1638-1912; bulk: 1750-1858
Guide to the Collection
Abstract
This collection consists of papers of the Murray, Forbes, and related families, including correspondence written during the Siege of Boston and the American Revolution by loyalist James Murray, merchant Elizabeth Campbell Smith Inman, and other family members.
Biographical Sketches
James Murray (1713-1781)
James Murray was the son of John Murray (1677-1728) and Anne Bennet Murray (1694-1737) of Unthank, Scotland. He emigrated to North Carolina in 1735, where he served as a member of the North Carolina General Assembly. A merchant, he moved to Boston in 1765, also working in Milton, Massachusetts, in the sugar business of his brother-in-law James Smith (1689-1769). Murray was a United Empire loyalist who fled from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1776. He married first to Barbara Bennet (1724-1758) in 1744 and second to Margaret Thompson in 1761. He had several children, including Dorothy Murray Forbes (1745-1811) and Elizabeth Murray Robbins (1756-1837).
Elizabeth Murray Campbell Smith Inman (1726-1785)
Elizabeth Murray, the daughter of John Murray (1677-1728) and Anne Bennet Murray (1694-1737), was born in Unthank, Scotland. In 1749, following in the footsteps of her brother James Murray (1713-1781), she trained to be a merchant, eventually keeping a shop in Boston selling millinery goods. She subsequently trained other young women in the trade, including her brother James's daughters Dorothy Murray Forbes (1745-1811) and Elizabeth Murray Robbins (1756-1837) and her brother John's daughters Mary Murray and Anne Murray. She also took care of the children of her brother James, a loyalist, when he left for Halifax during the American Revolution. She married three times: first in 1755 to merchant and ship captain Thomas Campbell, who died in 1759; second in 1760 to James Smith (1689-1769), a sugar refiner who owned an estate at Brush Hill in Milton, Massachusetts, property that stayed in the family for generations; and third in 1771 to merchant and loyalist Ralph Inman (1713-1788). She died in Milton in 1785.
Dorothy Murray Forbes (1745-1811)
Dorothy "Dolly" Murray was the daughter of Scottish loyalist James Murray (1713-1781) and Barbara Bennet Murray (1724-1758). Like her sister Elizabeth, she was trained to be a shopkeeper by her aunt, Elizabeth Murray Inman (1726-1785). In 1769, Dorothy married Rev. John Forbes (1740-1783), a loyalist who returned to England in 1783 and died the same year. They had three sons: James Grant Forbes (1769-1825), John Murray Forbes (1771-1831), and Ralph Bennet Forbes (1773-1824).
Elizabeth Murray Robbins (1756-1837)
Elizabeth "Betsey" Murray was the daughter of Scottish loyalist James Murray (1713-1781) and Barbara Bennet Murray (1724-1758). Like her sister Dorothy, she was trained to be a shopkeeper by her aunt, Elizabeth Murray Inman (1726-1785). In 1785, Elizabeth married Edward Hutchinson Robbins (1758-1829), a lawyer and legislator who served as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1802 to 1806. They had five daughters and two sons, including James Murray Robbins (1796-1885).
James Chandler (1706-1789)
James Chandler was the son of Thomas and Mary Stevens Chandler of Andover, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard in 1728 and served as minister of the Second Parish of Rowley (also called Rowley West Parish) from 1732 until his death. The western part of Rowley eventually became Georgetown, Massachusetts, and the name of the church was changed to the First Congregational Church of Georgetown. Chandler married Mary Hale (1713-1806) in 1736.
Collection Description
This collection consists of papers of the Murray, Forbes, and related families, primarily family correspondence of James Murray, his sister Elizabeth Campbell Smith Inman, and his daughters Dorothy Murray Forbes and Elizabeth Murray Robbins. Included is correspondence related to James Murray's term in the General Assembly of North Carolina, as well as Elizabeth Campbell Smith Inman's work as a dry goods merchant and her care of James's daughters. Of particular interest are letters written before and during the American Revolution describing James's loyalist leanings, his exile to Canada, Elizabeth's attempts to defend her home during the Siege of Boston, and her move to Milton, Massachusetts, as well as letters to Elizabeth from Archibald Campbell, an imprisoned British army officer.
The collection also contains miscellaneous legal, financial, and genealogical papers, including papers related to enslaved people; sermons of James Chandler of the First Congregational Church of Georgetown, Massachusetts; and typescripts of Murray and Forbes family correspondence not in this collection.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Archibald Murray Howe, February 1910.
Other Formats
This collection includes unverified typed and handwritten transcripts of select letters. Some items have been published in Letters of James Murray, Loyalist (Boston: 1901).
