Son of John Murdock and Julia Clapp
Married Almira Henrietta Lott, 13 Nov 1849, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Polly Emeline Lamb, 27 Jan 1857, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Mary Ellen Wolfenden, 10 Jan 1863, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Margery May Bain, 10 Jan 1863, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
History - John Riggs Murdock, president of the Beaver Stake of Zion from 1877 to 1891.
His father and mother joined the Church in November, 1830, being among the first converts to "Mormonism" in Ohio; and they became closely associated with the Prophet Joseph. The mother died in 1831, leaving a family of five children, including a pair of twins, a boy and a girl (Joseph and Julia), born at their mother's death. The twins were adopted by the Prophet and his wife and tenderly fostered. When the boy was a year and a half old, he caught the measles, and through exposure took cold and died at the time the Prophet was mobbed at Hiram in 1832. Julia remained in the family until she had grown to womanhood.
After his mother's death John R. was sent with Caleb Baldwin, Sr., to Jackson County, Missouri, where he lived in the family of Morris Phelps. After the Saints were driven out of Jackson county, he was baptized by his father in Clay county in the year 1834; he also passed through the mobbings and persecutions in Caldwell county.
His father, after spending about five years on missions, married again, when John R. left Brother Baldwin and rejoined his father's family, with which he removed from Quincy to Nauvoo. Here he worked on the Prophet Joseph's farm about four years, and was still in the Prophet's employ at the time of the martyrdom; in the exodus from Nauvoo in 1846, John R. came west with Father Cornelius P. Lott.
On his way he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, and as a private in Company B he marched all the way to San Diego in California. After serving his time he made his way, in company with many other Battalion boys, to Great Salt Lake valley, and arrived on the present site of Salt Lake City, Oct. 12, 1847, after a tedious journey of twelve hundred miles with pack animals.
He spent the winter in the "Old Fort" and married Almira H. Lott, daughter of Cornelius P. Lott.
In the spring of 1851 he settled in Lehi, Utah county, being one of the early settlers of that place; and among the several positions filled by him here was that of mayor of the city.
In 1856 he took a most active part in rescuing the hand-cart companies, who were perishing in the snow storms. When he brought in some of the suffering emigrants he found the snow on the Big Mountain fifteen feet deep.
To many of those who crossed the plains before the Union Pacific Railroad was built, the name of John R. Murdock is very familiar. He was sent east five times as a captain of Church trains after the poor, namely in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1868.
He also carried the mails from the Valley to Independence, Mo., as an employee of the B. Y. X. Company, and in that capacity he made two round trips to the States in 1857, in unprecedented short time.
In 1358 he went to Omaha as an escort to Col. Thos. L. Kane, making the round trip of 2,120 miles with the same animals in 42 traveling days. He also brought trains of merchandise for Livingston & Bell in the early days. Altogether "Captain Murdock," as he was familiarly called in early days, made eleven round trips across the plains, and has brought more "Mormon" emigrants to Utah than any other leader. He is credited with making a better record than any other man known in bringing ox and mule trains across the plains and over the mountains.
In the spring of 1864 he was called and ordained to the office of a Bishop by President Brigham Young and sent to preside in Beaver, Beaver county. He occupied that position until 1877, when the Beaver Stake of Zion was organized, and he was chosen and set apart as its president. This responsible position he filled for fourteen years.
He has served eight terms in the Territorial and one in the State legislature. He was also a member of the Constitutional convention, which framed the State constitution in 1895. He has also served as probate judge of Beaver county and as a colonel in the Iron County Military District.
From the first Elder Murdock was one of the representative and leading men in the Church and community at large. He has occupied many positions of honor and trust in the Territory and State, and is now in his old age highly respected and beloved by the people.
Mormon Battalion, Company B
Married Almira Henrietta Lott, 13 Nov 1849, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Polly Emeline Lamb, 27 Jan 1857, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Mary Ellen Wolfenden, 10 Jan 1863, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Margery May Bain, 10 Jan 1863, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
History - John Riggs Murdock, president of the Beaver Stake of Zion from 1877 to 1891.
