Notes for Thomas Everitt MURRAY

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Notes for Thomas Everitt MURRAY

According to information received from Peter Murray in 1997, Thomas Everitt Murray, "Tom," born October 14, 1870, died May 22, 1941. He was a farmer of Roode Bloem farm and was the inceptor of, and first President of, the South African Wool Growers Association and held that office for some years. Tom was four and a half years old when he moved with his father and his family to Roode Bloem in 1875. He lived there all his life. He was a gentle and affectionate family man, an outstanding farmer, and took a great interest in public affairs. He, with his brother Arthur, started the Bloemhof-Roode Bloem Friesland Cattle Stud, and continued on his own when the partnership was dissolved. He was a great authority on the utilization of floodwaters and an assessor of the Water Courts. After his death he was described as "one of the most eminent personalities in the whole sphere of South African farming." For many years he was chairman of the Graaff Reinet Board of Executors.

He married, in 1900, Eleanor McDonald, born February 15, 1868, who died April 30, 1963, of Lilyfountain, Queenstown (now incorporated in the Transkei). Her mother Eleanor (Powell) was the daughter of Charles Powell and his wife Elizabeth (Southey) the youngest sister of our ancestor George Southey, the son of the 1820 settler. Tom Murray and his wife Eleanor McDonald had five children.

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