John Murrell
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Just wanted to see if anyone knew much about him .About 30 years ago my dad showed me a plantation owned by him it has a cemetary in the back now was this maybe the same John Murrell that was a outlaw?I think this may be a place to look for a large cache if you have a good deep seeking detector. yep i am getting old now and just might tell you where it is if you are serious about treasure hunting.It was a large plantation a few miles west of town it dated back in the early 1800 no sign of a plantation now all woods a little ways south of the Arkansas line in Louisiana about 30 or 40 minutes from Shreveport La. These are a few clues. for more info get on this site and be active. Good Luck bildon
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thepineywoods.com/MurrellN06.htm
Murrell family pioneered in Claiborne Parish
By Murphy J. Barr
Journal Historian
John Murrell was living in Carthage, Tennessee, with his wife and six children when he decided to seek a new area of the country in which to live and farm. He placed his household goods and tools on a flatboat and floated down the Tennessee River to Nashville.
In Nashville he met other families, including Wallace, Clark, Manning, Dyer, Hudson, Robinson, Duty, Peterson, and Murrell. These families placed their goods on two large keel boat barges and floated on down the Tennessee River to the Ohio River, and on to the Mississippi. When they reached the mouth of the Red River, they traveled upriver, making their way through the great raft of floating logs which almost blocked the river below the area that is now Shreveport.
The Murrell and Wallace families landed at Long Prairie, Arkansas, and made their camp on the bank of the river. They opened a small patch among the canes that grew on the land and planted vegetables and corn.
John Murrell had $100 and wished to buy cattle, and made his way to Natchitoches for that purpose. On his way he found only two cabins, one built by Isaac Walden, the other by a Mr. Bosel, who had moved on to Texas. Alden asked Murrell to take the cabin. In Natchitoches he bought ten cows and calves, and when he returned to Long Prairie he found his family were sick. He moved his family away from the river bank and came back to Claiborne Parish, Louisiana on August 6, 1818, and lived in the empty cabin, 12 miles from Campti on the Red River. Mrs. John let him have meat, bread, and corn to feed his family.
At this time in North Central Louisiana there were no roads, only Indian trails. The land was covered with trees, thick brush and cane brakes. Only a few hunters and trappers had gone into the area. Soon after Murrell moved into the area a great fire swept the area. After a time the area became beautiful with clear running streams and wild flowers. Wild game was plentiful. Murrell brought his axe, gun, and hunting dogs.
Most of Murrell's neighbors were Indians. However, east of his area families from South Carolina were settling. In time other families moved nearer to the Murrell farm, namely, James Allen, Obadiah Driskell, Nedham Reynolds, Mr. Brazeal, Mr. McCardy, Dr. Hugh Walker, and Joseph Edwards.
On March 29, 1819, Murrell's seventh child was born. They named him Isaac, and he is considered to have been the first white child born in Claiborne Parish.
Murrell located in the Flat Lick Bayou area a few miles west of Homer, Louisiana. He built a two-story house there on 280 acres of land. In two years time several other families settled in the Flat Lick community. William Gryder was the first blacksmith.
Murrell's two-story house, known as the Flat Lick Plantation, had 18 rooms with two chimneys made of native stone on each side of the house with fireplaces on both floors. This house served as the first church. Baptist ministers were James Driskill and Newt Drew, who held monthly services, assisted by Arthur Ashburner Conly. In 1822 his salary was $15 per month.
In 1822 the Murrell home served as the post office, named Allen settlement, in honor of Martin Allen, the first Justice of the Peace. Murrell was the first postmaster. In 1822 the first store was opened near Murrell's home. It was closed within a year, then reopened by Robert Lee Kilgore in 1825.
J. McCarty raised the first significant cotton crop in 1826, and about this time the first slaves appeared in the area. People in the community got their salt from the Drake Salt Works in Winn Parish.
In 1828, law and government was dispensed from Murrell's home, serving as the court house until the Police Jury of the newly created Claiborne Parish chose Russellville to be the first parish seat of government.
The road in Northwest Louisiana known as the Military Road in 1928 passed directly by Murrell's home.
In time, the Civil War came about, and a story has been passed down about Murrell's youngest son, Isaac, who had a young slave named Edmond Merritt, described as "a faithful one, he was." Merritt went with nephews Perry and John Murrell to fight in the Civil War. On the morning of September 17, 1862, one son told Merritt to take John Jr.'s gold watch home, that he would not be back. That night after the battle of Sharpsburg, Merritt went into the battlefield, turning over hundreds of dead to see the faces of John and Perry, and could not find them. After returning home with the gold watch, Merritt found John had been killed. Perry and friend R.A. White had been wounded.
After the Civil War, John Jr., gave each of his former slaves forty acres of land and a cabin, and the right to be buried in the family cemetery. They took the name of White, and one of the markers in the cemetery reads, "Enoch White was born during the years of slavery, reached a ripe old age." Another marker read "Let not the dead be forgotten, lest men forget that they just die. Allen White, Jr., Pvt. 1N, Jan. 16, 1895 - Mar. 19, 1933." At the entrance of the Murrell cemetery is a grave marker which reads "Fredrick Miller, born in Germany 1765-1822, father of Emmaline Miller Botzong Longheld and Long John Miller, first white man buried in Claiborne parish." This is an indication that German families were in Claiborne parish in that early time.
John Murrell was buried in the Murrell cemetery on his home place, Flat Lick Plantation. He was a talented, enterprising person and became known as the first to introduce civilization to northeast Louisiana. His epitaph reads, "Dear to the memory of John Murrell, Sr., who died Jan. 25, 1847, age 63 years 5 days. His creed was Faith, Hope, and Charity."
One early settler, possibly John Murrell, Jr., wrote, "We were all plain people then, with few wants and much love for fellow man."
Murrell family pioneered in Claiborne Parish
By Murphy J. Barr
Journal Historian
John Murrell was living in Carthage, Tennessee, with his wife and six children when he decided to seek a new area of the country in which to live and farm. He placed his household goods and tools on a flatboat and floated down the Tennessee River to Nashville.
In Nashville he met other families, including Wallace, Clark, Manning, Dyer, Hudson, Robinson, Duty, Peterson, and Murrell. These families placed their goods on two large keel boat barges and floated on down the Tennessee River to the Ohio River, and on to the Mississippi. When they reached the mouth of the Red River, they traveled upriver, making their way through the great raft of floating logs which almost blocked the river below the area that is now Shreveport.