His father and mother joined the Church in November, 1830, being among the first converts to "Mormonism" in Ohio; and they became closely associated with the Prophet Joseph. The mother died in 1831, leaving a family of five children, including a pair of twins, a boy and a girl (Joseph and Julia), born at their mother's death. The twins were adopted by the Prophet and his wife and tenderly fostered. When the boy was a year and a half old, he caught the measles, and through exposure took cold and died at the time the Prophet was mobbed at Hiram in 1832. Julia remained in the family until she had grown to womanhood.
After his mother's death John R. was sent with Caleb Baldwin, Sr., to Jackson County, Missouri, where he lived in the family of Morris Phelps. After the Saints were driven out of Jackson county, he was baptized by his father in Clay county in the year 1834; he also passed through the mobbings and persecutions in Caldwell county.
His father, after spending about five years on missions, married again, when John R. left Brother Baldwin and rejoined his father's family, with which he removed from Quincy to Nauvoo. Here he worked on the Prophet Joseph's farm about four years, and was still in the Prophet's employ at the time of the martyrdom; in the exodus from Nauvoo in 1846, John R. came west with Father Cornelius P. Lott.
On his way he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, and as a private in Company B he marched all the way to San Diego in California. After serving his time he made his way, in company with many other Battalion boys, to Great Salt Lake valley, and arrived on the present site of Salt Lake City, Oct. 12, 1847, after a tedious journey of twelve hundred miles with pack animals.
He spent the winter in the "Old Fort" and married Almira H. Lott, daughter of Cornelius P. Lott.
In the spring of 1851 he settled in Lehi, Utah county, being one of the early settlers of that place; and among the several positions filled by him here was that of mayor of the city.
In 1856 he took a most active part in rescuing the hand-cart companies, who were perishing in the snow storms. When he brought in some of the suffering emigrants he found the snow on the Big Mountain fifteen feet deep.
To many of those who crossed the plains before the Union Pacific Railroad was built, the name of John R. Murdock is very familiar. He was sent east five times as a captain of Church trains after the poor, namely in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1868.
He also carried the mails from the Valley to Independence, Mo., as an employee of the B. Y. X. Company, and in that capacity he made two round trips to the States in 1857, in unprecedented short time.
In 1358 he went to Omaha as an escort to Col. Thos. L. Kane, making the round trip of 2,120 miles with the same animals in 42 traveling days. He also brought trains of merchandise for Livingston & Bell in the early days. Altogether "Captain Murdock," as he was familiarly called in early days, made eleven round trips across the plains, and has brought more "Mormon" emigrants to Utah than any other leader. He is credited with making a better record than any other man known in bringing ox and mule trains across the plains and over the mountains.
In the spring of 1864 he was called and ordained to the office of a Bishop by President Brigham Young and sent to preside in Beaver, Beaver county. He occupied that position until 1877, when the Beaver Stake of Zion was organized, and he was chosen and set apart as its president. This responsible position he filled for fourteen years.
He has served eight terms in the Territorial and one in the State legislature. He was also a member of the Constitutional convention, which framed the State constitution in 1895. He has also served as probate judge of Beaver county and as a colonel in the Iron County Military District.
From the first Elder Murdock was one of the representative and leading men in the Church and community at large. He has occupied many positions of honor and trust in the Territory and State, and is now in his old age highly respected and beloved by the people.
Mormon Battalion, Company B
Son of John Murdock and Julia Clapp
Married Almira Henrietta Lott, 13 Nov 1849, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Polly Emeline Lamb, 27 Jan 1857, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Mary Ellen Wolfenden, 10 Jan 1863, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Margery May Bain, 10 Jan 1863, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
History - John Riggs Murdock, president of the Beaver Stake of Zion from 1877 to 1891.
