Background
John Porry Murray was born on July 14, 1830, in Jackson County, Tennessee, United States. He was the son of Thomas and Nancy Walker Butler Murray. Little is known about his early life.
John Porry Murray was born on July 14, 1830, in Jackson County, Tennessee, United States. He was the son of Thomas and Nancy Walker Butler Murray. Little is known about his early life.
After obtaining a common-school education in the local institutions of learning, John studied law.
John Porry Murray became an important lawyer in Gainesboro, Tennessee.
He secured the nomination of Andrew Johnson for governor and was a circuit court judge before the war. There is evidence that he supported the secession of Tennessee. When the Civil War began, he volunteered for service in the Confederate Army.
From September 1861 to August 1863, he was colonel of the 28th Regiment of Tennessee Volunteers. In 1863, he was elected by the Fourth Congressional District to serve in the second Confederate House of Representatives, where he served on the Impressments, Indian Affairs, and Ordnance and Ordnance Stores Committees.
After the war, he was the first Confederate official to call on Andrew Johnson. He was granted a pardon.
He then returned to his Gainesboro law practice and stayed out of politics.
Murray was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
John Porry Murray became an important lawyer and a Democratic leader in Gainesboro, Tennessee. An anti-Davis man, he opposed an alliance with France and was unpopular with the Southern press.
John Murray was a staunch defender of the western bloc, and he attempted to get increased military protection for the Cumberland area because of its production of war supplies.
Murray had two sons and three daughters by his marriage to Evelyn Eaton.