The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-10-26
FATHER Of GRAMMAR
That Is to Say, of Our
English Grammar.
The Home and life of
Lindley Murray.
Early Days of the Man Who Did
What He Could to Spoil
Native English.

Native English.
Twelve miles south Of Harrisburg
still stands the house in which Lind
| ley Murray, the so-called father of
| English grammar, was born says the
Philadelphia Times. 1t is a somewhat
pretentious log house, with three
| rooms and a sleeping loft, built on
the southern slope of a hill and facing
| the SlOw-fowing Swatra-that his
| toric stream of which Whittier sings
and up which. on their way to the
fertile plains of TulpchOcken. the first
Pennsylvania Dutch pushed their
| rude raftS, over two centuries ago.
| Murray'S father WAS Il Scotchman
who settled there about 173O, and soon
after married a Miss Henry, daughter
of one of the Pennsylvania German
families in the neighborhood. Muir
ray, in his autobiography, says: "My
| parents were of respectable character.
and in the middle station of life. My
father possessed good flour mill on
the Swatara, but being an enterpris-
ing spirit and anxious to provide
handsomely for his family. he made
several voyages to the West Indies
in the way of trade, by which lie very
considerably augmented his property.
Pursuing his inclinations, he in time
acquired large possessions, and be-
came one of the most respectable
merchants in America. My mother
was woman of an amiable DISPOSE
ton, and remarkable for mildness,
humanity and liberality of senti-
ment."
The Murray homestead, with its
old oaken bucket and UNCOVERED
porch, lies within few miles of the
"Old Derry church, one of the very
oldest churches in the state and
which, within the last few years has
been replaced by a beautiful stone
memorial chapel. Here the Murrays
and DiXons and Trumans and BoydS
and Bertrams worshipped as early as
172O, and tradition still points out the
very tree at which William Penn tied
his horse on his first and last visit to
the parish. Distance does not seem
to have deferred the piouS old worth
, les who had charge of the spiritual
affairs of the Murrays and their Pres
byterian neighbors, for i'll the life of
[ the Rev. Adam Boyd, who miniStered
to the flock before the infant Lindley
was born, it is said that he preached
. on the westward of OctOrara and
Donegal, over Conoy and eastward
as far as the barrens of Derry" and
his salary was sixty pounds per year,
payable in hemp, linen, corn, yarn
and chickens.
1t is rather curious to see the
: changes that have come over> the
neighborhood in which the great
grammarian was born and raised.
The log houses in which lived the old
Scotch, Irish and English families are
still standing and in use for farm i'm
plementS and stables, though the
Murray homestead is still occupied
as a dwelling-hOuse, and the prim
German housewife will think you
have certainly gone daft if you go
staring about her house or ask her
what she knows about Lindley Muir
ray, of whom she has never even
heard. A region richer in folk lore
or historical incident cannot be found.
though the present inhabitants there
, about can give you little assistance or
inspiration. Material prosperity has
smiled upon the hills of Manada, and
the barrens of Derry, but there is,
none of the old intellectual life which
, in one generation gave to ''glOry and
to fame" more sons and daughters
than have ten generations since. The
. most prominent of these were Dixon
and Murray. Robert Dixon. of Dix
on's ford, near the Murray place, won
fame on the same fields that brought
glory to Wolfe and Montgomery
Sam Atkinson says of him in his
"Casket and Evening Post" that she
was one of those spirits which rise in
flame to illume all around him; gentle
rs the summer breeze i'll private life.
| I,11f hi irI M in hn al ~
of danger" Murray was being OF
Il different order The closet WAS his
battlefield, though he never turned
his pen in favor of the country of his;
BIRTH While the companions of his
bOyhoOd were fighting the American
revolution he was living the peaceful
life of Quaker. Meanwhile, how
ever. like many another pious Quaker.
he was taking advantage of the times:
, and lining his pockets with the al
mighty dollar. Near the MurrayS
was also born Ellery Truman, and
another, the equal of them all, Emily
Raymond, the pride of the Swatara.
the spirit of it's woods and fields; a
, beautiful soul whose story remains
to be written.
Lindley Murray's early boyhOod
was spent at the home on the Swa-
tara, his fathers flour and grist mill
being about a mile distant, near Rog-
er's ford. When Lindley was about
or Z years old his father determined
to quit the Swatara and try his for
tunes in the Carolinas. The family
soon returned North again. al d few
years later settled in New York,
where they acquired considerable
wealth and influence Before leaving
tba no rich of Darrv IindIpv had been
sent to Philadelphia and put in the
4 care of tutor, Professor EbeneZer
Kinnersley, who afterward became
noted as a co-laborer with Franklin
in his electrical researches and eX-
periments.
Murray was an apt pupil, and gave
| early evidences of the ability he was