Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/503

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MURDOCH
MURDOCK

During the civil war her estate suffered from both armies, and at its close she received from Napoleon III. a life annuity of 20,000 francs. Shortly after the war she visited France, and was received at the imperial court with great cordiality. — Napoléon Achille's brother, Napoléon Lucien Charles Joseph François, b. in Milan, Italy, 16 May, 1803; d. in Paris, France, 11 April, 1878, lived with his mother and brother in the castle of Frohsdorf from 1815 till 1822, when he went to Venice, but, being persecuted by the Austrian authorities, he took passage in 1824 for the United States. He was shipwrecked on the coast of Spain and detained there as a prisoner for several months, but his brother, who was already a naturalized American citizen, invoked the protection of President Monroe, and, through the U. S. minister, young Murat was set at liberty, and arrived in Boston in April, 1825. He then joined his uncle, Joseph Bonaparte, who was living in Philadelphia under the name of Count of Survilliers, and, by advice of his brother, made application for naturalization papers. He went afterward to live with the latter in Florida, and also travelled through the country as far as Texas and California. In 1827 he married, in Baltimore, Carolina Georgina, daughter of Thomas Frazer, of Bordentown, N. J., and lived in the former city for a few years. Reverses of fortune afterward compelled Murat to keep a boarding-house in 1834, but his wife established a school for young ladies, which became fashionable and enabled him to give up this pursuit. They lived prosperously for a few years, but Murat had never abandoned the idea of recovering the lost throne to which his brother had relinquished all claims. He made trips to France in 1839 and 1844, to confer with his adherents, but was allowed to remain only five weeks at a time. Nevertheless, he kept up a daily correspondence with the supporters of the imperial cause, and held meetings at his house in Baltimore. After the fall of Louis Philippe in 1848, he returned to France with his wife, was elected a deputy to the constituent assembly, and re-elected in 1849, being also appointed in the latter year minister to Turin. In 1852 he was created a senator and given the rank of prince. He published a manifesto in 1861, in which he claimed the throne of his father, but, not being supported by Napoleon III., he withdrew his claim. In 1870 he was shut up with Marshal Bazaine in Metz, and after the fall of the empire he revisited the United States, where he had still some business interests. Madame Murat died on 10 Feb., 1879. They left five children. Caroline Lætitia, b. in Baltimore in 1832, married Baron de Chassiron, who died in 1870, and she married in 1871 John Garden, a wealthy American; Joseph Joachim, b. in Baltimore in 1834, became a major-general in the French army; Anna, b. in Baltimore in 1848, married the Duke de Mouchy; Achille Napoléon, b. in Baltimore in 1847, married Princess Dadiani de Mingrelia; and Louis Napoléon, b. in Paris in 1851, married Princess Maria Orbeliani. Murat's correspondence while he was in the United States, and his letters concerning this country, have been published several times.


MURDOCH. James Edward, actor, b. in Phila- delphia, Pa., 25 Jan.. 1811 : d. in Cincinnati, 19 May, 1893. He learned the trade of a bookbinder, but in 1829 appeared at Arch street theatre, Philadel- phia, as Frederick in Kotzebue's play of " Lover's Vows," afterward acting for many years in most of the large cities of the United States. In 1840 he became stage-manager at Chestnut street theatre in Philadelphia, and in the following year tem- porarily withdrew from the stage to lecture on Shakespeare and teach elocution. In 1845 Mur- doch returned to the drama, beginning an engage- ment at the Park theatre in New York city as Hamlet, and then visiting other cities, Canada, and California. In 1850 he performed at the Hay- market theatre, London, with moderate success, and in 1857 and 1858 he settled on a farm near Lebanon. Ohio. During the civil war he nursed sick and wounded National soldiers in hospitals, gave readings from the poems of Thomas Buchanan Read and others for the benefit of the U. S. sani- tary commission, and became a volunteer aide on the staff of Gen. William S. Rosecrans. After that time he was a professor of elocution at the Cin- cinnati college of music. Murdoch's best efforts were in the line of genteel comedy and juvenile tragedy ; his Romeo, Charles Surface in School for" Scandal," and Don Felix in " The Wonder," had many admirers. But while his acting satisfied the critics, it failed to charm the many, rendering his " star " engagements unprofitable. In connec- tion with William Russell he published '• Orthoph- ony, or Culture of the Voice " (Boston, 1845), and " the Stage " (Philadelphia, 1880).


MURDOCH, William, Canadian poet, b. in Paisley, Scotland, 24 Feb.. 1823 ; d. in St. John, New Brunswick, 4 May, 1887. He was the son of a Paisley shoemaker, and learned to read by the side of his father's work-bench. He wrote verses when very young, served at his father's trade, improved his education by attending a night- school, and continued to employ his leisure in rhyming. In 1854 he emigrated to New Bruns- wick, and in April, 1855, he was appointed to take charge of the gas-works on Partridge island. In 1865 he became connected with the editorial staff of the St. John " Morning News." He has pub- lished " Poems and Songs, by William Murdoch " (St. John, 1860; 2d ed., enlarged, 1872). He is also the author of " Discursory Ruminations : a Fireside Drama," and other pieces (St. John, 1876).


MURDOCK, James, author, b. in Westbrook, Conn., 16 Feb., 1776 ; d. in Columbus, Miss., 10 Aug., 1856. He was graduated at Yale in 1797, and became successively preceptor of Hopkins grammar-school at New Haven, and of Oneida academy (now Hamilton college), N. Y. He studied theology under Timothy Dwight, and was licensed to preach as a Congregational minister in January, 1801, and settled as pastor of the church at Princeton, Mass., in June, 1802, where he remained thirteen years. In 1815 he became professor of ancient languages in the University of Vermont, and from 1819 till 1828 he was professor of sacred rhetoric and ecclesiastical history in Andover theological seminary. In 1829 he removed to New Haven and devoted the rest of his life to study, principally that of ecclesiastical history, the oriental languages, and philosophy. He was president of the Connecticut academy of arts and sciences, vice-president of the philological society of Connecticut, and one of the founders of the American oriental society. He received the degree of D. D. from Harvard "in 1819. He published a translation from the German of Miinscher's "Elements of Dogmatic History " (New Haven, 1830) ; a translation of Mosheim's "Institutes of Ecclesiastical History," with copious notes (3 vols., New York, 1832) ; an edition of Milman's " History of Christianity," with preface and notes (1841) ; " Sketches of Modern Philosophy, especially among the Germans " (Hartford, 1842) ; a " Literal Translation of the Whole New Testament from the Ancient Syriac Version," with a preface and marginal notes