John Murdoch was born at Kipfford, Colvend in 1839. The son of Andrew McCulloch Murdoch and Mary Cumming. As a child his family moved to Dalbeattie. John married Isabella Walker on the 5'th of November 1862 in the Wesley chapel, Toxteth, Liverpool, United Kingdom. Isabella was aged 20 and John was 23 and was a Master Mariner, Merchant Service. The two witnesses were John's cousin Captain Samuel Murdoch and Mary Ann Heughan.

Isabella is the daughter of Captain John Walker and Margaret Heughan. On Margaret's death certificate she died at 77 Copland Street, Dalbeattie aged 71 on the 7th of Feb 1889 from heart disease. John and Margaret got married on the 16th of July 1839 at Buittle Parish, Palnackie. Their children are James Walker born the 7-10-1844. Samuel Walker born 17-3-1846. William Walker born 5-10-1847, he died aged 65 on the 27th of Dec 1912, on the 1901 census he was living at 91 Copland Street, Dalbeattie. He is buried with his mum in Dalbeattie Churchyard and John Walker born 5-11-1849, he followed in the footsteps of his dad and became a Master Mariner; he died aged 49 on the 8th of April 1899 from TB at Palnackie. His wife was Margaret Mclaughlan and they got married in Liverpool in 1877.

Johns Murdoch's second wife was Margaret Brass and they were married on the 22 of Feb 1888 at Kirkwall- ORKNEY. The marriage was only a short one as she died aged 42 on the 29th of March 1892 from Acute Spinal and double pneumonia at Glenshalloch Place, High Street Dalbeattie.
In the same year John also lost his mother in December and he must have been heartbroken.

In 1895 at Newcastle, John married his third wife Isabella Murdoch who was a distant relative of his and in 1902; he was granted a divorce on the grounds of her deserting him. The court case was printed in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard Newspaper.
The last woman John Murdoch married was in 1904 to Lucia Amelia Williams, she was 36 and John was 64, her job was a governess and she came from London, John was now retired and living at Summerbank. The two witnesses at the wedding were Gordon and Isabella Coutts.
Aged 14 John went to sea with his father on the sloop "Jane" and afterwards joined his uncle who traded to the Mediterranean. Then he retuned to his father's vessel and continued with him in the costing trade.

His obituary says he was shipwrecked with his father on the "Robert and Helen" at the Mull of Kintyre.

On the 1861 census aged 22, John succeeded his father as skipper of the "Brothers" and had three crew members abroad; the vessel had come from Holyhead, Anglesey to Kings Dock, Liverpool. Afterwards he sailed first the "Isabelle" and then the "Resolution." The Dumfries newspaper said the following.

Newspaper
Dumfries and Galloway Standard. 20th of May 1899

A DALBEATTIE SCHOONER'S MISHAP.-THE RESOLUTION,"
a schooner owned and sailed by Captain John Murdoch, Dalbeattie, was considerably damaged this week at Liverpool. The schooner sailed from the Urr, loaded with granite, on Thursday of last week, and after her arrival she settled down on her anchor on the tide ebbing, a hole being broken in her hull. The cargo has been taken out, and it is expected that the vessel will be lifted without much difficulty. Her owner bought her only a month or two ago.

On the 1901 census on the Resolution, John was with his son Alexander Rae Murdoch at Silloth Dock, Cumberland.

He bought 'Mayfield' - a full rigged brig which was purchased from J & J Rae. She traded to the ports on the west coast of South America; John sold her much later and her new owner converted her into a Barquentine.

John's son James who sailed with his father on the 'Mayfield' from Runcorn to Iceland said, "during a gale my father John stood at the wheel for 18 hours at a stretch, I think I can see him now standing like a statue with his whiskers blowing in the wind. A hard case sailor he was; he detested the sight of a steamer and used to say if they consumed their own dirt it would not be so bad."

Samuel Murdoch Crosbie said John was one of the finest sailors that ever trod the decks.

John died on Monday aged 70 on the 23rd of May 1910, at 2.30 PM, at his home at Glenshalloch Place, Dalbeattie from paralysis agitans, (Parkinson's disease) which he had it for 5 years. His brother Henry was the informant. John was buried on Thursday at 2pm at Dalbeattie cemetery and his obituary says it was largely attended.

John and Isabella had eight children and they were:

(1) Margaret Murdoch was named after her grandmother, her mother's mum. She was called Maggie by the family and was born on the 1st March 1864. She married John Briggs at Dalbeattie in 1883 and he worked for the bank of London and South America in Buenos Aires. Margaret died aged 65 from cancer of the stomach and gall bladder on the 28th of Dec 1929 at 18 Hunters Avenue Ayr. They had two children Isabella Murdoch Briggs and she was born in 1894 and John Briggs, both of whom served in the Royal navy during WWII. John lived at montevideo Uruguay.

