Treasure Chest Thursday: Old Papers, New Clues about General Proctor?

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

This old family note, found in papers passed down in the Maude McMurray Cook line, gives us new clues about General Proctor:

1. He “came from England to U.S.”
2. He came to the US “in 1775.”
3. He was a “Brit. general.”

This note contradicts some of what has been posted previously, plus what we know from census and other research.

1. “He was from England”- the older family letter we wrote about in 2014 does state that General Proctor came from England, so the two documents agree on that. Interestingly, however, Mary was born in Ireland per some researchers (listed as such on Find-A-Grave too, though no documentation is included), but few moved from Ireland TO Britain- the British did not like the Irish at that time. So how would she have been born in Ireland but her father sailed to America from England, and was an officer in the British Army? It is possible, but does not seem likely.

   Also, the 1850 US Federal Census for Blair County, Pennsylvania, states that Mary (who was about 57 then), was born in Pennsylvania. It seems that if if she truly had been born in Ireland or England, she would have had an accent even after 50+ years in the states and obviously be Irish or English, but then, we don’t know who gave the information to the census taker. Mary died in 1851, so we do not have more census data about her birth.

   Number 2., “He came to the US in 1775,” and 3., “He was a “Brit. general,” need to be considered together. About 5 am on 19 April 1775, the American Revolution  began with the “shot heard ’round the world” at Lexington, Massachusetts.  So if Gen. Proctor was a British officer, he would have come to the colonies to help quell the civil unrest if he came before that date, or he would have come as an official enemy to the American rebels if he landed after 19 April 1775 and before 1783. There was very little migration to the colonies during the war. So we should probably next try to determine if he was captured by the Americans and then went over to their side, or if he decided to stay and become an American after the war. Thus far, however, it has been challenging to find an officer with the name of Proctor who fits the few parameters we know of his life.Additionally, Mary was not yet born in 1775, and the family letter we have states that she came with her father “at the close of the war” and brought spoons and a pin. It does seem she would have been an older girl or young woman if she was bringing a pin and spoons.

They were brought from England by Mary Proctor when she came to the states with her father, General Proctor, at the close of the war. This was father’s mother. The pin had been a clasp to a neck chain but was fitted with a pin and had been used as such for about one hundred years. When Mary died she gave the pin to her daughter Sarah, Huldah’s mother, who took care of her during her last sickness.

The spoons were also handed down at the same time.

We do not know which war this was- could it have been a war other than the American Revolution? Perhaps Mary and her father came over at the end of the War of 1812? If she was born in 1793, she would have been 19 when that war began. (The War of 1812 was not officially over until 1815.) Even if she immigrated to America with her father after that war, the timing would work for her to marry William McMurray around 1818 and have their first child, Henderson McMurray, in 1819. She would have been 25 when marrying, which is plausible for that time period, especially after a war. This suggests that maybe looking at the War of 1812 and British war records may help us to find out more about this family.

This note about Gen. Proctor was received more than a year ago, but it has only been recently thoroughly reviewed. It helps that we know a bit more about Mary since we received the papers, as we can now better analyze the information they contain. We still do not know when the notes were written nor who wrote them, and if we can learn that information, we might be better able to analyze their accuracy.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “Tuesday’s Tip: Who was ‘General Proctor’?” http://heritageramblings.net/2016/03/01/tuesdays-tip-who-was-general-proctor/
2. “Mystery Monday- The McMurrays in America”– http://heritageramblings.net/2014/04/07/mystery-monday-the-mcmurrays-in-america/
3. “Mystery Monday: General Proctor of the McMurray Line”–http://heritageramblings.net/2018/08/20/mystery-monday-general-proctor-of-the-mcmurray-line/
4. The letter was written by Hepzibah Jeanetta (McMurray) Raugh (1865-1954), to her sister, Mary E. McMurray (1856-1956), both granddaughters of Mary Proctor. We don’t know who has these items now, nor the date the letter was written.

 

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