TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: ADAM MURDOCK (1829- 1869)

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: ADAM MURDOCK (1829- 1869) Adam Murdock’s life reflects the movement, ambition, conflict, and controversy that shaped nineteenth-century America. Born in rural Ireland and brought to the United States as a young man, he built a life in the developing towns of the South and West during a time of profound national change. Through business ventures, civic service, military involvement, and personal trials, Murdock’s story offers a window into the opportunities and divisions that defined his era.

 Adam was one of seven children born to Gawn and Ann Murdock. He was born in Killinchy, County Down, Ireland on March 15, 1829 and baptized in the Presbyterian Church in Killinchy on March 20, 1829. After his father, who was a farmer, passed away in 1843, his mother and siblings immigrated to America. Adam was listed in the 1850 Census as a 21 year old clerk living with a hotel keeper and his family in Napoleon, Arkansas. One of Adam’s brothers, William, became a large landowner in California. William bought 500 head of cattle from the Mississippi Valley who were brought to his land in California on a seven month cattle drive led by his brothers in 1853. It was through this trip that Ann and her other children also made the journey and settled in California.

Between 1850 and 1855, Adam made his way to Calhoun County, Texas. His name appears in the August 17, 1855 edition of "The Indianola Bulletin” as the secretary of the Western Texas Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. It was in Calhoun County that Adam married Rebecca Martin on either January 5 or 7, 1857. Rebecca came to Texas by covered wagon from Illinois as a toddler. By January of 1859, Adam was advertising in the local Indianola newspapers for the livery stable business he had recently acquired. One ad claimed his motto was “moderate charges and strict attention to business.” In 1859, Adam was also showing up in the Indianola newspaper for his leadership role as the S. W. (Senior Warden) for the local Freemasons and later, in 1860, as their treasurer.

In the 1860 Census, Adam listed his occupation as Livery Business, but we know that he was also serving as City Recorder due to his name appearing in the local newspapers posting city ordinances. By October 1859, those ordinances foretold what was to come as a curfew for “Negros and Slaves” was put into effect in Indianola. Any such persons found outside their master's property after 9:00 p.m. would be detained, receive between 11 and 39 lashes and their master would pay a fine to retrieve them. With the election of President Abraham Lincoln there was considerable concern about a blockade on the port of Indianola and Adam was one of 132 men who met on November 21, 1860 and signed a petition asking Governor Sam Houston to bring together the legislature to vote to secede from the union.

In an issue of a Corpus Christi newspaper called the Ranchero published July 20, 1861, Adam Murdock ran an advertisement in search of the person who hired one of his horses for a few hours, but instead rode the horse off to join the military. Adam stated he would prosecute horse thieves which led the paper to call him unpatriotic. However, Adam did serve as part of the Confederacy. The Indianola Guard was incorporated on June 27, 1861 with Adam Murdock as 1st Lieutenant. He later enlisted with Company E of Waller’s Regiment as a Junior 2nd Lieutenant on May 14, 1862 at Hempstead. Records show he was absent from several future roll calls because he was sent on recruiting service. 

He was fighting in Bayou Rouge, Louisiana as part of Waller’s Regiment when he wrote to a fallen soldier’s mother to notify her of the heroic death her son suffered on May 18, 1864 as part of the Red River Campaign. He was released from service on July 24, 1865. When he returned to Indianola after the war, he and Rebecca welcomed their only child, Anna, on June 14, 1866.

On July 11, 1869, Adam Murdock was caught up in a scandal while visiting Galveston. He was at the Exchange Hotel when he got in a verbal altercation with Dr. J. C. Ashcom. Some reports claim that Dr. Ashcom said some disparaging things about the Confederacy for whom Murdock had fought in the Civil War. Later in the evening, the two men crossed paths at the hotel bar. Both men pulled guns with Dr. Ashcom shooting and killing an innocent bystander. By July 14, Murdock had been arrested and charged with assault with intent to kill. His bond was set at $2500. At the end of the month his case was to be continued until the next term of court. 

In September of 1869, Murdock, his wife and daughter were listed as arrivals at the Exchange Hotel in Galveston. It is unknown as to whether this visit was associated with the criminal charges against him. Adam Murdock died on October 28, 1869 from consumption and was buried in the Indianola Cemetery. Both his wife and daughter eventually moved to be near the Murdock family still living in Chico, California. Rebecca died in 1925 followed in 1938 by Anna who never married.

From his beginnings in County Down to his final years in Texas, Adam Murdock lived during one of the most turbulent periods in American history. He established himself as a businessman and civic leader, aligned himself with the political and military causes of his time, and faced both public responsibility and personal controversy. Though his life ended relatively early, the records he left behind trace the path of an immigrant who became woven into the economic, social, and political fabric of nineteenth-century Texas.

Compiled by Jennifer Shafer Wyatt

History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 510-511, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.

The Galveston Daily News, July 13, 1869

Indianola: The Mother of Western Texas by Brownson Malsch

The Indianola Bulletin August 17, 1855

The Galveston Daily News, July 14, 1869

The Galveston Daily News, July 30, 1869

The Galveston Daily News, September 7, 1869

The Indianola Courier, October 22, 1959 

Corpus Christi Weekly Caller, October 7, 1904 

Victoria Advocate, May 8, 1927