His father and mother joined the Church in November, 1830, being among the first converts to "Mormonism" in Ohio; and they became closely associated with the Prophet Joseph. The mother died in 1831, leaving a family of five children, including a pair of twins, a boy and a girl (Joseph and Julia), born at their mother's death. The twins were adopted by the Prophet and his wife and tenderly fostered. When the boy was a year and a half old, he caught the measles, and through exposure took cold and died at the time the Prophet was mobbed at Hiram in 1832. Julia remained in the family until she had grown to womanhood.
After his mother's death John R. was sent with Caleb Baldwin, Sr., to Jackson County, Missouri, where he lived in the family of Morris Phelps. After the Saints were driven out of Jackson county, he was baptized by his father in Clay county in the year 1834; he also passed through the mobbings and persecutions in Caldwell county.
His father, after spending about five years on missions, married again, when John R. left Brother Baldwin and rejoined his father's family, with which he removed from Quincy to Nauvoo. Here he worked on the Prophet Joseph's farm about four years, and was still in the Prophet's employ at the time of the martyrdom; in the exodus from Nauvoo in 1846, John R. came west with Father Cornelius P. Lott.
On his way he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, and as a private in Company B he marched all the way to San Diego in California. After serving his time he made his way, in company with many other Battalion boys, to Great Salt Lake valley, and arrived on the present site of Salt Lake City, Oct. 12, 1847, after a tedious journey of twelve hundred miles with pack animals.
He spent the winter in the "Old Fort" and married Almira H. Lott, daughter of Cornelius P. Lott.
In the spring of 1851 he settled in Lehi, Utah county, being one of the early settlers of that place; and among the several positions filled by him here was that of mayor of the city.
In 1856 he took a most active part in rescuing the hand-cart companies, who were perishing in the snow storms. When he brought in some of the suffering emigrants he found the snow on the Big Mountain fifteen feet deep.
To many of those who crossed the plains before the Union Pacific Railroad was built, the name of John R. Murdock is very familiar. He was sent east five times as a captain of Church trains after the poor, namely in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1868.
He also carried the mails from the Valley to Independence, Mo., as an employee of the B. Y. X. Company, and in that capacity he made two round trips to the States in 1857, in unprecedented short time.
In 1358 he went to Omaha as an escort to Col. Thos. L. Kane, making the round trip of 2,120 miles with the same animals in 42 traveling days. He also brought trains of merchandise for Livingston & Bell in the early days. Altogether "Captain Murdock," as he was familiarly called in early days, made eleven round trips across the plains, and has brought more "Mormon" emigrants to Utah than any other leader. He is credited with making a better record than any other man known in bringing ox and mule trains across the plains and over the mountains.
In the spring of 1864 he was called and ordained to the office of a Bishop by President Brigham Young and sent to preside in Beaver, Beaver county. He occupied that position until 1877, when the Beaver Stake of Zion was organized, and he was chosen and set apart as its president. This responsible position he filled for fourteen years.
He has served eight terms in the Territorial and one in the State legislature. He was also a member of the Constitutional convention, which framed the State constitution in 1895. He has also served as probate judge of Beaver county and as a colonel in the Iron County Military District.
From the first Elder Murdock was one of the representative and leading men in the Church and community at large. He has occupied many positions of honor and trust in the Territory and State, and is now in his old age highly respected and beloved by the people.
Mormon Battalion, Company B
Married Almira Henrietta Lott, 13 Nov 1849, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Polly Emeline Lamb, 27 Jan 1857, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Mary Ellen Wolfenden, 10 Jan 1863, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Margery May Bain, 10 Jan 1863, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
History - John Riggs Murdock, president of the Beaver Stake of Zion from 1877 to 1891.
His father and mother joined the Church in November, 1830, being among the first converts to "Mormonism" in Ohio; and they became closely associated with the Prophet Joseph. The mother died in 1831, leaving a family of five children, including a pair of twins, a boy and a girl (Joseph and Julia), born at their mother's death. The twins were adopted by the Prophet and his wife and tenderly fostered. When the boy was a year and a half old, he caught the measles, and through exposure took cold and died at the time the Prophet was mobbed at Hiram in 1832. Julia remained in the family until she had grown to womanhood.