The Murrell and Wallace families landed at Long Prairie, Arkansas, and made their camp on the bank of the river. They opened a small patch among the canes that grew on the land and planted vegetables and corn.
John Murrell had $100 and wished to buy cattle, and made his way to Natchitoches for that purpose. On his way he found only two cabins, one built by Isaac Walden, the other by a Mr. Bosel, who had moved on to Texas. Alden asked Murrell to take the cabin. In Natchitoches he bought ten cows and calves, and when he returned to Long Prairie he found his family were sick. He moved his family away from the river bank and came back to Claiborne Parish, Louisiana on August 6, 1818, and lived in the empty cabin, 12 miles from Campti on the Red River. Mrs. John let him have meat, bread, and corn to feed his family.
At this time in North Central Louisiana there were no roads, only Indian trails. The land was covered with trees, thick brush and cane brakes. Only a few hunters and trappers had gone into the area. Soon after Murrell moved into the area a great fire swept the area. After a time the area became beautiful with clear running streams and wild flowers. Wild game was plentiful. Murrell brought his axe, gun, and hunting dogs.
Most of Murrell's neighbors were Indians. However, east of his area families from South Carolina were settling. In time other families moved nearer to the Murrell farm, namely, James Allen, Obadiah Driskell, Nedham Reynolds, Mr. Brazeal, Mr. McCardy, Dr. Hugh Walker, and Joseph Edwards.
On March 29, 1819, Murrell's seventh child was born. They named him Isaac, and he is considered to have been the first white child born in Claiborne Parish.
Murrell located in the Flat Lick Bayou area a few miles west of Homer, Louisiana. He built a two-story house there on 280 acres of land. In two years time several other families settled in the Flat Lick community. William Gryder was the first blacksmith.
Murrell's two-story house, known as the Flat Lick Plantation, had 18 rooms with two chimneys made of native stone on each side of the house with fireplaces on both floors. This house served as the first church. Baptist ministers were James Driskill and Newt Drew, who held monthly services, assisted by Arthur Ashburner Conly. In 1822 his salary was $15 per month.
In 1822 the Murrell home served as the post office, named Allen settlement, in honor of Martin Allen, the first Justice of the Peace. Murrell was the first postmaster. In 1822 the first store was opened near Murrell's home. It was closed within a year, then reopened by Robert Lee Kilgore in 1825.
J. McCarty raised the first significant cotton crop in 1826, and about this time the first slaves appeared in the area. People in the community got their salt from the Drake Salt Works in Winn Parish.
In 1828, law and government was dispensed from Murrell's home, serving as the court house until the Police Jury of the newly created Claiborne Parish chose Russellville to be the first parish seat of government.
The road in Northwest Louisiana known as the Military Road in 1928 passed directly by Murrell's home.
In time, the Civil War came about, and a story has been passed down about Murrell's youngest son, Isaac, who had a young slave named Edmond Merritt, described as "a faithful one, he was." Merritt went with nephews Perry and John Murrell to fight in the Civil War. On the morning of September 17, 1862, one son told Merritt to take John Jr.'s gold watch home, that he would not be back. That night after the battle of Sharpsburg, Merritt went into the battlefield, turning over hundreds of dead to see the faces of John and Perry, and could not find them. After returning home with the gold watch, Merritt found John had been killed. Perry and friend R.A. White had been wounded.
After the Civil War, John Jr., gave each of his former slaves forty acres of land and a cabin, and the right to be buried in the family cemetery. They took the name of White, and one of the markers in the cemetery reads, "Enoch White was born during the years of slavery, reached a ripe old age." Another marker read "Let not the dead be forgotten, lest men forget that they just die. Allen White, Jr., Pvt. 1N, Jan. 16, 1895 - Mar. 19, 1933." At the entrance of the Murrell cemetery is a grave marker which reads "Fredrick Miller, born in Germany 1765-1822, father of Emmaline Miller Botzong Longheld and Long John Miller, first white man buried in Claiborne parish." This is an indication that German families were in Claiborne parish in that early time.
John Murrell was buried in the Murrell cemetery on his home place, Flat Lick Plantation. He was a talented, enterprising person and became known as the first to introduce civilization to northeast Louisiana. His epitaph reads, "Dear to the memory of John Murrell, Sr., who died Jan. 25, 1847, age 63 years 5 days. His creed was Faith, Hope, and Charity."
One early settler, possibly John Murrell, Jr., wrote, "We were all plain people then, with few wants and much love for fellow man."
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familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/a/n/...G.../0040page.html
John Andrews Murrell, "The Reverend Devil"
John A. Murrel was born close to Jackson, Tennessee in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. His dad was a Methodist preacher, and he was gone a lot. Legend has it that Murrel once said of his father that his father was an honest man, but John thought none the less of him for that. His mother taught him and the rest of her children to steal. His mother ran an inn, when he was a teen. He said that his mother was one of the true grit; she taught all her children to steal as soon as they could walk...and what ever they stole she would hide it for them and dared their father to touch them for stealing.
One time in Tennessee, when Murrel was a teen he got caught stealing horses. Back then in Tennessee it was serious to steal someone’s horse. So he was tried for it and was branded with an "H.T." on his hand for horse thief. Murrel would wear gloves so no one would see the brand.
John liked to gamble and drink in Natchez and New Orleans. He claimed to be a preacher, but he really wasn’t.
We are not sure exactly when, but it was still when John was pretty young; he started up a group of outlaws which he called the "clan." While he was pretending to be preaching, and the people were in church, he would send his clan out to rob the neighborhoods.
He and the clan members would shoot anyone who had money. Once, this young boy claimed to have lots of money, so they shot him. It turned out that he only had a dollar fifty. After that they would only shoot people if they knew that they had money.
John had been planning a slave up-rising for years. He soon thought to plan it on a holiday. A plantation owners wife overheard two little slave girls that were watching her baby say, "What ashame it is to kill this baby." The wife checked it out. She found out that Murrel was involved, from then on he was a marked man. People began to become suspicious.
