Murray, John

Murray, John, 1741–1815, founder of the Universalist denomination in America, b. England. He was excommunicated by the Methodists after he had openly accepted Universalism as taught by James Relly (see Universalist Church of America). Murray emigrated to America in 1770 where, after traveling as a Universalist preacher for four years in New Jersey, New York, and New England, he settled in Gloucester, Mass. He continued his preaching there and in nearby centers. In 1775, General Washington announced Murray's appointment as chaplain to the Rhode Island troops. He served as pastor of the newly organized Independent Church of Christ (1779) at Gloucester until he was called to the pastorate of the Universalist Society of Boston in 1793.

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Murray, John (1741–1815) Universalist clergyman; born in Alton, England. The son of strict Calvinist parents, he emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1770 and for two years was an itinerant evangelist preaching a decidedly non-Calvinist doctrine of universal salvation. Considered the founder of Universalism in America, he held pastorates in Gloucester, Mass., and Boston. He suffered a paralytic stroke in 1809 and passed the last years of his life as an invalid.