BIO: Patrick MURRAY, Dauphin County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, 
Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the 
Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: 
J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, pages 186-187.
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  MURRAY, PATRICK, was born March 17, 1755, in county Donegal, Ireland; 
died July 23, 1854, in Orange township, Ashland county, O.  He came to 
America at the outset of the struggle for independence, and we find 
that on the 3d of June, 1776, he enlisted in Capt. James Parr's 
company, of the First regiment of the Pennsylvania Line, for three 
years or during the war.  He was discharged in 1782, and shortly after 
settled at Harris' Ferry, on the Susquehanna, and when, two years 
after, the town of Harrisburg was laid out, established himself in 
business as a "clothier and fashioner."  In the year 1800 he removed 
with his family to Greensburg, Westmoreland county, Pa., remaining 
there until 1809, when he located in Stark county, Ohio.  In 1812 he 
and his son James volunteered in the brigade of Gen. Reasin Beall, 
organized for the defense of the border settlers in the Northwest.  
While quartered at Fort Meigs the army became much distressed for want 
of provisions; the roads to the settlements were long, rough, and in 
poor condition, passing mostly through dense forests, and across 
marshes and bogs.  The quantity of forage consumed by the cavalry as 
well as the supply of the quartermaster's department for the troops 
made it difficult to furnish the necessary rations at the proper time.  
On more than one occasion the troops were on the point of starvation, 
and this, with the inclemency of the weather, made their sufferings 
almost unbearable.  Several reminiscences of this period, in Mr. 
Murray's history, have been preserved to us which show that under the 
most adverse circumstances his mother wit and his indomitable energy 
never forsook him, while his patriotism was none the less enthusiastic 
by his many deprivations.  After General Beall returned, the father and 
son served a second enlistment, and were at the battle of Fort Meigs.  
In that contest the elder Murray was separated from his company, and 
the grass being very tall it was presumed by his comrades that he had 
been killed and scalped by the Indians.  After a few hours he appeared 
in the camp amid the cheers of his companions at his safe return.  Upon 
the expiration of his term of service he returned to his home in Stark 
county, where he remained to 1812, when he removed to what is now 
Orange township, then Richland county, Ohio.  It is said of him that, 
although his education was defective, he had a very retentive memory, 
and enjoyed at the close of his long life the relation of the exploits 
and border achievements of himself and other early pioneers in that 
section of Ohio.  In many respects he was a remarkable man, and was all 
his life-time active, energetic and industrious.  On the 4th of July 
the year he was ninety-nine years of age he rode to Ashland in a buggy, 
walked about one mile during the day and returned home some three 
miles, in the evening.  He voted for ten different Presidents of the 
United States.  Mr. Murray married, September 2, 1786, at Harrisburg, 
Pa., by Rev. John Elder, of Paxtang; Mary Brereton Beatty, born 1769, 
in county Down, Ireland; died March 2, 1853, in Ashland county, Ohio; 
with her husband buried in Orange graveyard; daughter of James Beatty 
and Alice Ann Irwin.