John Murrel would always kill the people that he robbed. You know the saying "Dead men can’t tell tales." Mr. Luther told us that one day Murrel and his clan stopped a man on his horse and they robbed him. They were about to kill him, and John told them to stop. They let the man ride away. Well, the man started wondering why they had done this. The man rode back to them and asked, "Why spare my life?" Murrel replied, "Ask your wife." The man returned home and asked his wife. She told him that John had once been shot, and she had nursed him back to health. Murrel saw a picture of her husband, and he recognized him that day. This was John’s way of thanking the lady.
Years later, Murrel got into trouble again. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. When he got out, everyone had left him, his family, the clan, and all of his friends. They had either moved away or died. After that John was never seen again.
Still today, people look for Murrel’s treasures. One of his favorite places to hide his stash was in a cave about seven miles from what is now Kisatchie. People say that a lot of satanic practices go on in those caves now. Sometimes you may get lucky and find a piece of gold or something that John had stolen, but no one really knows what happened to him or his treasures.
Thanks to Mr. Thomas Swafford of Tennessee, we have new information about John Murrell's last days. Murrell spent his last days in Pikeville, TN., about 50 miles from Chattanooga, TN. It seems that after Murrell's release from prison, he came to Pikeville to "drop out of sight". He had learned to be a blacksmith in prison, but due to tuberculosis, could not do this. Rumor has it that Murrell joined a church and lived a straight forward life after his move and even became a singer in the local church. Murrell died in Pikeville on November 3, 1844. After his death, grave robbers, supposedly two doctors, dug up the body and decapitated it. It seems that there was a reward for Murrell's skull. The presumably headless body still rests at the Smryna graveyard. A large rock slab used to cover the grave, but today a tombstone reading "John Murrell" marks the grave.
Information gathered by:
Brandi, Holley, Katie and Billy
We would like to thank Mr. L. Sandel and Mr. Rodney Jordan for their information concerning the legends and stories about John A. Murrel. A special thanks goes to Mr. Swafford for his interest in our project.
John Murrell or Murrel was probably the most ruthless outlaw to ever roam the South. He never stole from a person and let them live. He only spared one man’s life. Murrell didn’t kill the man because the man’s wife nursed Murrell back to health when he was shot.
Murrell was born in Jackson, Tennessee in the late 1700’s. He started stealing horses when he was not much older than a boy. Back then, stealing horses was a serious crime. The judge called for him to have a "T" branded on his thumb for "thief". People said that he showed no emotion while the hot branding iron burned his skin.
John Murrell came to Louisiana because of the Neutral Strip, a strip of land in Louisiana owned by no one. It was between the Sabine River on the west and the Arroyo Hondo and the Calcasieu River on the east. There was no law enforcement in the Neutral Strip. Murrell could hide out there and not get caught. Sometimes he hung around saloons and bars in Natchez, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana. He would also ride around old roads and rob settlers on their way to Texas. Once, Murrell was talking to a man he thought was rich. Murrell killed him so he could rob him. It turned out that the man had only $1.50.
Sometimes John Murrell preached. While he was preaching, some of his friends would rob the people who were listening to him while they where at church. This probably earned him the nickname "Reverend Devil."
After Murrell had been robbing people a while, he formed a clan of outlaws. They would meet in certain places and initiate new members. They had hand signs and hideouts. One hideout was a cave in the hills of Kisatchie. It was said to have three levels connected by tunnels. It used to be a Spanish gold mine. Some people still look for gold in it.
The way clan members could tell another member’s house was they would have a black locust tree and a yucca plant in a certain location in their yards. The clan members would then stop at the house and rest or eat a meal. If a house had only one of the two plants, then it meant that the people in the house weren’t clan members, but they were friendly.
One man who used to live close to Mount Carmel Church had a grandfather in Murrell’s clan. He wanted to get out, and he did. He got sick and was in bed. All of a sudden, a stranger burst through the door and shot him. Legend has it that you didn’t get out of the clan and live to tell about it.
Murrell and his clan tried to start a slave revolt. They planned for slaves to turn on their masters and kill them. Two slave girls were holding their master’s baby and one of them said, "It sure will be a shame to kill this baby." The master’s wife heard them say it. She couldn’t get the girls to tell her anything more, so she called her son to come in and whip them until they talked. They accused someone else. He was hanged. A bunch of accusations followed and many people were hanged. Murrell’s plan had not worked.
Finally, after years of robbing and killing, authorities caught up to Murrell. He served time in Tennessee State Prison at Nashville, then was released. From then on, no one knew what happened to him. Some say he went to Texas. It will probably always be a mystery.
Information gathered by:
Jim, Freddie, Jill and Daphna
We would like to thank Mr. L. Sandel, Mrs. G. Holden, Mrs. B. Lawman and Mr. Rodney Jordan for their sharing the stories and legends of the Reverend Devil, John A. Murrell
John Andrews Murrell, "The Reverend Devil"
John A. Murrel was born close to Jackson, Tennessee in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. His dad was a Methodist preacher, and he was gone a lot. Legend has it that Murrel once said of his father that his father was an honest man, but John thought none the less of him for that. His mother taught him and the rest of her children to steal. His mother ran an inn, when he was a teen. He said that his mother was one of the true grit; she taught all her children to steal as soon as they could walk...and what ever they stole she would hide it for them and dared their father to touch them for stealing.
One time in Tennessee, when Murrel was a teen he got caught stealing horses. Back then in Tennessee it was serious to steal someone’s horse. So he was tried for it and was branded with an "H.T." on his hand for horse thief. Murrel would wear gloves so no one would see the brand.
John liked to gamble and drink in Natchez and New Orleans. He claimed to be a preacher, but he really wasn’t.
We are not sure exactly when, but it was still when John was pretty young; he started up a group of outlaws which he called the "clan." While he was pretending to be preaching, and the people were in church, he would send his clan out to rob the neighborhoods.
He and the clan members would shoot anyone who had money. Once, this young boy claimed to have lots of money, so they shot him. It turned out that he only had a dollar fifty. After that they would only shoot people if they knew that they had money.
John had been planning a slave up-rising for years. He soon thought to plan it on a holiday. A plantation owners wife overheard two little slave girls that were watching her baby say, "What ashame it is to kill this baby." The wife checked it out. She found out that Murrel was involved, from then on he was a marked man. People began to become suspicious.
