My Genealogy Hound

Charles J. Murta, general merchant, was born in Ireland in 1855, and is a son of John and Catherine (Ward) Murta, natives of Ireland, born in 1828 and 1835, respectively. In 1865 they immigrated to the United States, and located at St. Louis, Mo. John served an apprenticeship at civil engineering in his native country, and afterward worked in England, Spain and Germany. After coming to the United States he was employed by the Iron Mountain Railway Company, and worked on the railroad from DeSoto south through Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. Afterward he was on the Ft. Smith & Little Rock Railway from Clarksville, Ark., to Ft. Smith, and at present is working from Ft. Smith to Greenwood, being employed for the past twelve years by McCarty & Kerrgan. He is well known as one of the most skillful mechanics in his line in the country. Mrs. Murta died in 1865, and had three children: John, employee in the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad; Bryan, agent at Traskwood on the Iron Mountain Railroad, and Charles J. The latter was ten years old when brought to America, and was educated at St. Louis. When eighteen he began to engineer on the Iron Mountain Railroad, and afterward learned telegraphy, and from 1875 to 1885 was agent at Alma, Ark. In 1882 he bought 660 acres eight miles southwest of Alma, on the Arkansas River, had 550 under cultivation, and twenty-two tenement houses. It is one of the finest plantations in the county, and is now owned by Robert S. Hynes, to whom he sold it. In 1887 Mr. Murta began to merchandise in Van Buren, and in July, 1888, bought the hardware stock of Reynolds Bros., which he added to his former large stock. He is an energetic business man, and has one of the largest stocks of general goods in Van Buren. At one time he was engaged as book-keeper in the Exchange National Bank of Little Rock, and he is now a stockholder in the Van Buren Ice and Coal Company, and the Van Buren Canning Factory. In 1882 Mr. Murta married Miss Abbie Powe, a native of Alabama and the mother of two children, John and Maggie. In politics Mr. Murta votes a national Democratic ticket, but in local affairs is independent.