MURDOCK GENEALOGY ROBERT MURDOCK OF ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS AND SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS WITH NOTES ON THE DESCENDANTS OF JOHN MURDO of Plymouth, Massachusetts GEORGE MURDOCK of Plainfield, Connecticut PETER MURDOCK of Saybrook, Connecticut WILLIAM MURDOCH of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania AND OTHERS COMPILED BY JOSEPH B. MURDOCK United Staks Naey, Retired Member of the Ne-JJ England Historic Genealogical Society and of Tlie Ne-JJ Hampshire HistoriaJl Society BOSTON C. E. GOODSPEED & CO. 1925 CONTENTS PAGE A1Dls OF l\rtrnDOCH OF Ct7=0DE."i Frontispiece Tm: l\IUJU>ocx: F A.'-IILY 5 ROBERT Mtra!>OCK OF ROXBURY 14 Joa:. MURDOCK OF PLntOUTB: • 179 PETER :MURDOCK OF SAYBROOK. 204 WILLI..Ut MtmDOCH OF PHILADELPHIA 215 GEORGE MtraDOCK OF PLAD."FIELD 219 MtraDOCK L'.-oEXES 245,265 b-oEXES OF Orm:a N.un:s 257, 271 THE MURDOCK FAMILY Members of the :Murdock family do not make their appearance on our colonial records until late in the seventeenth century. The family is unquestionably of Scotch origin, but the name is not un­ common in the northern pnrt of England, and appears frequently in Ireland, especially in IBster. There was but little emigration to America from these sections in the early years of the seventeenth century, New England and Vn-ginia being settled from the south and east of England. The first Scotch settlement of any importance was probably that of the prisoners ~ptured at the battle of Dunbar by Cromwell in 1650. Many of these unquestionably left descend­ ants, but they are not mentioned as such in the records. Later on in the century an emigration took place from southwestern Scotland to IBster and to America, to escape from the persistent persecution of the inhabitants of that section by the Church of England, and later by the Roman Catholic administration of James the Second. :Many Scotch came to America between 1680 and 1688, one of whom was undoubtedly .John Murdo of Plymouth, and another, in all probability Robert Murdock of Roxbury. No record of the arrival of either is J...-nown, but they were the progenitors of nearly all the Murdocks in :Massachusetts up to the time of the Revolution. An­ other immigrant, Peter Murdock, born in Ireland, the son of John of Limerick, settled in Saybrook, Connecticut, perhaps about 1720. Although the principal work of the compiler has been in tracing the descendants of Robert, some information about the other lines has, of course, been obtained and is also presented, imperfect although it may be. Every American genealogy should, of course, endeavor to connect with its Old World ancestry. Many families of English descent have succeeded in this quest, the English parish registers of the sLneenth century being quite well kept, and most of them having been preserved to our own times. In Scotland, however, the un­ settled condition of the country and the almost perpetual conflict between three hostile forms of church government made the parish registers much less complete, and Scotch genealogy ·becomes a difficult study. It is therefore very doubtful if the ancestry of any early Scotch immigrant to America can be definitely ascertained 6 llt'RDOCK GENEALOGY except by accident, and this accident has not yet occurred in relation to the Murdock family. Prior to 1745 there was little or no emigration from the Highlands of Scotland, in which the historic "clans" lived. After the battle cif Culloden, the retaliatory measures of the British government included the breaking up of the clan system, and the deportation of the clansmen, most of whom were sent to the American colonies. Voluntary e.'\-patriation also took place among those not deported, and the names of the Highland clans have become common through­ out the United States, but there is no record of any Murdoch clan, although the name is common among all the clans as a given name. In all recent immigration to America it is noticeable that nearly all Murdochs came from Ayrshire or other counties of southwestern Scotland, and this fact invites attention to that region. A tradition of interest to all branches of the family connects it with the struggle of Robert Bruce to gain the crown of Scotland. In the spring of 1307 his fortunes were at a very low ebb, when, hav­ ing landed in Carrick, his own earldom, he was chased by his foes into the highlands of Galloway. His adventures here, as narrated by the ancient chroniclers, are almost the most romantic in European history, and many have been questioned. One, however, seems to be well substantiated. In order to escape pursuit he had divided his forces and directed Sir James of Douglass and Edward Bruce, his