James Thomas Murfee

Background

James T. Murfee was born on September 13, 1833, in Southampton County, Virginia. His parents, James Wilson Murfee and Anne Parker, were of the Tidewater gentry of Virginia.

Education

His preparatory education was done under his father and private tutors and in Stone's popular academy at Stony Mount.

At the age of twenty Murfee was graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with highest honors in civil engineering.

Career

In 1854 Murfee became professor of natural sciences in Madison College, Pennsylvania, and the following year he served as professor of mathematics and commandant of cadets at Lynchburg College, Virginia. The next two years he gave to preparing his younger brothers for college.

In 1860 the University of Alabama adopted the Virginia Military Institute system of discipline and appointed Maj. Caleb Huse commandant. Murfee, who was familiar with the system, was made professor of mathematics. In 1862 he was appointed commandant of cadets at the university. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel by the Confederate government and was in charge of the university cadets when Gen. Croxton invaded Tuscaloosa and burned the university. At the end of the war Murfee was employed to design and erect new buildings for the University.

In 1871 he was elected president of Howard College, a Baptist institution then situated at Marion, Alabama, and remained in this position for sixteen years. He nurtured the college through the troublous days of Reconstruction, expunged its debt, and established it upon a firm basis. When it was moved to Birmingham he declined to go with it.

In the old college buildings Murfee set up, in 1887, the Marion Military Institute of which he was superintendent until 1906. Here his academy, founded upon the old Virginia Military Institute plan, was a boon to the young men of Alabama when educational opportunities were pitifully meager. It became well known, and from various states and sections candidates for admission to West Point and Annapolis came to Marion to make their preparations. Murfee's work led President Harrison to appoint him a member of the Board of Visitors to the West Point Military Academy.

Murfee retired from active service upon an award of annuity given by the Carnegie Foundation because of "long and distinguished service" to the cause of education in Alabama. James Thomas Murfee died on April 23, 1912, in Miami, Florida.

Achievements

• The educator, James T. Murfee established Marion Military Institute; he developed and implemented institutional policies demanding high standards for the development of character, academic excellence, and military traditions, which have been the hallmarks of MMI ever since. James T. Murfee was inducted into the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame in 1997.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A New Scheme Of Organization, Instruction, And Government For The University Of Alabama, With Report On Construction Of Building

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Connections

In July 1861, James T. Murfee married Laura Owen of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The couple had several children.

Father:

James Wilson

Mother:

Anne Murfee (Parker)

Wife:

Laura Murfee (Owen)

Daughter:

Laura Owen Murfee

Son:

Hopson Owen Murfee

Son:

Howard Guild Murfee

Son:

James Thomas Murfee, Jr.