LIFE HISTORY OF JEREMIAH MURRAY     

Obituary

            Jerry Murray was born December 7, 1863 in Spanish Fork, Utah.  Here he spent his boyhood days herding cattle in Spanish Fork Canyon in the summer and going to school in the winter.  His education was finished in public schools in Spanish Fork.  Here he met Christina Nilson, who later became his wife.  They were married in Vernon, Tooele County, Utah on November 8, 1884.   Jerry was engaged in shearing and herding sheep for Adam S. Sharp.  Edith, their daughter, passed away from pneumonia.   Christina Murray, being so sad, wanted to move.  This time they went to Camp Floyd, Utah, where he was in the mercantile and meat market business.

              Here he furnished supplies to the Mercer Railroad which was then being built.  He also had a store and market in Sunshine, Tooele County, Utah, where Jerry had a thriving meat and grocery business.  Then when the Uintah Reservation opened, 1905, Jerry and family moved to Vernal, Utah, where he and his family spent the winter.  Then in the spring of 1906, they made another move.  This time to his homestead, three miles east of Roosevelt, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising.

              Jerry has been an active member of the L.D.S. Church, being a ward teacher and a good tithe payer.  He also took an active part in civic work.  He promoted the first school at Wilson, which is now known as Ballard Ward.  He donated the ground and helped build the school house and was a school trustee.  Who paid the teachers their salaries.  The trustees.  He was a road supervisor on the first road from Roosevelt to Fort Duchesne and foreman on the class H. canal from start to finish.  He worked on many other projects which helped to build up the Uintah Basin, bring in the first J. I. Case thresher driven by a J. I. Case traction engine of 12 horsepower to the vicinity.  It was equipped with a self feeder and a wind stacker.

              On January 28, 1938, Jerry and Christina’s marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple.  He was the hard-shelled type but underneath was concealed a tender heart and a charitable one.

              He passed away November 1 1949.   Christina passed away April 4, 1952.  She was born on November 19, 1865.