John Murrel would always kill the people that he robbed. You know the saying "Dead men can’t tell tales." Mr. Luther told us that one day Murrel and his clan stopped a man on his horse and they robbed him. They were about to kill him, and John told them to stop. They let the man ride away. Well, the man started wondering why they had done this. The man rode back to them and asked, "Why spare my life?" Murrel replied, "Ask your wife." The man returned home and asked his wife. She told him that John had once been shot, and she had nursed him back to health. Murrel saw a picture of her husband, and he recognized him that day. This was John’s way of thanking the lady.
Years later, Murrel got into trouble again. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. When he got out, everyone had left him, his family, the clan, and all of his friends. They had either moved away or died. After that John was never seen again.
Still today, people look for Murrel’s treasures. One of his favorite places to hide his stash was in a cave about seven miles from what is now Kisatchie. People say that a lot of satanic practices go on in those caves now. Sometimes you may get lucky and find a piece of gold or something that John had stolen, but no one really knows what happened to him or his treasures.
Thanks to Mr. Thomas Swafford of Tennessee, we have new information about John Murrell's last days. Murrell spent his last days in Pikeville, TN., about 50 miles from Chattanooga, TN. It seems that after Murrell's release from prison, he came to Pikeville to "drop out of sight". He had learned to be a blacksmith in prison, but due to tuberculosis, could not do this. Rumor has it that Murrell joined a church and lived a straight forward life after his move and even became a singer in the local church. Murrell died in Pikeville on November 3, 1844. After his death, grave robbers, supposedly two doctors, dug up the body and decapitated it. It seems that there was a reward for Murrell's skull. The presumably headless body still rests at the Smryna graveyard. A large rock slab used to cover the grave, but today a tombstone reading "John Murrell" marks the grave.
Information gathered by:
Brandi, Holley, Katie and Billy
We would like to thank Mr. L. Sandel and Mr. Rodney Jordan for their information concerning the legends and stories about John A. Murrel. A special thanks goes to Mr. Swafford for his interest in our project.
John Murrell or Murrel was probably the most ruthless outlaw to ever roam the South. He never stole from a person and let them live. He only spared one man’s life. Murrell didn’t kill the man because the man’s wife nursed Murrell back to health when he was shot.
Murrell was born in Jackson, Tennessee in the late 1700’s. He started stealing horses when he was not much older than a boy. Back then, stealing horses was a serious crime. The judge called for him to have a "T" branded on his thumb for "thief". People said that he showed no emotion while the hot branding iron burned his skin.
John Murrell came to Louisiana because of the Neutral Strip, a strip of land in Louisiana owned by no one. It was between the Sabine River on the west and the Arroyo Hondo and the Calcasieu River on the east. There was no law enforcement in the Neutral Strip. Murrell could hide out there and not get caught. Sometimes he hung around saloons and bars in Natchez, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana. He would also ride around old roads and rob settlers on their way to Texas. Once, Murrell was talking to a man he thought was rich. Murrell killed him so he could rob him. It turned out that the man had only $1.50.
Sometimes John Murrell preached. While he was preaching, some of his friends would rob the people who were listening to him while they where at church. This probably earned him the nickname "Reverend Devil."
After Murrell had been robbing people a while, he formed a clan of outlaws. They would meet in certain places and initiate new members. They had hand signs and hideouts. One hideout was a cave in the hills of Kisatchie. It was said to have three levels connected by tunnels. It used to be a Spanish gold mine. Some people still look for gold in it.
The way clan members could tell another member’s house was they would have a black locust tree and a yucca plant in a certain location in their yards. The clan members would then stop at the house and rest or eat a meal. If a house had only one of the two plants, then it meant that the people in the house weren’t clan members, but they were friendly.
One man who used to live close to Mount Carmel Church had a grandfather in Murrell’s clan. He wanted to get out, and he did. He got sick and was in bed. All of a sudden, a stranger burst through the door and shot him. Legend has it that you didn’t get out of the clan and live to tell about it.
Murrell and his clan tried to start a slave revolt. They planned for slaves to turn on their masters and kill them. Two slave girls were holding their master’s baby and one of them said, "It sure will be a shame to kill this baby." The master’s wife heard them say it. She couldn’t get the girls to tell her anything more, so she called her son to come in and whip them until they talked. They accused someone else. He was hanged. A bunch of accusations followed and many people were hanged. Murrell’s plan had not worked.
Finally, after years of robbing and killing, authorities caught up to Murrell. He served time in Tennessee State Prison at Nashville, then was released. From then on, no one knew what happened to him. Some say he went to Texas. It will probably always be a mystery.
Information gathered by:
Jim, Freddie, Jill and Daphna
We would like to thank Mr. L. Sandel, Mrs. G. Holden, Mrs. B. Lawman and Mr. Rodney Jordan for their sharing the stories and legends of the Reverend Devil, John A. Murrell
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Found this also, interesting! http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?topic=58339.0
rryals
Greenie
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my dad used to own shawnee village for about 50 years i looked many years for anything i could find on him. the village has some great history there. here is a post i found online about the village.
"A most atrocious and diabolical wholesale murder and robbery had been committed on the Arkansas side. The crew of a flatboat had been murdered in cold blood, disemboweled, and thrown in the river, and the boat-stores appropriated among the perpetrators of the foul deed. The Murrell Clan was charged with the inhuman and devilish act. Public meetings were called in different parts of the country to devise means to rid the country and clear the woods of the Clan, and to bring to immediate; punishment the murderers of the flatboat men. In Covington a campaign was formed to that end, under the command of Maj. Hockley and Grandville D. Searcey, and one, also formed in Randolph, under the command of Colonel Orville Shelby A flatboat, suited to the purpose, was procured, and the expedition consisting of some eighty or an hundred men, well armed, with several day's rations, floated out from Randolph, and down to the landing where wholesale murder had been committed. Their place of destination was Shawnee Village, some six or more miles from the Mississippi. Where the sheriff of the county resided. They were first to require of the sheriff to put the offenders under arrest and turn them over to be dealt with according to law. To the Shawnee Village the expedition moved in single file, along a
tortuous trail through the thick cane and jungle, until within a few miles of the village, when a shrill whistle at the head of the column startled the whole line. Answered by the sharp click! click! click! of the cocking of the rifles in the hands of Clansmen. In ambush, to the right flank of the moving file, and within less than a dozen yards.
