MURRAY, MICHAEL (1846-1931)

MURRAY, MICHAEL, lighthouse keeper and benefactor; b. Chatham, 29 Sep 1846 (bap. 4 Oct 1846, 1 wk.), s/o Thomas Murray, a native of Co. Waterford, Ireland, and Alice Rowe; unmarried; d. Chatham, 24 Jan 1931.

For a short time during his youthful years Michael Murray was a steward in the Canadian government's fishery protection service. Between 1870 and 1872 he served on the ENGLAND and the New England, two of the cutters which patrolled the Atlantic coast. Later he worked as a house painter in Chatham. In April 1902 he was appointed keeper of the light on Middle Island. Being "a great reader," he was able to pass the time agreeably in this position, which he held for twenty-five years in conjunction with an appointment as inspector with the provincial Board of Health.

While residing on the Island, Murray conceived the idea of having a monument erected in memory of the fever victims from the barque Looshtauk (Capt. John M. Thain) who had been buried there in the summer of 1847. Although none of his own relatives were among them he designed a monument in the shape of a granite lighthouse and had it erected in 1912, at his own expense, in the Catholic cemetery in Chatham. The fourteen-foot-high structure is dedicated to "the memory of the Irish, Scotch, and English passengers of the Barque Looshtauk who died of fever and were buried on Middle Island, Miramichi River, N.B., A.D. 1847."

At a ceremony held in Chatham in 1929 Murray was given a long service medal for his work on Middle Island. Among his surviving relatives in 1931 was his nephew T. Merlin Murray, the mayor of Chatham.