greatly appreciated.

View census extracts and marriage data for this family.

Murray Photos Murray Chronology Genealogy

Murray Surname Extracts (Miscellaneous)

MAIN SURNAMES: MURRAY, PETTY
MENTIONED SURNAMES: COCKRAM, ROGERS, WRIGHT


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