The Murrays had only one child, Nathaniel F. Murray and when Susan died in October, 1871, her husband was left with the responibility of raising a small child alone. The Chatham census of 1881 shows that Nathaniel (at some point subsequent to Susan's death) married Ida Louise Hollinsworth of the Dresden area (2). Their first child was born 1874, indicating that Nathaniel Sr. was not left long with the singular responsibility of raising his son. The other children born to this second marriage were Edgar, Getrude, Arthur, Earl, Herman, May, Bethune, Samuel.

Nathaniel's father, Samuel Murray, had taught his son the shoemaking trade and being the resourceful person that he was, he used these skills to open his own store along with a crockery and a furniture store. In fact, his resourcefulness lead him to obtain what became known as the Murray Black in the Chatham business district.

When the Murray children grew up, most of them returned to the United States. Arthur and Earl both young and were never married. Gertrude married McKinley Berritte from New Orleans and resided in Chicago. May married Rev. William F. Seay in Chatham while he was the pastor of the Campbell African Mathodist Episcopal Church. Both Gertrude and May had been sent to tailoring school in Chicago. Gerturude was a dressmaker for wealthy Chicagoans and May used her skills at home in Chatham.

Herman Samuel married Minnie Enty (it was their daughter Ida Murray Burks who so graciously related most of the Murray history to his author.) Herman settled in Toledo, Ohio. He was partially blind from birth, but as a young man he recieved eye surgery in Detroit, Michigan to partially correct the problem. (Ida spent her summers as a child with her grandparents in Chatham and was good friends of the Norman Freeman and Bill Williams families. She was christened in Chatham at the Campbell A.M.E. church.)

Edgar Married Kathern and they were blessed with three children. Two died young and their remaining daughter, Virginia resides in Chicago at the time of this writing.

Bethune, the youngest of the children, is propably the best known of the family. He was one of the first blacks in the Chatham area to recieve the A.T.C.A. (a music degree) from Toronto Conservatory of Music and he was also an excellent artist. Prior to his move to Chicago Bethune played the piano for one of the theaters in Chatham in the days of silent film. When he moved to Chicago he met and married Louise Ann De Loache. He had a short lived, but good band in Chicago called The Canadian Ginger Snaps. The problems of being a bandleader became a burden to Bethune so he began to play solo at the better nightclubs in the Chicago area (3). He also played regularly at the Chicago World's Fair (Ida Murray Burks also performed at the World's Fair with the William Henry Smith Chorus.) Bethune was also a songwriter. His most remembered song was "No One Knows What a Two Cent Stamp Can Do."

(I interviewed Mrs. Burks at her home in Toledo, Ohio. The fine furniture, china, crystral, and collectibles in the home, many of which came from the Murray Mansion located on King Street E. in Chatham, showed the affluency of the family in this area. Nathaniel was heartbroken at the death of his second wife. He eventually lost his business at a result of being ostracized by white jobbers who advised suppliers not to sell to Murray, thus diminishing his ability to trade.)

Sources:
(1) Nathaniel Murray married to Susan Hawkins - December 29, 1868
(2) Chatham census - 1981
(3) Interview with Norma Browning who told of Bethune Murray setting her besides him when he practices his music at the piano.

Note: Most of the Murray family information was recieved from Ida Murray Burks who at the time of writing resides in Toledo, Ohio.