(2) Mary Murdoch was named after her grandmother, her father's mum. She was born on the 29th July 1868 at Port Street, Dalbeattie and married James Herbert Douglas at Dalbeattie on the 14th of October 1891 and they were both aged 23. James was born 44 Kyle Street, Ayr, Scotland and worked as Sculptor, they raised a family of seven and emigrated too Los Angeles after 1909.
Mary would say to her children, she lived a long life because she had a shot of whiskey every evening with her cigarette. She died aged 94 on the 5th of September 1962 in Glendale, California and James died aged 71 in 1939 in Los Angeles. Their seven children are.
James K. Douglas was born in 1893 in Ayr, Scotland, in 1929 he lived at: 1263 Lexington Ave, New York. Winnie Douglas was born in 1897 in Scotland. Edith Douglas was born in 1900 and married Thomas Kraft. Herbert Murdoch Douglas was known as "Bert" and he was born the 19 Jan 1903 in Scotland.
Dorothy Douglas was born in 1905 and married Clarence Morse. Marguerite Evelyn Douglas was born in 1906 in Manchester, England, and died aged 71 in 1977 in Reseda, California. Her husband was John Thomas Frost and they got married on the 1st March 1924 in Tijuana, Mexico. John was born in 1904 in New York, they had 8 children. And the last child born too Mary Murdoch and James H Douglas was Louie, "Peggy" Douglas was born, 1909 in England. She married Dorsey Koehler.

(3) Andrew Murdoch was named after his grandfather, his dad's father. He was born the 12th of May 1870 and sadly died at Port Street; Dalbeattie aged 5 years and 7 months of diphtheria on the 17th of Dec 1875. Diphtheria is a very contagious and potentially life-threatening bacterial disease, which usually attacks the throat and nose. In more serious cases, it can attack the heart and nerves.

(4) Captain John Murdoch was born on the 12th of Aril 1872, at Port Street, Dalbeattie. He first went to sea with his father. He served his apprenticeship with J&J Rae of Liverpool and was for sometime the first officer of the four-masted ship 'Rowena,' which traded between London and India. He had all his certificates by the age of 23.
He also served on the 'Iquique' commanded by Captain Samuel Murdoch (his father's cousin). John took command of Rae's Barque the 'Craignair.' He intended going into steam but he wanted to complete a few voyages as Master of the 'Craignair.' Before he did so his father warned him not to take the ship as by this time she had been hard driven for nearly 25 years. 'Craignair' was built on the Clyde in 1875 by the famous builder Robert Duncan of Port Glasgow, while a small ship she was fast and a frequent visitor to the West coast of South America.
Towards the end of her career she also visited Rangoon, Mauritius, New Zealand , Australia, Madras, Calcutta and Trinidad.

On a voyage from New Caledonia Bay to Philadelphia U.S.A., it was a honeymoon voyage for John and his new wife Barbara Jane Caird from Palnackie. Barbara was able to take the bearing of the vessel as accurately as her husband and this was common in those days. Unfortunately they were all lost at sea with 17 of the crew, neither ship nor crew were again heard off, John died aged 29 on the 6th of April 1901. Barbara was aged 28.
The last report sighting of the 'Craignair' was under a press of canvas when she passed another ship going in the opposite direction around Cape Horn. His father was always under the impression that the cargo had shifted.

(5) Captain James Murdoch was named after his uncle, his mum's brother. He was born on the 13th of Jan 1877 at 11.30 PM at Port Street, Dalbeattie and died aged 70 on the 19th of April 1947 at Poole. He was in the freemason. He married Jessie K.B. Wilkins at Poole in 1896. They lived at 41 High Street, Poole. In 1890 he went to sea with his father on the barquentine Mayfield. He owned and sailed aboard the 'Mayfield,' 'Isabella,' three-masted Schooner 'Red Rose,' 'Raymond' and also 'Ianthe.' He was aged 20 when he owned the schooner Isabella of Liverpool and sailed her successfully for one year. In 1916 he bought the Brigantine 'Raymond.' He retired from sail around the 1930s, and was now living at 1 Parkstone Road, Poole. He had 3 daughters, Violet M Murdoch was born in 1913. Lilly and Rose who was blind from birth, he adopted his wife's nephew Sydney George Brown who aged 17 was lost on the Chipperkyle when it went missing in 1911.
James's career at sea can be found here.

(6) Isabella Walker Murdoch was born in 1879 at Dalbeattie and was known as Bell and she died aged 91 in 1970 in USA. In October 1902 she married William Miller Greig at Dalbeattie, a Scottish civil engineer. He was born in Glasgow 20-3-1880. In 1910 they moved to Canada and then on too the U.S.A in 1914 and became U.S. citizens, they lived 718 Ormond Avenue, Drexel Hill-Philadelphia. William served with U.S. Corps of engineers during WWII and his identity card says he was white, 5 foot 7; blue eyes, red hair, ruddy complexion and he weighed 15 stone-8 pounds. They had two sons George B Greig, he became a ships officer for an American line, but died young and Construction Engineer John Murdoch Greig, he married Catherine and they had children and his mother moved in with him later on in life at Drexel Hill.

(7) Elizabeth Murdoch was born on the 17th of November 1882. Please click here for her family tree.

(8) And the youngest child was my grandfather Alexander Rae Murdoch, he was born 1885. Alexander married Pearl Coutts in 1911.
To see the family tree click here.

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