Murray, John

Born: 1800 Maryland

Flourished: Saint Clair County, Illinois

In 1817, John Murray emigrated with his family from Baltimore to Belleville, Illinois, where he opened a mercantile store. He served as a county commissioner for St. Clair County from 1831 to 1836, at which point he was elected to the Illinois Senate, where he served from 1836 to 1840. He had accumulated significant wealth by 1850: he owned $10,000 in real estate and gave his profession as "gentleman."

U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), St. Clair County, IL, 427; History of St. Clair County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1881), 77, 185; John Clayton, comp., Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 205, 206; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 23 January 1836, 2:7; 9 August 1839, 2:6; Alvin Louis Nebelsick, History of Belleville (Belleville, IL: Township High School and Junior College, [1951]), 51.