From 1856-1859, Murray stu­died at the Mu­sic­al In­sti­tute in North Read­ing, Mas­sa­chu­setts, un­der Low­ell Ma­son, George Root, Wil­liam Brad­bu­ry, and George Webb. In 1862, in the midst of the Amer­i­can ci­vil war, Mur­ray en­list­ed as an Ar­my mu­si­cian. His first song, “Dai­sy Deane,” was com­posed in a Vir­gin­ia camp in 1863. Af­ter the war, he re­turned home to teach pi­a­no, but soon joined the Root & Ca­dy pub­lish­ing house in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, as ed­it­or of The Song Mes­sen­ger. He stayed with Root & Ca­dy un­til the great Chi­ca­go fire of 1871, when he re­turned to An­do­ver and re­sumed work as a mu­sic teach­er. In 1881, Mur­ray moved to Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio, to work for the John Church Com­pa­ny, ed­it­ing The Mu­sic­al Vis­i­tor, and tak­ing charge of the pub­lish­ing de­part­ment.

Murray’s works in­clude:

• Pure Diamonds
• Royal Gems
• The Prize
• Murray’s Sac­red Songs

Sources

Music

1. At Last
2. Cling to the Bi­ble
3. Eudora
4. How Beautiful upon the Mount­ains
5. I Shall Be Satisfied
6. Mueller
7. There Shall No Evil Befall Thee
8. Thine, O Lord, Is the Greatness
9. The Way Was Mine