"A most atrocious and diabolical wholesale murder and robbery had been committed on the Arkansas side. The crew of a flatboat had been murdered in cold blood, disemboweled, and thrown in the river, and the boat-stores appropriated among the perpetrators of the foul deed. The Murrell Clan was charged with the inhuman and devilish act. Public meetings were called in different parts of the country to devise means to rid the country and clear the woods of the Clan, and to bring to immediate; punishment the murderers of the flatboat men. In Covington a campaign was formed to that end, under the command of Maj. Hockley and Grandville D. Searcey, and one, also formed in Randolph, under the command of Colonel Orville Shelby A flatboat, suited to the purpose, was procured, and the expedition consisting of some eighty or an hundred men, well armed, with several day's rations, floated out from Randolph, and down to the landing where wholesale murder had been committed. Their place of destination was Shawnee Village, some six or more miles from the Mississippi. Where the sheriff of the county resided. They were first to require of the sheriff to put the offenders under arrest and turn them over to be dealt with according to law. To the Shawnee Village the expedition moved in single file, along a
tortuous trail through the thick cane and jungle, until within a few miles of the village, when a shrill whistle at the head of the column startled the whole line. Answered by the sharp click! click! click! of the cocking of the rifles in the hands of Clansmen. In ambush, to the right flank of the moving file, and within less than a dozen yards.
Gabedubois
Tenderfoot
Hey all,
I'm a producer at a production company and I'm currently looking for people who are actively searching for John Murrel's treasure, or have searched for it in the past. If so, let me know, I'd love to talk to you more about the subject for a project I'm working on.
I'm a producer at a production company and I'm currently looking for people who are actively searching for John Murrel's treasure, or have searched for it in the past. If so, let me know, I'd love to talk to you more about the subject for a project I'm working on.
Auld Texan
Tenderfoot
Auld Texan
Tenderfoot
Among my ancestor's papers was found a letter to him dated at Flat Lick, March 28th 1855 from Stephen Langford Butler (1807-1861) of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, who was the husband to Mary Margaret Murrell (1815-1852) the sister of Joel Waters Murrell (1805-1870). They were two of the children of John Murrell Sr (1784-1847) and were the partners in Flat Lick Plantation. Joel had married to Mary Elizabeth Butler (1812-1864), sister to Stephen L. Butler, who had in turn, wed to Joel's sister in 1832. Below is the body of the letter:
"Flat Lick March 28th /55
Cousin Alvy Johnson,
The business on which I send my son is to inform you of the death of James M. Butler and to acquaint you of some of his business; I learned from him that you were apprised of his purchasing Landed property in your name and that you would transfer the titles back to him at any time; I will here inform you that the day of his death he requested E.S. Jones and myself would administer his Estate and settle up his business which we have commenced; he informed us that he wished to send to you a title of Land which he got from Elijah Graves made to you and get you to make the titles to him as he had sold the Land and he wanted to title secure in the purchase; he also stated that he wished you to make no titles to any of the Land he bought to A.M. Butler or Joel W Murrell as the Partnership which he had made with them had been dissolved and their interest satisfied;
Now as his Administrators we wish you to comply with his request and in making the title to the Graves Land I send you as Brother James M Butler is dead it will be necessary for you to make the title in favour of the Lawfull heirs and legal Representatives of the Estate of James M Butler deceased acknowledge a valuable consideration set forth the Land as in the title Sent you have two witnesses to see you sign the same with each other have my son tp be one of the witnesses so that it can by him be proven up here, and spread on Record in this Parish; We find several of the papers and deeds in your name but as none of them has been transferred we don't see any danger of the Estate loosing anything by letting them lay over a while and have concluded to do so we feel doubtful whether we can carry out his views without your cooperation and interest in the arrangement; We have concluded tp fix up this that he requested for should it pass into other hands sp that the Estate would have tp make good on the sale, it would injure it seriously and see you on the subject of the other papers before we go any further we hope you will make no Relinquishments to anyone whatever until we see you; I remain Dear Cousin your friend and Relative
Stephen Butler, Co-Administrator of James M Butler deceased
I would think if you would just transfer the one sent you and sign it as I spoke of it would suit just as well as a new one... S. Butler, Administr"
[Obverse side]
"Instructions to Alvy Johnson to give titles"
The Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records lists more than a dozen such land grants made in the name of Elijah Graves, most purchased in 1852. In October of that year, Graves purchased eleven 40-acre parcels in Webster Parish, in Sections 7, 9, 20, 21, 30 and 31, many being contiguous to his other parcels purchased. The two 40-acre parcels in Section 20, comprising the SW 1/4 of the NE quarter, amd the NE 1/4 of the NE quarter, subsequently James M. Butler purchased the two adjoining 40-acre parcels in 1854, and one of which bounded with Graves single 40-acre parcel in Section 21. Butler also purchased the 40-acre parcel comprising the NW 1/4 of the NW quarter directly bounding with the other 40-acre parcel purchased by Graves, making a total singular tract of some 360-acres if this was the land Butler purchased from Elijah Graves.
Other than Grave's single parcel in Section 7, his remaining two parcels in Sections 9 and 31, were in near proximity to still other parcels owned by James M. Butler. While I have not made an exhaustive examination of all the land owned by James M. Butler in Webster and Claiborne Parish, the BLM records account for dozens of grants in his name, some eighteen 40-acre parcels in Webster Parish, and another twenty-four 40-acre parcels in Claiborne Parish (altogether some 1680-acres), and that's just the first of three pages of the listing's. Altogether this accounts for some 3,320-acres in the name of James M. Butler patented between 1846 and 1869, including three that were posthumous patented in 1856, 1861, and 1869.
This Elijah Graves should be distinguished from the Rev. Elijah Graves (1791-1869) of Harris County, Texas, who only came to Texas in 1855. This Elijah Graves had earlier been a resident of Shelby County, Texas, and whose son Phillip Graves (1814-1868) and his brother-in-law, William A. Nail (d1856) were appointed joint administrators on the Estate of Phillip's father-in-law Amos Strickland (1796-1848), an emigre of the year 1824. George Nail (1817-1878) later of Erath County, Texas, and brother to William, was the husband of Mary Strickland (1829-1900) sister to Elizabeth Nail nee Strickland, wife of William A. Nail, the two heiresses of Amos Strickland. The latter, Amos Strickland, was one of the twelve sons of David G. Strickland (1759-1824) and Mary Ogden (1762-1837), and the brother to James "Tiger of Tenaha" (Jim) Strickland and Henry O. Strickland, regarded by some as outlaws and cattle rustlers. Amos Strickland was elected First Lieutenant in Captain A.M. Truitt's Company from Shelby County on 12 May 1847, in Col. Jack Coffee Hayes' Second Regiment of Texas Cavalry (Texas Rangers) during the Mexican War. Strickland died sometime in the months following his discharge at Veracruz in May 1848, and was deceased by November 1848.
