My Genealogy Hound

Maj. J. W. Murnan, citizen and farmer of the Third District, engaged also in cotton-ginning, is the son of Patrick and Mary (Whalon) Murnan, and was born in Ireland, March 21, 1841, being one of three children, all living. The father was born in Ireland about 1805, marrying about 1823; he had a good education, and moved to the United States in 1850, settling in Pennsylvania; in 1854 went to Nicollet County, Minn., and died in 1879. The mother was born in Ireland and died in 1841, and in 1852 Mr. Murnan married Mary E. Strange, by whom he had four children, three now living. When Maj. J. W. Murnan was seventeen years old he left home and was an employe of the government at Fort Ridgeley, Minn., where he continued until the commencement of the war, when he entered the quartermaster’s department and remained until the end of the service. February, 1866, he married Miss Roach, daughter of Phillip and Kate Roach, of Memphis, they had seven children, five living: James R., Mary W., Lizzie L., Blanche and Alice. Mr. Murnan remained in Memphis for two years after marriage; in 1868 purchased the farm where he now resides, and has since given his attention to farming, owning 300 acres of productive land. Mr. and Mrs. Murnan are both Catholics; he is a Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for S. A. Douglas; he is a Mason, and belongs to the K. of H. and K. of P., and is an industrious man and good citizen.