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Correspondence, 1737-1899
Arranged chronologically.
This series consists of correspondence of James Murray, Elizabeth Campbell Smith Inman, Dorothy Murray Forbes, Elizabeth Murray Robbins, and others. Correspondence prior to the American Revolution concerns James Murray's term as a member of the General Assembly of North Carolina while living in Cape Fear; Elizabeth Campbell Smith Inman's work as a Boston dry goods merchant and her care of James's daughters; and trips by both James and Elizabeth to England and Scotland. Additional correspondents during this time include merchant Thomas Campbell, Elizabeth's first husband.
Correspondence immediately preceding and during the Revolution relates to James's loyalist leanings; his exile to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and visits to New York and Newport to be near his family; and Elizabeth's attempts to defend her home in Cambridge during the Siege of Boston and her move to Brush Hill (Milton, Massachusetts) while her husband Ralph Inman was in Boston. Letters to Elizabeth from Archibald Campbell of the 71st Highlanders describe his experiences as an army officer imprisoned in Boston and at the Concord Prison. Additional correspondents include Charles Steuart, Gilbert Deblois, John I. Clark, Bridgen and Waller (London merchants), Lady Mary Don, and Thomas Vose. Later correspondence includes letters to Edward H. Robbins and John M. Forbes.
This series includes unverified typed and handwritten transcripts of select letters.
Correspondence, 1737-1749
Correspondence, 1753
Correspondence, 1754
Correspondence, 1755
Correspondence, 1756
Correspondence, 1757
Correspondence, 1758
Correspondence, 1759
Correspondence, 1760-1761
Correspondence, January-April 1762
Correspondence, May-December 1762
Correspondence, 1763
Correspondence, 1764
Correspondence, 1765-1766
Correspondence, 1767
Correspondence, 1768
Correspondence, February-June 1769
Correspondence, July-September 1769
Correspondence, October 1769
Correspondence, November 1769
Correspondence, 4-13 December 1769
Correspondence, 15-28 December 1769
Correspondence, January 1770
Correspondence, February 1770
Correspondence, March 1770
Correspondence, April 1770
Correspondence, May 1770
Correspondence, June 1770
Correspondence, August 1770
Correspondence, September 1770
Correspondence, October-November 1770
Correspondence, December 1770
Correspondence, 1770
Correspondence, 1-14 January 1771
Correspondence, 15-31 January 1771
Correspondence, February 1771
Correspondence, March 1771
Correspondence, April 1771
Correspondence, May 1771
Correspondence, June-July 1771
Correspondence, August 1771
Correspondence, September-October 1771
Correspondence, November-December 1771
Correspondence, January-February 1772
Correspondence, March-April 1772
Correspondence, June 1772
Correspondence, August-December 1772
Correspondence, January-April 1773
Correspondence, June-August 1773
Correspondence, September-December 1773
Correspondence, January-March 1774
Correspondence, May-June 1774
Correspondence, July-August 1774
Correspondence, September-October 1774
Correspondence, November 1774, 1774
Correspondence, January 1775
Correspondence, March-April 1775
Correspondence, 1-17 May 1775
Correspondence, 18-30 May 1775
Correspondence, June 1775
Correspondence, July-August 1775
Correspondence, September 1775
Correspondence, October-December 1775
Correspondence, January-February 1776
Correspondence, April-October 1776
Correspondence, November-December 1776
Correspondence, January 1777
Correspondence, February 1777
Correspondence, March 1777
Correspondence, April 1777
Correspondence, May 1777
Correspondence, June 1777
Correspondence, July-August 1777
Correspondence, September 1777
Correspondence, October 1777
Correspondence, November 1777
Correspondence, December 1777
Correspondence, 1777
Correspondence, January 1778
Correspondence, February 1778
Correspondence, March 1778
Correspondence, May-August 1778
Correspondence, September 1778
Correspondence, October 1778, 1778
Correspondence, January 1779
Correspondence, February-June 1779
Correspondence, August-November 1779, 1779
Correspondence, March-April 1780
Correspondence, May-June 1780
Correspondence, July-August 1780
Correspondence, September-October 1780
Correspondence, November-December 1780
Correspondence, January-February 1781
Correspondence, March-April 1781
Correspondence, May-June 1781
Correspondence, July 1781
Correspondence, August-September 1781
Correspondence, November-December 1781
Correspondence, January-May 1782
Correspondence, June-July 1782
Correspondence, August-November 1782, 1782
Correspondence, January-August 1783
Correspondence, September-December 1783
Correspondence, March-May 1784
Correspondence, June-December 1784
Correspondence, February-March 1785
Correspondence, April-November 1785
Correspondence, 1786
Correspondence, 1787-1788
Correspondence, 1789
Correspondence, 1790
Correspondence, 1791
Correspondence, 1792
Correspondence, 1793
Correspondence, 1794
Correspondence, February-June 1795
Correspondence, July-December 1795
Correspondence, 1796
Correspondence, 1799-1800
Correspondence, 1802-1804
Correspondence, 1806-1811
Correspondence, 1812
Correspondence, 1813-1814
Correspondence, 1815-1820
Correspondence, 1821-1824
Correspondence, 1825
Correspondence, 1827-1836
Correspondence, 1837
Correspondence, February-May 1838
Correspondence, July-November 1838
Correspondence, February-May 1839
Correspondence, July-December 1839
Correspondence, January-March 1840
Correspondence, July-December 1840
Correspondence, 1841
Correspondence, 1842-1849
Correspondence, 1850-1853
Correspondence, 1854
Correspondence, 1855-1862
Correspondence, 1888-1899
Correspondence, undated
Correspondence, undated
Correspondence, undated
Oversize correspondence
II. Miscellaneous personal papers, 1638-1853
A. Legal, financial, and other papers, 1638-1853
Arranged chronologically.