My great-great-grandfather Alvey R. Johnson (1803-1862) was formerly a deputy sheriff under Sheriffs James Miles and Joseph Butler in Clark County, Arkansas Territory, and had served as deputy clerk of the Clark County Circuit Court under Daniel Ringo who in 1836 became Arkansas' first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1838, Johnson was elected to represent Shelby County in the Third Congress of the Republic of Texas, and he served as administrator on several estates of various family and friends.
David Murrell, a descendant of Joel W. Murrell provide that Joel's brother-in-law Stephen Langford Butler was born 29 October 1807 in South Carolina and was the son of John and Sally Butler but did not know where the parents had lived, whether in Claiborne Parish, Tennessee or South Carolina? The one brother Alexander Martin Butler (1815-1876), of Kaufman County, Texas, later moved by 1860 to Cass County, Texas where he died naming John Butler as his executor.
The Joseph Butler (1800-1845) who was elected in 1829 to fill the unexpired term of Sheriff James Miles married in 1821 to Juriah Langford, daughter of Eli Langford Jr (no reliable dates), son of Eli Langford Sr (1745-1820) formerly of Edgefield District, South Carolina, and late of Jackson County, Tennessee. The latter's son, James Langford (1797-1872) of Jackson County, named one of his sons, John Ruffin Johnson Langford (1829-1913) which I find most curious because Alvey R. Johnson's father was named John R. Johnson (1778-1854). Alvey's nephew (son of Balda C. Johnson, 1810-1852) was named John Ruffin Johnson (1843-1889) of Red River County, Texas, as was his son John Ruffin Johnson (1889-1977) and his son John Ruffin Johnson Jr or III (1923-2012) and his son John Ruffin Johnson Jr (now living). So, there seems to be a coincidence in Jackson County, Tennessee, between these families, that is not yet understood but I have suspicions the families are all related.
Alvey had an elder brother who in 1829 was appointed a Justice of the Peace in Caddo Township, in Clark County, who in 1833 became a Justice of the Peace for Lafayette Township in Union County, Arkansas, at Ecore Fabre (later renamed Camden) until 1838 when he became the deputy clerk of the Union County Circuit Court until 1843 when the county seat was moved to El Dorado, after which he came to Texas. His name was Allen H. Johnson (~1795-1845) and in 1829 he was appointed by Arkansas' Territorial Governor as the Colonel of the First Regiment of Arkansas Militia for Clark County, Allen having previously served as a Major (as Regimental Quartermaster) in the 4th U.S. Infantry until his resignation in 1817. He died in Shelby County in 1845.
Immediately prior to the Johnson's moving to Arkansas, they had lived in Lincoln County, Tennessee, where the senior patriarch John R. Johnson was a surveyor and County road contractor. It is believed the Johnsons came out to Texas in 1825 with the survey team to survey the Robertson Colony (formerly known as Leftwich's Grant) for the Texas Association at Nashville. Among my ancestor's papers is his original character affidavit required of all emigrants to Texas that is dated 09 January 1826 and is addressed to The Texas Association at Nashville. Both Alvey R. Johnson and his father John R. Johnson were emigres of the year 1830, and the elder Johnson recieved a land grant for ten leagues (some 44,000 acres) on the Sulfur Fork of Red River in what later became Red River County. Alvey R. Johnson had a league of land just north of the Sabine River in Burnet's Colony (now in Longview).
"Flat Lick March 28th /55
Cousin Alvy Johnson,
The business on which I send my son is to inform you of the death of James M. Butler and to acquaint you of some of his business; I learned from him that you were apprised of his purchasing Landed property in your name and that you would transfer the titles back to him at any time; I will here inform you that the day of his death he requested E.S. Jones and myself would administer his Estate and settle up his business which we have commenced; he informed us that he wished to send to you a title of Land which he got from Elijah Graves made to you and get you to make the titles to him as he had sold the Land and he wanted to title secure in the purchase; he also stated that he wished you to make no titles to any of the Land he bought to A.M. Butler or Joel W Murrell as the Partnership which he had made with them had been dissolved and their interest satisfied;
Now as his Administrators we wish you to comply with his request and in making the title to the Graves Land I send you as Brother James M Butler is dead it will be necessary for you to make the title in favour of the Lawfull heirs and legal Representatives of the Estate of James M Butler deceased acknowledge a valuable consideration set forth the Land as in the title Sent you have two witnesses to see you sign the same with each other have my son tp be one of the witnesses so that it can by him be proven up here, and spread on Record in this Parish; We find several of the papers and deeds in your name but as none of them has been transferred we don't see any danger of the Estate loosing anything by letting them lay over a while and have concluded to do so we feel doubtful whether we can carry out his views without your cooperation and interest in the arrangement; We have concluded tp fix up this that he requested for should it pass into other hands sp that the Estate would have tp make good on the sale, it would injure it seriously and see you on the subject of the other papers before we go any further we hope you will make no Relinquishments to anyone whatever until we see you; I remain Dear Cousin your friend and Relative
Stephen Butler, Co-Administrator of James M Butler deceased
I would think if you would just transfer the one sent you and sign it as I spoke of it would suit just as well as a new one... S. Butler, Administr"
[Obverse side]
"Instructions to Alvy Johnson to give titles"
The Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records lists more than a dozen such land grants made in the name of Elijah Graves, most purchased in 1852. In October of that year, Graves purchased eleven 40-acre parcels in Webster Parish, in Sections 7, 9, 20, 21, 30 and 31, many being contiguous to his other parcels purchased. The two 40-acre parcels in Section 20, comprising the SW 1/4 of the NE quarter, amd the NE 1/4 of the NE quarter, subsequently James M. Butler purchased the two adjoining 40-acre parcels in 1854, and one of which bounded with Graves single 40-acre parcel in Section 21. Butler also purchased the 40-acre parcel comprising the NW 1/4 of the NW quarter directly bounding with the other 40-acre parcel purchased by Graves, making a total singular tract of some 360-acres if this was the land Butler purchased from Elijah Graves.
