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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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MURRAY, JAMES (1814-1901)

MURRAY, JAMES, building contractor, and foundry owner; b. Drumelzier, Peeblesshire, Scotland, 14 Aug 1814, s/o William C. Murray and Alexanderina Hyslop; m. 1837, Sarah Currie; d. Newcastle, 20 Apr 1901.

James Murray, who was nicknamed "Cedar," accompanied his parents to the Miramichi in 1819 from Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He learned the carpentry trade from his father and became a building contractor. His best-known structure is the Mechanics' Institute hall in Newcastle, which he built in 1850. A few years later he and John Stothart formed a partnership to do the truss work on the first highway bridge built across the Northwest Miramichi, which was finished in 1855-56. He and Stothart then built the first lighthouse and associated structures on Miscou Island, before they concluded their business relationship in May 1856.

In 1866, Murray left the construction field and started an iron foundry which fronted on the Town Square in Newcastle. "Hecla Foundry" had a workforce of eight in 1871 and was one of the more highly-appraised industrial establishments in the town. Murray continued the business, through which he became quite well-to-do, until an injury forced his retirement at age eighty. He offered the foundry for sale in 1897.

In 1850 Murray addressed a meeting of the Mechanics Institute on "Improvements Introduced by Mechanics." He spoke again the following year on "The Progression of Man by the Cultivation of Scientific Knowledge." The Gleaner described the second address as "perfectly literate, tasteful, and interesting" and published the text of it in three successive issues. Murray did not continue to give public speeches, however, and he was not very much involved in community life in general. Such recognition as he was accorded derived from his mechanical expertise, his success in business, and his "irreproachable integrity."

Murray's wife, Sarah Currie, was born in Co. Donegal, Ireland, the daughter of Presbyterian parents who settled in Newcastle in the 1820s. She predeceased her husband in 1897. There were thirteen children in the family. The sons included William Murray, who was prominent in labor politics in Massachusetts in the 1880s. The daughters included Ann (Murray) Mappin, the second wife of Dr Ingraham B. Freeman.

Sources

[b] census [m] official records [d] Advocate 24 Apr 1901 / Advocate 25 Nov 1885, 7 Apr 1897, 16 Jun 1897, 14 Jul 1897; Gleaner 20 May 1850, 7/14/21 Jul 1851, 3 May 1856, 22 Dec 1866; JHA 1856 (re. public works); Williston Collection


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