My Genealogy Hound

Bernard Murray, retired, Little Rock, Ark. This much-respected and honored citizen was originally from County Kildare, Ireland, where his birth occurred in 1818, and where he remained on the farm with his parents until thirty years of age. He then married, and in order to throw off the burden of allegiance to the British crown and gain the advantages offered by our vigorous republic, he and wife came to America. He left Dublin, Ireland, in April, 1846, and twenty-one days later arrived on American soil, where he pursued his trade, that of painter and grainer. They located first in Lowell, Mass., and being a very skillful workman he had no difficulty in finding employment at his trade, and soon had accumulated considerable money. Then desiring to see more of the United States, and knowing that his skill as a work man would secure him employment in any of the principal cities of the new country, he concluded to travel, and he and wife first went to New York City. There they remained for some time and then went to New Orleans, thence up the great Father of Waters to St. Louis, and from there to Louisville, Ky., where Mr. Murray found employment to suit him, and a pleasant home. Here he applied himself assiduously to his trade, gaining a wide reputation for his skill as a workman, and was upright and honorable in all his dealings. While in Louisville, the Mechanics’ Institute offered a diploma for the most skilled workman to be found in his business, and though there were many competitors, Mr. Murray was rewarded with the diploma. He remained in Louisville from the spring of 1850 to 1857, when he came to Little Rock, Ark. Although the past record of Mr. Murray had been such as to reflect the highest credit upon him as an adept in the art of painting, and although he had earned goodly sums of money, yet, by some mysterious process, the “filthy lucre” always slipped from his hands and found its way back into general circulation instead of filling his private coffers, and when he arrived in Little Rock he was without a cent and in debt. But thrift and skill never yield to adversity, but smile at poverty. He went to work with a determined spirit, employed other men to do the rougher work, while he himself put on the finer touches, and by thus pushing his business was soon on the high road to prosperity. He worked in Little Rock, contracting, etc., from 1857 until 1883, and can now spend his declining years in ease and comfort. He has made many friends in the city, and is universally respected. He and wife have been blessed with a large family of children, all of whom are living: Mrs. Margaret Jarrett, Mrs. Sarah J. Harding, Noah, B. J., Ed. C, Frank J., Joseph and Mary. The mother of these children died at the age of thirty-nine years. Mr. Murray and family are all members of the Roman Catholic Church.