USGENWEB PROJECT ARCHIVES: TENSAS PARISH LOUISIANA http://files.usgwarchives.org/la/tensas/ --------------------------------------------------------- Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm --------------------------------------------------------- BIOGRAPHIES: MURDOCK, Louis A., M. D., Louisville, KY., then Tensas Parish, LA Submitted to the USGENWEB Archives Project by Mike Miller, JUN 1998. Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 648-650. Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association. Murdock, Louis Allison, M. D., was born July 31, 1859, in Louisville, Ky., his parents being William and Mary (Bell) Murdock. The father was born July 24, 1815, in County Monaghan, Ireland, where he was a civil engineer and the county surveyor. He came to America in 1842 to take charge of the estate of an uncle, Francis Murdock, who had lived at Port Gibson, Miss. He first went to Shelbyville, Ky., with letters to another uncle, William Bell, and there met Mary Bell, his cousin, whom he afterward married. From Shelbyville he went to Rodney, Miss., and secured a position with the mercantile firm of Broughton & Allison, afterward buying the interest of Mr. Allison when the firm became Broughton & Murdock. In 1856 he removed to Louisville, Ky., and entered the firm of Bell & Murdock, wholesale merchants. This business prospered until the Civil war broke out, when conditions caused its discontinuance. After this Mr. Murdock had no regular employment until about 1870, when he removed to St. Joseph, La. The last few years of his life he spent alternately with his daughter, Mrs. E. G. Buckner, in Owensboro, Ky., and his son, Dr. Murdock, in St. Joseph, La., where he died March 1, 1894. Mary (Bell) Murdock was born April 29, 1824, married Mr. Murdock in 1843 and died March 2, 1890. Her father was born May 4, 1790 in County Monaghan, Ireland, and came to America in 1809, at the age of 19. He spent a short time in Philadelphia and then went into the mercantile business in Shelbyville, Ky. In 1832 he moved to Daviess county, Ky., and purchased a place near Owensboro, known as the Haphazard farm, where he spent the remainder of his life and died March 1, 1865. Francis Murdock, above mentioned, upon leaving Ireland went to Mexico, where he acted as civil engineer and interpreter for the Spanish government, for which services he is supposed to have been given land where the city of Austin now stands. Dr. Murdock 's paternal grandfather, Joseph Murdock, died in County Monaghan, Ireland, Feb. 17, 1849, and his paternal grandmother, Eliza (Bell) Murdock, died April 3, 1844. His maternal great-grandfather was John Bell, whose wife was Eliza. They died in County Monaghan, Ireland, April 24, 1817 and April, 1831, respectively. Dr. Murdock's father's mother and his mother's father were brother and sister, the children of John and Eliza Bell. L. A. Murdock spent his youth in Louisville and Owensboro, Ky., where he attended both public and private school, the latter being taught by Prof. Henry T. Hart. In 1873 he removed to St. Joseph, La., where he attended private school for 2 years. In 1873 he removed to St. Joseph, La., where he attended private school for 2 years [sic - sentence duplicated]. In 1879 he entered the medical department of the University of Louisiana, afterward Tulane, which he attended 4 years, graduating in the spring of 1883 with the degree of M. D. He has practiced medicine in St. Joseph, La., ever since that date except a few years in Mississippi. Dr. Murdock belongs to the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of and an elder in the Presbyterian church, being the 8th consecutive generation of Presbyterian elders. He is a member of the American Medical association, the Southern Medical association, the Louisiana State Medical society, and the Tensas parish Medical society, and is the parish and municipal health officer. Dr. Murdock was married Jan. 21, 1886, to Nellie E. McGill, and they have 1 daughter, Mary Bell. Mrs. Murdock's father was James M. McGill, who was born Aug. 31, 1820, in Jefferson county, Miss. At 17 years of age he graduated at Oakland college, which afterward became Chamberlain and Hunt academy, now at Port Gibson. When quite young he took charge of his father's estate in Mississippi and Louisiana. The property in Louisiana included nearly all of Lake Bruin Island, over 5,000 acres, which had been entered by his father, James McGill. James M. McGill, one of the pioneer planters of Tensas parish, came here from Mississippi in 1840 and cleared nearly all of the Lake Bruin Island property. Oct. 30, 1850, he married Miss Sarah J. Davenport. This couple had 7 children, these 3 now living: Nellie, wife of Dr. Murdock; Olivia L., living in St. Joseph; Sarah, wife of Dr. McDonald Watkins of Natchez. James M. McGill, died in 1898 at 78 years of age at the home of his son Nathaniel Davenport McGill. James M. McGill's father was James McGill and his mother was Penelope Coleman. This James McGill died in 1869. James M. McGill's grandfather was also named James McGill, who settled in Jefferson county near Rodney. He married a Miss Jones. Mrs. James M. McGill's father and mother were respectively Joseph and Letitia (Jeffries) Davenport, both of whom were born in Claiborne county, Miss. Her paternal grandfather was James Davenport, of Virginia, who settled in the last named county. Her maternal grandfather, Jeffries, was killed during the Revolutionary war and her maternal grandmother was Priscilla (Shelby) Jeffries, a sister of Gov. Shelby, of Kentucky.