John Murray, III

Background

John Murray, III was born in 1737, on Swatara Creek, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the son of John Murray, II who emigrated from Ireland in 1732, and a younger brother of Robert Murray.

Career

In 1753 the two brothers removed to New York City, and entered into a mercantile partnership, importing on a large scale and becoming the chief shipowners in the colonies. They also obtained valuable landholdings on Manhattan Island, in a locality which was to become one of the fashionable centers of the city. In the political contests which agitated the city before the outbreak of the Revolution they took no part. John, however, was involved with Robert in the difficulties with the Committee of Sixty occasioned by landing a part of the cargo of the ship Beulah, February 1775, in violation of the non-importation agreement.

During the War of Independence they remained in their homes, preserving the attitude enjoined by the Quakers' conscientious repugnance to the appeal to arms. Both were distinguished by acts of kindness to American prisoners. As members of the Chamber of Commerce, which, from July 1779 to the end of the struggle, directed largely the internal affairs of the city, they shared responsibilities for which the military command had little fitness, thus easing the rigor of the military control.

After the war, the Chamber of Commerce received a new charter from the legislature, and on February 13, 1787, John Murray, III, with thirteen others belonging to the old colonial body, was admitted to membership. From 1798 to 1806 Murray, III was its president. He was also elected in 1789 a director of the Bank of New York established in 1784, and was director of an insurance association. He took a leading part in the philanthropic activities of the city. With Thomas Eddy and others he was appointed on a commission to build one of the state prisons in New York City (1796).

In 1805, with Eddy, he issued a call for a meeting, at his house in Pearl Street, to provide means for the education of neglected children. From this invitation came the "Act to incorporate the Society instituted in the City of New York, for the Establishment of a Free School for the Education of Poor Children who do not belong to, or are not provided for by, any religious society. " DeWitt Clinton was the first president, and Murray, III the first vice-president. Murray, III was also associated with Eddy in efforts for improvement of the Oneida and other central New York Indians. He was a director of the Humane Society, organized for the relief of distressed prisoners at a time when insolvent debtors were subject to peculiar hardships. It is related that Murray, III was once perilously near bankruptcy, but at the last moment was rescued by a turn of fortune through a ticket purchased in an English lottery. John Murray, III died on October 11, 1808, on Murray Hill, New York.

Achievements

• Within fifteen years, John Murray, III with his brother Robert had become the largest shipowners in the thirteen colonies, and their enterprise had become the largest import-export business in New York City, bolstered by the contract demands of provisioning soldiers and sailors during the Seven Years’ War in North America.

Connections

In December 1766, John Murray, III married to Hannah Lindley, daughter of James Lindley and Susanna Lownes, and a niece of his brother Robert's wife.

Father:

John Murray, ll

Mother:

Mary Murray

Sister:

Elizabeth Reed (Murray)

Sister:

Arabelle Dixon (Murray)

Sister:

Mary Murray

Wife:

Hannah Murray (Lindley)

Brother:

Samuel Murray

Brother:

Richard Murray

Brother:

James Murray

Brother:

Robert Murray

Robert Murray was an American merchant.

Brother:

William Murray