John Murray & Helen Moffat of Selkirk

Son of James Murray and Elizabeth Hall.
John Murray was born in 1822 in Selkirk Scotland.

He was a Woollen Dyer of Selkirk & son of James Murray- born 1798 an Inkleweaver in 1817 in Selkirk, and Elizabeth Hall. John Murray was also a brother of Alexander Buchan Murray.

John married Helen Moffat who was born in Williamlees Melrose: a farm & Estate of 3,000 acres owned & tenanted by the Murray family of Melrose. Helen's parents were William Moffat (a Shepherd) at Williamlees and Helen Rintoul daughter of William Rintoul a stonemason of Temple and Roslyn in Midlothian.

John Murray & Helen Moffat had four children that we know of, and Helen had one daughter from a previous marriage named Helen Rathie born 1844.

The children of John Murray Woollen Dyer of Selkirk Scotland and Helen Moffat of Melrose and Innerleithen were:

1.James Murray born 1851 in April in Innerleithen Peebles Shire.
James married Christian Stewart of Yarrowford.
Descendants of this family are still living in Selkirk as far as we know.
See more about this family in another posting.


James was also working in the Woollen Tweed industry in Selkirk.
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2.Jane Murray born 1853 in Selkirk Selkirk Shire
Jane's occupation was also within the Tweed Manufacturing industry.
Jane married Joseph Cockburn of Selkirk in 1882 and had children.
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3.William Murray born 1855 in Selkirk Selkirk Shire (our ancestor)
William's occupation was Woollen Mill Manager & Tweed Finisher earlier.

William married Elizabeth Lees of Selkirk and they had 5 children before she died aged 24 years at Tillicoultry in Clackmannanshire.

William Murray then married Marion Barnard (Marion Bernard)of Tillicoultry and had a further 5 children. William was transferred to Ireland after 1890 circa to Manage a Tweed Woollen Mill in County Kerry & Cork however the family returned to Glasgow in Scotland to live after World War 1.
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Our family is descended from this William. His son John William Murray was born in 1881 and married Alexandrina Macinnes of Falkirk and Skye in Glasgow Scotland in 1911.

John William Murray and Alexandrina MacInnes immigrated to Sydney Australia in 1926 with their young children: William Murray, Mary Murray, Elizabeth Lees Murray.

John William Murray at age 19 was listed as a 'Locomotive Engineer in the 1901 Scottish Census. He was living in Glasgow with his younger brother Thomas Lees Murray. John was a Engineer also working for Dalgetty & Co in Glasgow 1920 circa and also during WW1 John Murray designed rudders etc for early prototype submarines. See more about this family in another posting.


4.John Murray born 1859 in Selkirk Selkirkshire
His occupation was 'Police Officer' or 'Police Constable'

John Murray married Margaret Neil Sword (Margaret Sword) of Selkirk and they had a daughter named Agnes in Scotland prior to immigrating to Australia 1880 circa after which they had a large brood of children in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales where John was a Police Sergeant and at Kogarah Bay in Sydney where they lived.
See more about this family in another posting.


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