Other than Grave's single parcel in Section 7, his remaining two parcels in Sections 9 and 31, were in near proximity to still other parcels owned by James M. Butler. While I have not made an exhaustive examination of all the land owned by James M. Butler in Webster and Claiborne Parish, the BLM records account for dozens of grants in his name, some eighteen 40-acre parcels in Webster Parish, and another twenty-four 40-acre parcels in Claiborne Parish (altogether some 1680-acres), and that's just the first of three pages of the listing's. Altogether this accounts for some 3,320-acres in the name of James M. Butler patented between 1846 and 1869, including three that were posthumous patented in 1856, 1861, and 1869.
This Elijah Graves should be distinguished from the Rev. Elijah Graves (1791-1869) of Harris County, Texas, who only came to Texas in 1855. This Elijah Graves had earlier been a resident of Shelby County, Texas, and whose son Phillip Graves (1814-1868) and his brother-in-law, William A. Nail (d1856) were appointed joint administrators on the Estate of Phillip's father-in-law Amos Strickland (1796-1848), an emigre of the year 1824. George Nail (1817-1878) later of Erath County, Texas, and brother to William, was the husband of Mary Strickland (1829-1900) sister to Elizabeth Nail nee Strickland, wife of William A. Nail, the two heiresses of Amos Strickland. The latter, Amos Strickland, was one of the twelve sons of David G. Strickland (1759-1824) and Mary Ogden (1762-1837), and the brother to James "Tiger of Tenaha" (Jim) Strickland and Henry O. Strickland, regarded by some as outlaws and cattle rustlers. Amos Strickland was elected First Lieutenant in Captain A.M. Truitt's Company from Shelby County on 12 May 1847, in Col. Jack Coffee Hayes' Second Regiment of Texas Cavalry (Texas Rangers) during the Mexican War. Strickland died sometime in the months following his discharge at Veracruz in May 1848, and was deceased by November 1848.
My great-great-grandfather Alvey R. Johnson (1803-1862) was formerly a deputy sheriff under Sheriffs James Miles and Joseph Butler in Clark County, Arkansas Territory, and had served as deputy clerk of the Clark County Circuit Court under Daniel Ringo who in 1836 became Arkansas' first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1838, Johnson was elected to represent Shelby County in the Third Congress of the Republic of Texas, and he served as administrator on several estates of various family and friends.
David Murrell, a descendant of Joel W. Murrell provide that Joel's brother-in-law Stephen Langford Butler was born 29 October 1807 in South Carolina and was the son of John and Sally Butler but did not know where the parents had lived, whether in Claiborne Parish, Tennessee or South Carolina? The one brother Alexander Martin Butler (1815-1876), of Kaufman County, Texas, later moved by 1860 to Cass County, Texas where he died naming John Butler as his executor.
The Joseph Butler (1800-1845) who was elected in 1829 to fill the unexpired term of Sheriff James Miles married in 1821 to Juriah Langford, daughter of Eli Langford Jr (no reliable dates), son of Eli Langford Sr (1745-1820) formerly of Edgefield District, South Carolina, and late of Jackson County, Tennessee. The latter's son, James Langford (1797-1872) of Jackson County, named one of his sons, John Ruffin Johnson Langford (1829-1913) which I find most curious because Alvey R. Johnson's father was named John R. Johnson (1778-1854). Alvey's nephew (son of Balda C. Johnson, 1810-1852) was named John Ruffin Johnson (1843-1889) of Red River County, Texas, as was his son John Ruffin Johnson (1889-1977) and his son John Ruffin Johnson Jr or III (1923-2012) and his son John Ruffin Johnson Jr (now living). So, there seems to be a coincidence in Jackson County, Tennessee, between these families, that is not yet understood but I have suspicions the families are all related.
Alvey had an elder brother who in 1829 was appointed a Justice of the Peace in Caddo Township, in Clark County, who in 1833 became a Justice of the Peace for Lafayette Township in Union County, Arkansas, at Ecore Fabre (later renamed Camden) until 1838 when he became the deputy clerk of the Union County Circuit Court until 1843 when the county seat was moved to El Dorado, after which he came to Texas. His name was Allen H. Johnson (~1795-1845) and in 1829 he was appointed by Arkansas' Territorial Governor as the Colonel of the First Regiment of Arkansas Militia for Clark County, Allen having previously served as a Major (as Regimental Quartermaster) in the 4th U.S. Infantry until his resignation in 1817. He died in Shelby County in 1845.
Immediately prior to the Johnson's moving to Arkansas, they had lived in Lincoln County, Tennessee, where the senior patriarch John R. Johnson was a surveyor and County road contractor. It is believed the Johnsons came out to Texas in 1825 with the survey team to survey the Robertson Colony (formerly known as Leftwich's Grant) for the Texas Association at Nashville. Among my ancestor's papers is his original character affidavit required of all emigrants to Texas that is dated 09 January 1826 and is addressed to The Texas Association at Nashville. Both Alvey R. Johnson and his father John R. Johnson were emigres of the year 1830, and the elder Johnson recieved a land grant for ten leagues (some 44,000 acres) on the Sulfur Fork of Red River in what later became Red River County. Alvey R. Johnson had a league of land just north of the Sabine River in Burnet's Colony (now in Longview).
Auld Texan
Tenderfoot
If you're referring to the Flat Lick Plantation just west of Homer, LA, it was established in 1818 by a different John Murrell (1784-1847). The outlaw John Andrews Murrell died in 1844.
Auld Texan
Tenderfoot
Another man who some writers have accused him of having ridden with the Murrell gang was John M. Bradley (1800-1844) of Shelby County, Texas. This John M. Bradley had settled in the Ayish district of the old municipality of Tenehaw in the winter of 1832, and had arrived with four children in tow, the eldest no more than 10 years old and the youngest a suckling babe not more than a year old if that, suggesting that Bradley's wife must have perished on the trail before he got to Texas.
This John M. Bradley has also been confused by some writers with that of the John M. Bradley (1797-1844) of Lafayette County, Arkansas, mainly as relates to a letter by the latter found on the streets of Minden, Louisiana, in the fall of 1841, and refers to this Bradley having distributed a species of script (barter money) among the slaves on various plantations in Louisiana. At the time, slaves in Louisiana could not own money, and Bradley had introduced a scheme of using this barter money or script that could be substituted for legal tender among the slave population. Merchants in Minden were so alarmed over learning that there was a counterfeiting ring operating in the area, a group of them subscribed their names to an article published in Minden by the local newspaper which alerted everyone to this activity. One of the subscribing merchants was none other than John Murrell Sr (1784-1847) and his son Drury Murrell (1812-1884), both of Webster Parish.
