[Murphys in "Wheeler Reminisciences", North Carolina counties]

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Chapter XXXIII.
Hertford County

In 1768 the Legislature incorporated the town of Murfreesboro, with
William Murfree, Patrick Brown, Redmond Hackett, William Vaughan and
John Parker as Commissioners.

The first house erected, was the residence of William Murfree, which
stands near the landing, just beside the church-yard.  The venerable
and useful Aunt Peggy Weaver was long the occupant of this ancient 
office.  She, too, has doubtless gone, and, as with the original 
Commissioners, 
"Each in his narrow bed forever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."

The Murfree family is of English origin.  William Murfree, born in 
1730, was the founder of the family.  He was a man of influence and
respectability, and took a decided stand in defence of the liberties
of the country, when threatened by royal authority.  He represented the
county in the Provincial Congress that met at Halifax in November, 
1776, which body formed our State Consitution.  He married Mary Moore,
by whom he had several children- Hardy, the founder of Murfreesboro in
North Carolina, as also of a village of the same name in Tennessee; 
James, William, Sarah, who married Samuel Cryer; Patty, who married
Benjamin Banks; Betty, who married Richard Andrews, and Nancy, who
married Jonathan Roberts.

Major Hardy Murfree, son of the above, was born June 5, 1752, and was 
in the prime of life when the revolution commenced.

On the earliest organization of the military force of the country, he
was appointed by the Provincial Congress, at Hillsboro, on August 21,
1775, a Captain in the 2d Regiment of State troops of the Continental
Establishment, (Robert Howe, Colonel), and joined the grand Army of the
North, under Washington.

Under his eye he was engaged in the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth and
elsewhere.  He was promoted to the rank of Major, and was selected to
lead the desperate and successful attack on Stony Point, July 16, 1779.

At this period, the affairs of the colonies were in a most desperate
condition.  Washington, in a letter to Col. Harrison, of Virginia, 
states that, "they were more distressed, ruinous and deplorable that
at any time since the war commenced, and on the brink of ruin."

Washington determined to strike the enemy, and projected the attack on
the strong fortress at Stony Point.  He directed "Mad Anthony" Wayne to
execute his plans.  The attack was made at midnight; the British were
surprised and defeated.  Two companies of North Carolina light troops
made the attack, led by Major Murfree, whose bravery and gallant 
conduct is mentioned in General Wayne's official dispatch to Congress.

Both of these companies were of the Second North Carolina Continentals,
and led, with unloaded muskets, the forlorn hope in this desperate
enterprise.  General Wayne was severely wounded, and Captain John 
Daves, of New Berne, second in command to Major Murfree's 

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battalion,
was also badly wounded, but their recovery was complete.

This brilliant affair had a most exhilarating effect upon the spirits
of the patriots, and cheerded them to renewed exertion in the cause of
liberty.  Major Murfree continued in the service until the close of the
war, when he returned to his home.  He married Sallie, the daughter of
Matthias Brickell, who was a pattern of modesty, as of beauty, and by
whom he was blessed with a large family of children.  He removed to
Tennessee, where he ended his days.

His son, William Hardy Murfree, (born 1781, died 1827), was born and
lived for a long period, in Murfreesboro.  He was educated at the
University, where he graduated in 1801, in same class as [Josiah?] Ams,
John Branch, Francis L. Dancy, and others.

He studied hard and stood high in the profession.

He entered public life in 1805, as a member of the Legislature.  In 
1813, he was elected a member of the XIII Congress, and re-elected at
the XIV, 1815-1817; afterward, he declined a re-election.  He was able
and eloquent, and sustained the war efforts of Mr. Madison's 
administration.  In 1825 he removed to Tennessee, he died in Nashville,
January 18, 1827, leaving his son, William Law Murfree.
.....

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...One of the Lords Proprietors, who joined in 1729 in the surrender of
the Charter of North Carolina to the Crown, was an English Barrister,
John Cotten, of the Middle Temple, London.  He represented the district
originally granted to Lord Ashley.  He was the grandson of the Rev. 
Thomas Cotten, the father of Lady Lisle.  Under his proprietorship, 
several of his kinsmen and his name, emigrated to Bertie and the
surrounding precincts.

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With the exception of the Church of St. Paul at Edenton, and the Quaker
settlement of Pasquotank and Perquimans, there was scarcely a point in 
the Albermarle region at which, in the early days of Gov. Johnston,
religious services were held.  Soon after the creation of Bertie
precinct, as early as 1739, the Rev. Matthias Brickell became rector
of St. John's parish.  He was the first clergyman, west of the Chowan,
who had a parish.  Much of the character for morality and intelligence
of the people of St. Johns, was owing to the efforts of this godly man.
He possessed high social qualities and culture, and remarkable for men
of his cloth, created in the minds of the people love and confidence.
His church at Ahoskie saw, on each Sabbath, the people collected to 
listen to his advice and instructions.