After his mother's death John R. was sent with Caleb Baldwin, Sr., to Jackson County, Missouri, where he lived in the family of Morris Phelps. After the Saints were driven out of Jackson county, he was baptized by his father in Clay county in the year 1834; he also passed through the mobbings and persecutions in Caldwell county.
His father, after spending about five years on missions, married again, when John R. left Brother Baldwin and rejoined his father's family, with which he removed from Quincy to Nauvoo. Here he worked on the Prophet Joseph's farm about four years, and was still in the Prophet's employ at the time of the martyrdom; in the exodus from Nauvoo in 1846, John R. came west with Father Cornelius P. Lott.
On his way he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, and as a private in Company B he marched all the way to San Diego in California. After serving his time he made his way, in company with many other Battalion boys, to Great Salt Lake valley, and arrived on the present site of Salt Lake City, Oct. 12, 1847, after a tedious journey of twelve hundred miles with pack animals.
He spent the winter in the "Old Fort" and married Almira H. Lott, daughter of Cornelius P. Lott.
In the spring of 1851 he settled in Lehi, Utah county, being one of the early settlers of that place; and among the several positions filled by him here was that of mayor of the city.
In 1856 he took a most active part in rescuing the hand-cart companies, who were perishing in the snow storms. When he brought in some of the suffering emigrants he found the snow on the Big Mountain fifteen feet deep.
To many of those who crossed the plains before the Union Pacific Railroad was built, the name of John R. Murdock is very familiar. He was sent east five times as a captain of Church trains after the poor, namely in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1868.
He also carried the mails from the Valley to Independence, Mo., as an employee of the B. Y. X. Company, and in that capacity he made two round trips to the States in 1857, in unprecedented short time.
In 1358 he went to Omaha as an escort to Col. Thos. L. Kane, making the round trip of 2,120 miles with the same animals in 42 traveling days. He also brought trains of merchandise for Livingston & Bell in the early days. Altogether "Captain Murdock," as he was familiarly called in early days, made eleven round trips across the plains, and has brought more "Mormon" emigrants to Utah than any other leader. He is credited with making a better record than any other man known in bringing ox and mule trains across the plains and over the mountains.
In the spring of 1864 he was called and ordained to the office of a Bishop by President Brigham Young and sent to preside in Beaver, Beaver county. He occupied that position until 1877, when the Beaver Stake of Zion was organized, and he was chosen and set apart as its president. This responsible position he filled for fourteen years.
He has served eight terms in the Territorial and one in the State legislature. He was also a member of the Constitutional convention, which framed the State constitution in 1895. He has also served as probate judge of Beaver county and as a colonel in the Iron County Military District.
From the first Elder Murdock was one of the representative and leading men in the Church and community at large. He has occupied many positions of honor and trust in the Territory and State, and is now in his old age highly respected and beloved by the people.
Mormon Battalion, Company B
Family Members
Siblings
Half Siblings
Children
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John Cornelius Murdock
1850–1894
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Julia Permelia Murdock Farnsworth
1852–1938
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Joseph Riggs "Jode" Murdock
1860–1941
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George Carlos Murdock Sr
1862–1931
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Charles Edward Murdock Sr
1864–1931
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Sarah Ann Murdock
1866–1867
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Orrice Abraham Murdock
1866–1929
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Mary Isabella Murdock
1868–1869
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Lillie May Murdock
1870–1884
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Pheobe Jane Murdock
1873–1874
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Abram Ezra Murdock
1875–1876
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Albert Pearson Murdock
1877–1877
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Arthur Woolfenden Murdock
1877–1877
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Almira Henrietta Murdock De Wolfe
1879–1954
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John Riggs Murdock
1883–1965
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