Murray - Popular Congregational Minister

William Murray was a wildly successful young preacher at one of New England's largest and most influential Congregational churches, Park Street Church, Boston, a.k.a. Brimstone Corner for its part in the Revolutionary War. This dynamic, charismatic, and energetic speaker and lecturer changed the face of Boston in the 1870s. Murray was such a powerful preacher that many newspapers across the country printed his sermons each week. William was probably the 1870s equivalent of today's televangelists. And he was one of only a handful of such popular, charismatic speakers of his day - Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, Sumner, Gough, and Brooks to name a few. Murray also lectured and preached frequently at Boston Music Hall. Many of his sermons were also published in book form. William even found time to edit and contribute to "The Golden Rule," a weekly publication of spiritual, moral, and general interest articles.

Murray - Adirondack Wilderness Writer and Outdoorsman

William Murray was a tall, powerful man with a keen interest in hunting, fishing, and backpacking. In the mid-1800's hiking was called "tramping" and backpacks were wicker baskets strapped to one's back. While attending college at Yale, Murray made at least two friends who would deeply influence his life, O.H. Platt and Joseph Cook. Plat was a fellow Connecticut native who discovered the wonders of hunting and bivouacking in the Adirondack wilderness. Cook was a New York native whose family's Morgan horse farm lay on the edge of the Adirondacks on Lake Champlain. Cook's father would eventually sell several of his best Morgans to Murray for his own farm.

From 1864 to 1877, Murray made annual trips to the Adirondacks, especially with Platt, but also with his first wife Isadora Hull, and also with many friends and lovers of Adventures. Murray loved to stay on Osprey Island on Racquette Lake. The island became know as Murray's Island for many years.

In the spring of 1869, William published his first book, Adventures in the wilderness; or, Camp-life in the Adirondacks, which became an instant best-seller. Murray became an overnight success as an author, opened the Adirondack wilderness to the American public, and made wilderness camping and backpacking into recreations for the common person - man, woman, or child. The book's popularity created a "rush' of hundreds of new visitors to the Adirondack region that summer in search of rest, relaxation, recreation, sport, and even healing for ailments such as consumption (tuberculosis). This "rush" overtaxed the region's resources of both manpower and materials for several years. (Coincidentally, Adventures was first released on or about April Fools' Day, 1869 hence the reference to Murray's Fools.) Adventures in the Wilderness is credited with much of the growth in tourism in the Adirondacks for the next four decades.

WHH Murray - Author

Published works of WHH Murray:
1. Adventures in the Wilderness; or, Camp-life in the Adirondacks (1869)
2. The Perfect Horse
3. Adirondack Tales (including "The Story the Keg Told Me" and "The Man Who Didn't Know Much")
4. Holiday Tales (including "How John Norton the Trapper Kept His Christmas" and "John Norton's Vagabond")
5. The Old Trapper's Thanksgiving
6. The Busted Ex-Texan; or, the Story of the Man Who Missed It
7. Mamelons
8. Ungava
9. Daylight Land
10. How Deacon Tubman and Parson Whitney Kept New Year's, and Other Stories
11. Lake Champlain and Its Shores
12. Deacons
13. The Old Apple Tree's Easter
14. How I Am Educating My Daughters

15. Park Street pulpit : sermons preached by William H. H. Murray ...

http://archive.org › eBook and Texts › Princeton Theological Seminary‎

*also numerous collections of sermons, lectures, addresses and humorous sketches.

This list is from Adirondack Murray by Harry V. Radford.

William Murray - Husband and Father

Shortly after graduating from Yale in 1862, William married Isadora Hull of East River, CT. She was a lover of the outdoors, like her new husband. She worked as a teacher while William attended East Windsor Theological Seminary and also during his vicarage in New York City.
The couple prospered on William's $3000 annual salary and living in comfortable parsonage at the Meriden church. The couple's lifestyle improved even more at Park Street with a good salary and income from William's books, newspaper articles, and his own weekly newspaper The Golden Rule.
William bought his family farm and converted it into a stable for breeding race horses. At roughly the same time, he invested heavily in a carriage business that quickly failed. The members and leaders at Park Street strongly disapproved of Will's lifestyle and time spent away from church business. During this time, the couple discovered that Isadora could not have children, which bothered Will greatly.
William's departure from Park Street and the establishment of his independent church further eroded the couple's relationship. Isadora discovered interests of her own, most prominently an interest in medicine. Will's business ventures all failed and he lost the family farm and the bulk of their savings in the process. Following the collapse of the independent church in 1879, Will resigned the ministry the couple separated. Isadora went to New York then Vienna to study medicine, specifically surgery. She became the first American to be a licenced surgeon in Europe. Will began traveling around the states, England, and Europe, giving lectures on camping and the Adirondacks. The couple officially divorced in 1886.
William tried ranching in Texas for a time, then performed with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in Montreal for a while. He finally settled into running a small restaurant in Montreal that specialized in oysters. During this time in Montreal, Will met Frances Rivers, and the couple were married in 1886. The couple eventually moved to Burlington, Vermont where Will was director of a yacht club for a while. He also wrote a book on Lake Champlain and began lecturing again on the benefits of camping and the wilderness life. Will also performed readings from his Adirondack Tales.
Around 1890 the Murray's were able to purchase the Murray homestead once again. Here the loving couple raised four daughters - Maud, Ruby, Grace, and Ethel. At least one book, How I Am Educating My Daughters, resulted from Murray's work with his girls.
Murray's health began to fail in 1900. On March 3, 1904, just a few weeks shy of his 64th birthday, William Murray passed away quietly in the same bedroom where he was born. He was buried in a small family cemetery on the farm property not far from the house.

Who is W H H Murray?

William Henry Harrison "Adirondack" Murray was born on April 26, 1840 to Dickinson and Sally Munger Murray in the small farming community of East Guilford, CT. Dickinson worked as a ship builder and also managed the family farm. Henry was the fourth of five Murray children, three girls and two boys.
Public speaking and debate were popular activities in the 1850s. William followed his father's interest in debate and became a good speaker and debater by the time he graduated from public school.
William and brother Chauncy went on to Yale, at the urging of their mother Sally, to study for and eventually to enter the ministry in the Congregational Church in 1862. William served as vicar in East Windsor, CT then served as pastor of two small Congregational churches in Greenwich, CT and Meriden, CT from 1862 to 1869. Then in 1869 William became the pastor of the famous Park Street Church in Boston until 1874. Problems at Park Street between Rev. Murray and the leadership of the church forced the young pastor to resign and start his own independent church at Boston Music Hall. Murray preached at Music Hall for roughly three years before resigning the ministry and dropping out of sight.
A friend of Murray's from upstate New York first introduced Murray to the Adirondacks during their time at Yale. Murray returned to Adirondacks for vacations during his tenures at the churches in Greenwich and Meriden. While at Meriden, lawyer O.H. Platt (later to be CT senator) reintroduced William to the wilderness of the Adirondacks. Murray began publishing many articles in the local paper, the Meriden Recorder, on hunting,fishing and camping then completed his first work on hunting and camping in the Adirondacks, Adventures in the Wilderness.
William Murray became a well-know preacher and evangelist during his ministry at Park Streeet. His preaching became so popular that he expanded his preaching to include Saturday evening sermons delivered at Boston Music Hall. His sermons quickly began to be published in newspapers across the country. Murray then began publishing his sermons in book form, printing several sermon volumes. He continued publishing sermons after he left Park Street Church until he left his independent church at Music Hall.