MURFREE, Hardy, soldier, was born in Hertford county, N. C., June 5, 1752; son of William and Mary (Moore) Murfree. His father was a delegate from Hertford county to the convention at Hillsboro, Aug. 21, 1775, and to the congress at Halifax, Nov. 12, 1776, which framed the constitution of the state of North Carolina in force, 1776-1835. He was appointed captain in the 2d North Carolina regiment, Continental line, Col. Robert Howe, Sept. 1, 1775, and served throughout the Revolution, during the early part of the war in the army of General Washington. He was promoted major, Feb. 1, 1888, commanded a North Carolina battalion of picked men at the capture of Stony Point, N.Y., in July 1779, his “good conduct and intrepidity” being mentioned in General Wayne’s letter to President of Congress John Jay, Aug. 10, 1778, and was sent with his command to the South in 1780, to reinforce General Lincoln. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and in 1782 was transferred to the 1st North Carolina regiment, Continental line. He retired to his plantation on the Meherrin river near Murfreesboro, N.C., after the war and in 1807 removed to Tennessee and settled on Murfree’s fork of West Harpeth river in Williamson county, which land was granted to him for military services during the Revolution. The towns of Murfreesboro, N.C., and Murfreesboro, Tenn., were named in his honor. He was married, Feb. 17, 1780, to Sally, daughter of Matthias, Brickell (by his first marriage) of Hertford county, N.C., who was a lieutenant-colonel of North Carolina militia during the Revolution and a member of the provincial congresses at Hillsboro, Aug. 21, 1775, and Halifax, April 4, 1776. Colonel Murfree died in Williamson county, Tenn., April 6, 1809. On the following July 9 a public funeral with Masonic rites, military honors and a memorial oration, was held at his grave in the garden of his late residence in the presence of a great concourse of people. The Nashville Clarion of July 21, 1809, says: “The surrounding hills wee covered with vast numbers of people and the awful silence which pervaded such an immense crowd evinced the feelings of the spectators for the memory and virtues of the deceased.”
(Source: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF NOTABLE AMERICANS. Vol 3, Publ. 1904. Transcribed by Richard Ramos)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MURFREE, WILLIAM LAW, lawyer, author, was born July 19, 1817, in Murfreesboro, N. C. In 1881 he edited the Central Law Journal; and is the author of A Treatise on the Law of Sheriffs; Official Bonds; and Practice before Justices of the Peace. He died Aug. 23, 1892, in Murfreesboro, N. C.
[Herringshaw's encyclopedia of American biography of the nineteenth century; Edited by Thomas William Herringshaw; Publ. 1901; Donated and Transcribed by Andrea Stawski Pack]
MURFREE, William Law, author, was born in Murfreesboro, N.C., Jul 19, 1817; son of William Hardy and Elizabeth Mary (Maney) Murfree, and grandson of Col. Hardy Murfree (q.v.). He removed to Tennessee with his parents about 1823, was graduated at the University of Nashville in 1836 and studied law. He was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Franklin, Nashville, and Murfreesboro, Tenn. He was married, Nov. 22, 1843, to Fanny Priscilla, daughter of David Dickinson of Murfreesboro, Tenn. He lost his fortune during the civil war and in the financial panic of 1873, and in 1881 removed with his family to St. Louis, Mo., where he devoted himself to professional and literary work He edited the Central Law Journal in St. Louis, 1886-88. Owing to the loss of his eyesight he relinquished active pursuits in 1889 and returned to his home at Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he spent the rest of his life. He contributed sketches of life in Mississippi and Florida and papers on the political and industrial status of the South to leading magazines, also on legal subjects to law journals, and is the author of several notable law-books, including: A Treatise on the Law of Sheriffs (1884); Official Bonds (1885); and Practice before the Justice of the Peace (1886). He died in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Aug. 23, 1892.
(Source: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF NOTABLE AMERICANS. Vol 3, Publ. 1904. Transcribed by Richard Ramos) |