This subseries contains miscellaneous personal papers, other than correspondence, of the Murray and Robbins families, primarily legal and financial papers. Included are agreements and indentures; promissory notes, receipts, and accounts; papers related to land; orders, proclamations, and certificates; memoranda; bills of sale for schooners and other papers related to shipping and cargo; and manuscript contracts of Judge Edward H. Robbins. Undated material includes poems written in various hands.
Specific items in this series include an order from Lt. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson to apprehend army deserters (1758), with deserters' names; Elizabeth Murray Campbell's prenuptial agreements with her second and third husbands, James Smith (1760) and Ralph Inman (1771), as well as her last will and testament; accounts of Barbara Murray Clark with James Murray naming enslaved people (1751); and a list of people enslaved by "Mrs. Allen" (1761).
Papers, 1638-1760
Papers, 1761-1770
Papers, 1771
Papers, 1775-1798
Papers, 1799-1808
Papers, 1810-1825
Papers, 1826-1853
Papers, undated
Oversize papers
B. Volumes, ca. 1793-1810, undated
This subseries consists of two manuscript volumes kept by unidentified people: a commonplace-book containing poems and prayers and a notebook containing notes on scripture and on Elizabeth Inman.
Commonplace-book, ca. 1793-1810
Notebook, undated
C. James Chandler sermons, 1733-1785
Arranged chronologically.
This subseries consists of small manuscript booklets containing the text of sermons delivered by Rev. James Chandler. Included on each sermon is a notation of when it was delivered. Some sermons were delivered multiple times.
Note: The connection between Rev. James Chandler and the Murray or Robbins families is unclear. This material was donated with the rest of the collection in 1910.
Sermons, 1733
Sermons, 1734
Sermons, 1737
Sermon, 1738
Sermons, 1739
Sermon, 1741
Sermon, 1742
Sermon, 1743
Sermon, 1744
Sermon, 1746
Sermon, 1749
Sermon, 1751
Sermons, 1756
Sermons, 1757
Sermons, 1759
Sermons, 1761
Sermons, 1762
Sermon, 1764
Sermons, 1765
Sermon, 1768
Sermon, 1769
Sermons, 1770
Sermon, 1771
Sermons, 1772
Sermons, 1773
Sermon, 1774
Sermons, 1775
Sermons, 1778
Sermon, 1779
Sermons, 1780
Sermons, 1781
Sermons, 1782
Sermons, 1783
Sermons, 1784-1785
Sermons, undated
III. Genealogical papers, 1839-1912, undated
This series contains biographical, genealogical, and historical writings and notes about members of the Murray family, related families, and the town of Milton, Massachusetts. Included are typescript and manuscript (in multiple hands) biographical sketches, notes, family trees, and other papers. Most are undated.
Archibald Campbell, 1912
Mrs. Inman memoir, undated
James Murray memoir, 1839
Murray family, undated
"Song of the Outlaw Murray," undated
Murray family papers inventory, undated
Chesters and Bennett family, undated
Tucker family, undated
History of Milton, undated
Milton anti-incorporation, undated
Milton voters, 1839
Miscellaneous families, undated
Miscellaneous families, undated
IV. Transcripts, 1732-1840
This series contains typed and handwritten transcripts of documents that are not part of the James Murray Robbins family papers. The originals of some of the typescripts in this series may be found in the Murray-Robbins family papers (Ms. N-1157).
Preferred Citation
James Murray Robbins family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.