Introduction

Biography

James was the son of Wal­ter Mur­ray and Chris­tine Mor­ri­son, and hus­band of Is­a­belle M. Mur­ray.

He stu­died at the Mu­sic­al In­sti­tute in North Read­ing, Mas­sa­chu­setts (1856–59), un­der Lo­well Ma­son, George Root, Will­iam Brad­bu­ry and George Webb.

In 1862, dur­ing the Am­er­ican ci­vil war, he 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 to teach mu­sic.

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.

Works

• The Lin­net (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Root & Ca­dy, 1867)
• Chapel Gems, with George Root et al (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Root & Ca­dy, 1868)
• Pacific Glee Book, with Fred­er­ick Root (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Root & Ca­dy, 1869)
• Pure Di­a­monds (Cleve­land, Ohio: S. Brain­ard’s Sons, 1872)
• Joyful Songs (Cleve­land, Ohio: S. Brain­ard’s Sons, 1875)
• Murray’s Songs for Sun­day Schools and Gos­pel Meet­ings (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: White & Smith, 1876)
• Heavenward (Cleve­land, Ohio: Brain­ard’s Sons, 1877)
• Royal Gems (Cleve­land, Ohio & Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: S. Brain­ard’s Sons, 1880)
• Dainty Songs for Lit­tle Lads and Lass­es (New York: John Church, 1887)
• Royal Praise (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: John Church, 1888)
• Little Sac­red Songs for Lit­tle Sing­ers (New York; Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois; & Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: John Church, 1892)
• Uplifting Songs, New and Old, with Charles C. Case (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: John Church, 1896)
• Heart and Voice (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: John Church, 1909)