own brother, to meet him at Craigencallie, a hill on the west shore of Loch Dee, in what is now Kirkcudbrightshire. Sir Walter Scott, in his "Tales of a Grandfather," follows the King to the rendezvous: It was now near night, and the place of meeting being a. fa.rm house, he went boldly into it, where he found the mistress, an old true-hearted Seots­ woms.n, sitting a.lone. Upon seeing a. stranger enter, she asked him who and what he was. The King answered that he was a traveller, who was journey­ ing through the country. "All travellers," answered the good woms.n, "are welcome here for the sake of one." "And who is that one," ssid the King, "for whom you make nil travellers welcome?" "It is our ls.wful King, Robert the Bruce," answered the mistress, "who is the lawful lord of this country, and slthough he jg now pursued s.nd hunted after with hounds and horns, I hope to live to see him King over all Scot­ land." "Since you love him so well, dame," said the King, "know that you see him before you. I s.m Robert the Bruce." "You!" said the good woman in great surprise, "s.nd wherefore are you thus alone? Where are all your men?" THE llrtmDOCK F.U!Il.Y 7 "I have none with me at this moment," answered Bruce, "and therefore I mpst travel alone." "But that shall not be," said the bmve old dame, "for I have two stout sons, gallant Md trusty men, who shall be your servants for life and death." So she brought her two sons, and though she well knew the dll!lgers to which she e.'\'J)Osed them, she made them swear fidelity to the King, and they afterwards became high officers in his service. Bruce was soon joined at Craigencallie by Douglass and his brother '\\ith a body of one hundred and fifty men. The former having re­ ported that he had passed a village occupied by the English, who had no sentinels posted, it was determined to make a night attack on them. This met with great success, and shortly afterwards Bruce defe:ited a large force on the shores of Loch Trool, having en­ ticed them into a position in which they were compelled to advance in single file on foot, and could make no adequate defence against a :flank attack.• The local traditions of Galloway give further details of the meeting at Craigencallie. They state that the widow Annabel had three sons instead of two, each by a different husband, by the names of Mackie, Murdoch and M<:Clurg. They were called upon by the King to show their skill with their weapons, and Mackie pierced the heads of two crows, seated on a rock, with a single arrow, while Murdoch placed his arrow in the heart of a raven· flying overhead, dropping it at his feet. t After the battle of Bannockburn had seated Bruce firmly on the throne of Scotland, he wished to reward the three brothers, who had served with him in all his campaigns, and they obtained permission to refer the :_..;estion to their mother, who said she "would like the wee bit hassock atween Palnure and Peokill," a triangle with a base of three miles along the River Cree, and extending five miles back into the interior. The "hassock" was given her and divided be­ tween the three sons, - Mackie of Larg, Murdoch of Cumloden and McClurg of Kirrouchtree. The King also granted them arms, those of Murdoch, as recorded in the Lyon Register, being "two ravens hanging paleways, sable, with an arrow through both their heads proper." His crest was "a raven rising, sable, having an arrow thrust through his heart, gules, headed and feathered, argent. Motto Omnia pro bono." :j: • See "Rohen tho Brueo and the Struggle for Scottish Independence," chapter VII, by Sir Herbert MaxwelL G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1897. t Maxwell, p. 168. .1: "History of tho Lands and their Owners in Ga.lloway," subhead "Larg," by P. R. McKerlie. 8 IIWRDOCK GENEALOGY This old tradition has sometimes been questioned, but the grant or the arms to Murdoch and the fact that the arms or l\IcKie also have, the two ravens with an arrow through their necks, but with some distinctive additions, are strong evidences of its tr\Jth and cannot be explained in any other way. Tl1e history or the Cumloden family is traced by P. H. McKerlie in his "History of the Lands and their Owners in Galloway," the best authority on the subject. He says: There is a long blank of nearly three centuries between the understood first occupation by the Murdoch.~ and the first we trace. He is called Patrick Murdoch and was of Cumloden in 1605. He then traces the direct line, although with some uncertainties, up to 1738, when another Patrick was then bend of'the family, and a .flaw having been discovered in the entail, the lands were seized and sold to pay the debts or his father and grandfatlier.