Los Angeles County CA Archives Biographies.....McMurrin, Joseph William September 5, 1858 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 2, 2006, 11:06 pm Author: The Lewis Publishing Company California and Californians, Pages 22-23 JOSEPH WILLIAM MCMURRIN has given most of the years of his life to the work of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, and for over a decade has been active head and director of the California District, with headquarters at Los Angeles. He is a native son of Utah, born at Tooele September 5, 1858. His father, Joseph McMurrin, was a scotchman, a cooper by trade, and was converted to Mormonism in Glasgow. Though he was head of a large and prosperous business, he disposed of it and with his wife and family of three daughters left Scotland in 1856 for Salt Lake City. For many years he was first counselor in the Eighth Ward Bishopric. Joseph McMurrin’s wife was Margaret Leaing. Joseph William McMurrin was one of the original Mormon pioneers in Arizona, and assisted in platting the town of Joseph City on the Little Colorado in 1876. He was introduced to the experience of hard work and earnest labor from earliest years. His education was acquired only in the common schools of Salt Lake City. Among other occupations of his boyhood and youth he drove freight wagons to the mining towns adjacent to Salt Lake City, hauling bullion from smelters to the railroads, and for a time was employed as a stone cutter in preparing the blocks of granite to be laid in the walls of the great Salt Lake Mormon Temple. Besides these labors involved in earning a living, he was appointed, when still a young man to a mission, and for twenty- five months resided in Scotland. He presided over the Scottish Mission from April to October, 1883. Mr. McMurrin in 1886 was again sent on a foreign mission, and this time to England. For about two years he was in the Bristol division of the church and was then sent to the City of London, where he also remained for more than two years. During the sojourn in England his wife, Mary Ellen Hunter McMurrin, was with him. For over two years he presided over the London district of the church. Near the close of 1890 Mr. McMurrin returned to Salt Lake and for six years was employed by the presiding Bishopric and acted as receipting clerk in the church tithing department. In 1896 came the call to his third sojourn in the foreign mission field. This time he was selected as one of the presidency of the European Mission, with headquarters at Liverpool. During the two and a half years he was in England he was called by the church authority as a member of the First Council of Seventy. His duties in the European Mission presidency took him to many branches of the church throughout Great Britain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Mr. McMurrin in 1919 was called upon to preside over the California Mission, and from his headquarters at Los Angeles has directed the increasing work of this branch of the church, and during that time he has had the pleasure and satisfaction of seeing the Mission grow from a membership of 4,000 to about 25,000, while the value of church buildings and other property has increased from $100,000 to a million dollars. Mr. McMurrin married at Salt Lake City, April 1, 1880, Mary Ellen Hunter, and their marriage companionship has continued through a period of over half a century, and has been one of the great happiness and devotion. Mrs. McMurrin’s people came from Great Britain, her father from Scotland and her mother was an English woman, who after going to Utah was widely known for her accomplished skill and talent as a needle woman. Stephen Hunter, Mrs. McMurrin’s father, was a Utah pioneer of 1852. Her mother was Martha Clark. Mrs. McMurrin became the mother of five sons and two daughters, to whom she has been devoted from birth. All are married except one. Joseph W., Jr., married Gertrude Moss. Stephen H. married Irene Wilson. Chelta M. married Mead H. Horton. James Waldo married Vos Hickman. Rulon Clark married Vera Hawley. Mary Lucille is the wife of Dr. W. Drew Chipman. The only unmarried child is Evereard L., a Los Angeles attorney. In reviewing his life Mr. McMurrin, in a modest and self deprecating manner that none of his thousands of friends and admirers would adopt in speaking of this splendid churchman, says: “I have never held or sought after any political office. My entire life has been given to the work of the church either at home or abroad. I have never been associated with any secret organization of the church, and in this service have discovered a peace that is beyond expression. No time have I found to study or to make money, and have held financial positions of no importance. In politics I have always supported the Republican cause. For years I labored as a member of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association, being one of the general board, also a member of the Religious Class, General Board, and a member of the Priesthood Committee.” Additional Comments: California and Californians, Volume IV, Edited by Rockwell D. Hunt, A.M., Ph.D., Assisted By An Advisory Board, The Spanish Period, By Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez, The American Period, By Rockwell D. Hunt, California Biography, By a Special Staff of Writers, Issued in Four Volumes, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, 1932. 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