A copy of that article published in Minden soon made it's way to Texas and was received by the editor of The Red-Lander newspaper in San Augustine, Texas, who promptly re-published the article for his readers and further brought accusations against the John M. Bradley (1800-1844) of Shelby County of operating a counterfeiting ring. Moses Fisk Roberts of Shelby County had recently been elected to Congress, and he hand-carried a copy of The Red-Lander's article to the editors of the Daily Bulletin at Austin and asked the editor to re-publish the article for distribution among the members of the Sixth Congress then about to meet, and began an attempt to have Bradley impeached as the county tax assessor and collector of Shelby County.
While much of this story appears in Charles Leland Sonnichsen's book Ten Texas Feuds, including a reprint of the article by the Austin Daily Bulletin on 24 December 1841, many people who have read the article are under the impression that the list of subscribers to the first article were citizens of Shelby County rather than of Minden, Louisiana. The fact that the letter that was discovered was signed by John M. Bradley and there was such a person living in Shelby County at the time who was also the county's tax assessor and collector was aimed at getting Bradley impeached which didn't happen. Part of the reason why Bradley wasn't brought to trial or impeached was that his term in office was only for 2-years, which had commenced in November 1840, and he only collected the taxes for 1840 and 1841.
To make matters worse, he was not the only man in Shelby County by that same name as the previous sheriff of Shelby County from February 1839 to February 1841 was also a John M. Bradley (1794-1849), and as sheriff he had collected the county taxes for the years 1838 and 1839. But he was no longer in office, is the only reason why no one sought to accuse him of any improprieties.
One of the reasons why the other John M. Bradley was so unpopular in Shelby County as the county tax assessor and collector was that in 1840 and 1841, the amount of taxes he had collected for those two years had amounted to a 500% increase over the amount of tax monies collected previously by any of the county tax assessors or collectors. But more over, the Third Congress had introduced a reform to the tax law and had introduced a "double tax" penalty for anyone failing to submit their tax inventory or refusing to pay their county and state taxes, and it would seem that Bradley had made some enemies in Shelby County with his applying the "double tax" penalty.
At the time, the procedure used for assessing taxes was that each citizen of a county would submit an inventory of their taxable assets to the county tax assessor who would then arrange to come by the citizen's abode to verify the inventory. If any errors were found, a correction was made, but if any of the errors or omissions were determined to have been done on purpose to decieve or defraud the government, then that tax payer was penalized with the "Double Tax". So much was the uproar among the citizenry of Texas as a whole, that the Sixth Congress passed legislation to grant everyone who had been penalized by the Double Tax penalty an exemption for the year 1841, and passed another Act repealing the Double Tax and replacing it with a fine for anyone failing to file their inventory or refusing to pay their taxes due. The Sixth Congress further introduced an Act for the removal of a tax assessor for maleconduct though nothing ever became of the accusations against John M. Bradley of Shelby County. But this episode likely had another effect that in the years since Bradley's death in 1844, writers have associated him with counterfeiting like Sandy Horton wrote of Bradley: "He lived on the road between Shelbyville and San Augustine, and kept a tavern for the accommodation of theives and dealers in bogus money". Only one problem with Horton's attribution is that the 177-acre survey in Bradley's name at that location was not added to his estate until August 1845, a year after his death. It was added by his probate administrator owing to the discovery that when Bradley's League and labor land certificates were issued in 1838, Bradley had only used the land certificate for his league of land (4,405 acres) located in Murvall Creek (now in Panola County) some 50 miles further north and never used the other land certificate because he owned some 18,000 acres of land in Harrison County alone. He had owned no land in Shelby County other than a land claim circa 1832-34 before his Mexican land grant on Murvall Creek was surveyed in 1835.
More over, this John M. Bradley is said to have been murdered in July 1844 as he was coming out of a Baptist revival that was held in the old Masonic Hall in San Augustine. The problem with that assumption though it was published in 1850, is that the first Baptist revival held at the old Masonic Hall at San Augustine was not held until June 1845, almost eleven months after Bradley was slain. The only reason why the revival was held at the old Masonic Hall at San Augustine was because Rev. George Webb Slaughter (1811-1895) who was the main speaker at the 1845 revival was ordained at the beginning of the 1845 revival by the Rev. Peter Eldridge who had preached at the 1844 revival where Slaughter had been among those saved and baptized, and the 1845 revival was only held at the Masonic Hall in San Augustine because Slaughter was the chaplain of that Masonic Lodge. The revival where Bradley was slain in July 1844 had been a camp meeting held at Old Bethel Baptist Church near Pendleton in Sabine County, some 20 miles east of San Augustine, and was held over the first two weeks of July 1844, as reported upon by the editor of The Red-Lander newspaper as George Louis Crockett later found but did not live long enough to revise his 1932 book to change where John M. Bradley was actually slain. It's in his notes from 1934.
Likewise, the attribution that Bradley was buried near his home on Patroon Bayou (attributed to Levi H. Ashcroft) and Bradley's association with the Old Texan Cemetery near his 177-acre survey is why the location of the old cemetery is a closely guarded secret because so many treasure hunters have gone there and dug looking for Bradley's treasure that some believe was buried in the area.
In 1847, Richard Hooper, who was the administrator on the Bradley Estate received permission from the Shelby County Probate Court to sell off 450 acres of land belonging to the Estate, "and a part of the tract on which the said deceased lived at the time of his death." Obviously, this 450 acres was not part of the 177-acre survey on Patroon Bayou but came from his other 18,000 acres in Harrison County. At an auction of Bradley's land in 1846-47, L.H. Ashcroft purchased a 492-acre tract, being part of the John M. Bradley League in Harrison (now Panola) County, and part of the very same 450-acres Hooper obtained permission to sell from the Probate Court. And since it was Ashcroft who said Bradley was buried near his home and Ashcroft purchased that property in 1847, one would suppose that Bradley was not buried in Old Texan Cemetery on Patroon Bayou but near Gary, in Panola County, Texas.
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