Parson Brickell died years before the Revolution, but left descendants.

His oldest son, Colonel Matt. Brickell, was a leading man in the
county, previous to 1775.  He was a member of the First Provincial
Congress, and died in the midst of the gigantic struggle for 
independence.  One of his daughters married Major Hardy Murfree; the
other was the wife of John Brown, and the great-grandmother of the late
John A. Anderson, and Dr. Godwin C. Moore.....

p. 333
...
Achibald Debow Murphey, (born 1777, died 3rd February, 1832) son of
Colonel Archibald Murphey, was born in Caswell County, near Milton.
His early education was conducted by Rev. Dr. David Caldwell, and 
finished at the University, where he graduated in 1799, in the second
class graduated at that institution.  In this class were Francis Nash,
William Benton, John Phifer and others.  Such was his reputation as a
scholar, that he was appointed to the chair of Ancient Languages in the
University, which he filled acceptably for three years, when he 
resigned and studied law under William Duffy, the residing in 
Hillsboro.  He rapidly advanced in his profession, at that period, 
adorned by the ability of such legal celebrities as Cameron, Norwood,
Nash, Seawell, Yancey, Ruffin, Badger and others.  Among these he held
a high position, and which fully justified the remark of Pinkney that
the Bar was not a place where false and fraudulent reputation for 
talents can be maintained.  His practice for years was not exceeded by
that of any lawyer in the State; and his success was equal to its
extent.  Particularly did he excel in the Equity branch of the 
profession and in the examination of witnesses.  In 1818 he was elected
one of the judges of the Superior Courts, and in this elevated position
he well sustained his reputation for learning and ability which had 
been so well established at the Bar.  He commanded the admiration of 
the profession and the people, by the courtesy, patience, dignity and
justice of his rulings.  After riding the circuit for two years he
resigned, and returned to the less laborious and more germane practice
of his profession.  From 1812 to 1818 he was a Senator in the 
Legislature from Orange County.  In this new arena he was more
conspicuous that he had been at the Bar, or on the Bench, and wielded
a larger influence than any other member in the Councils of the State.
In 1819 he was elected one of the judges of the Superior Courts, and in
this elevated position he well satisfied his reputation for learning and
ability which had been so well established at the Bar.  He commanded the
admiration of his profession and the people, by the courtesy, patience,
dignity and justice of his rulings.  After riding the circuit for two
years he resigned, and returned to the less laborious and more germane
practice of his profession.  From 1812 to 1818 he was a Senator in the
Legislature from Orange County.  In this new arena he was more conspicuous
than he had been at the Bar, or on the Bench, and wielded a larger 
influence than any other member in the Councils of the State.  In 1819 he
published "A Memoir of Improvements Contemplated, and the Resources and
Finances of the State," dedicated to Gov. Branch, which will rank with
the efforts of a Clinton or a Calhoun, and which enlicited from the North
American Review, high commendations.  With his mind absorbed in the 
gigantic schemes of internal improvements, at the same time he assiduously
labored in his profession and literary pursuits.  Judge Murphey conceived
the

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pose of writing the History of the State.  He knew her resources; he was
familiar with her early records; he had studied her interets; he had
visited every section from the mountains to the seaboard; he knew 
personally every leading man of eminence or intelligence in the State.
He had gathered material from every source, public and private, at home
and abroad.   He fully felt the importance and the necessity of a good
history of the State.  In a letter to General Joseph Graham, (20th July,
1821,) he says:
"We want such a work, we neither know outsiders; nor are we known to
others.  We want pride; we want independence; we know nothing of our
State and we care nothing about it."
At his instance, the Legislature through Mr. Gallatin our Envoy in England
caused the offices of the Board of Trade in the Rolls office in London, to
be explored, a rich mine never developed; he corresponded with Mr. 
Jefferson, Mr. Madison and other literary men of other states, and with 
the families of Govs. Burke, Caswell, Johnston, and with many revolutionary
officers then living, as Generals Graham, Lenoir, Col. Wm. Polk and others
all of whom contributed their treasures of knowledge freely to him.
The Legislature in 1826, upon his application, granted authority to him to
raise by a lottery, a sum sufficient to carry out his patriotic intentions.
But beyond publishing one or two chapters on the Indians, ill health and
decayed fortune arrested this great enterprise; poverty and adversity
clouded the evening of his days.  He died at Hillsboro', February 3rd,
1832, and is buried in the Presbytarian grave yard, a few feet from the
front door of the church.  He left two sons, Dr. V. Moreau Murphey, of 
Macon, Mississippi, and Lieutenant P.U. Murphey of the Navy (since dead,)
and several grand children, among whom Judge Archibald Murphey Aiken, who
worthily sustains the high reputation of his illustrious patronomic and
ancestor.
We acknowledge our indebtedness for much of the material of this truthful
memoir to the able address of Gov. W.A. Graham. (N.C. Uni. Mag. Aug., 1860.)