Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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Jeremiah Murry and Sutia Stewart




Husband Jeremiah Murry 1 2 3

            AKA: Jeremiah McMurry,4 Jeremiah Murray 5
           Born: Abt 1759 - Ireland
     Christened: 
           Died: 3 Sep 1835 1
         Buried: 
       Marriage: 1820 6

   Other Spouse: Ann Montgomery (      -1819) 1 2



Wife Sutia Stewart 7

            AKA: Statira McNair,1 Sutiah Murry 8
           Born: 7 Oct 1777 - Doyle's Mills, Juniata Co, PA 6
     Christened: 
           Died: 2 Sep 1857 - ? Allegheny City, Allegheny Co, PA 9
         Buried: 


         Father: Col. George Stewart (1736-Abt 1786) 10
         Mother: Margaret Harris (Abt 1736-1815) 10



   Other Spouse: Samuel Allen Rippey (1767-1812) 7 - 16 May 1797 6


Children

• They had no children.


General Notes: Husband - Jeremiah Murry


He came to Pennsylvania from Ireland in 1784, founded the town of Murrysville, Westmoreland County, built the mill there and accumulated a large amount of land in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.

He was a native of Ireland, immigrated to America prior to the Revolutionary war and settled in Franklin township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where he remained until his death. Besides farming he also dealt in merchandise, and built a saw and grist mill on Turtle creek. He was a prominent business man, a democrat and served his township as justice of the peace. The ancestors of the Murrays were relatives of the ancestors of Andrew Jackson in Ireland.

The town of Murrysville, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, was laid out by Jeremiah Murry, who on leaving the Emerald Isle had dropped the patronymic "Mc" from his name. He had the lots surveyed and the town regularly laid out as soon as the Pittsburgh and New Alexandria turnpike (which ran through it) was located, and which was before 1821. Murry came to America about 1781 (then in his twenty-second year), and resided a few months in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania. He then crossed the mountains on foot as a peddler, with his pack on his back, and came to "Anderson's block-house," in this region, where he halted. Having disposed of his wares with great profit, he was in search of land, of which he sought a tract both eligibly located for a farm and a mill-site. On arriving at the brow of the hill overlooking the valley of Turtle Creek, he noted the grand mill-site and the beautiful location of the land, all covered with a dense forest. He went down to the stream, and carefully examined the creek and the land contiguous to it, and then walked to Pittsburgh, to the government land-office, got his patent, and located his large body of splendid land. He and a man named Cole (a hunter, whose cabin was destroyed by the Indians) were the first settlers in that section. Murry at once put up a cabin (in which he had a little store) on the bank of the creek, on the site where the United Presbyterian Church was later located. On the building of the turnpike he established the town, and built a brick house in which Mrs. Dr. J. S. Murry later resided, the first house erected in the place. He kept store all his life. [HWC 1882, 617]

About 1830, he became so afflicted by rheumatism that he could not go up and down stairs. It is said that a white mule that he owned was taught to kneel for him to mount when he wished to ride. His second wife assumed chief care of the business and made the long journey of 27 miles back and forth to Pittsburgh for supplies.


General Notes: Wife - Sutia Stewart


Six of the Rippey children died before 1835, and the remaining one shortly afterwards. Only one of her children married; he had but one child who died in early childhood. Sutia often said of herself that she was left like a solitary tree stripped of every leaf and branch. She survived her last brother 21 years and her husband Jeremiah 22 years.

Squire Murry was a man of considerable wealth. He made a will in 1833, two years before his death, in his own handwriting, but it was neither dated nor signed. In it he declares himself to be "of sound disposing mind and memory" and the document was said to be a model will, but as Sutia's widow's rights were contravened by it, she contested its validity. The case came up before the Common Pleas Court of Westmoreland County, and afterwards, on appeal, before the Supreme Court of the state of Pennsylvania. Both decided in her favor, and against the validity of the will. The chief ground for the decision was that from the wording of the document, it was evident that the testator's intention was not fully expressed. The Court's decision resulted in Sutia Murry obtaining a yearly dowry that enabled her to live comfortably the remainder of her days and also to accumulate some property. After Mr. Murry's death she departed from the substantial brick house in Murrysville. In later life she made her home in Allegheny City with a favorite nephew, John Harris Stewart.

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Sources


1 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 618.

2 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part I (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 667.

3 Elizabeth M. Davison and Ellen B. McKee, Annals of Old Wilkinsburg and Vicinity (Wilkinsburg, PA: The Group for Historical Research, 1940), Pg 68.

4 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 617.

5 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 561.

6 Elizabeth M. Davison and Ellen B. McKee, Annals of Old Wilkinsburg and Vicinity (Wilkinsburg, PA: The Group for Historical Research, 1940), Pg 66.

7 Elizabeth M. Davison and Ellen B. McKee, Annals of Old Wilkinsburg and Vicinity (Wilkinsburg, PA: The Group for Historical Research, 1940), Pg 65.

8 Elizabeth M. Davison and Ellen B. McKee, Annals of Old Wilkinsburg and Vicinity (Wilkinsburg, PA: The Group for Historical Research, 1940), Pg 70.

9 Elizabeth M. Davison and Ellen B. McKee, Annals of Old Wilkinsburg and Vicinity (Wilkinsburg, PA: The Group for Historical Research, 1940), Pg 69.

10 Elizabeth M. Davison and Ellen B. McKee, Annals of Old Wilkinsburg and Vicinity (Wilkinsburg, PA: The Group for Historical Research, 1940), Pg 38.


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