Pioneer Baptist missionary to the Indians of Indian Territory, Father of Oklahoma Masonry pioneer of journalism of the Indian Territory. At the early age of nineteen he entered a religious career by uniting with the Green Fork Baptist Church in Georgia and a year later was licensed to preach the gospel. He soon entered Mercer University to better equip himself for his chosen career but the impatience of youth and the demand for competent lips and hands to labor among the Indian people of the West combined to shorten his college career and hasten the beginning of the work into which he threw body and soul. Long years later (1923) Mercer conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon him as an appreciation of his services for christianity and education. Ordained to the ministry in September 1857, at Macon, Georgia, he was appointed by the Domestic and Indian Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and supported by the Rehoboth Association as a missionary to the Indians of the West. On November 18, 1857, he arrived at old North Forktown, near Eufaula. At that time there were no railroads west of the Mississippi River. He spent five weeks in making the trip. In 1862 at the request of the Seminole Council, he was appointed Confederate States Indian Agent for that tribe. The following year he received additional powers, including the purchase and distribution of supplies and provisions to the women, children and old men of several tribes, including Creeks, Osages, Comanches, Wichitas and others, whose able-bodied men had enlisted with the Confederate Army. He continued to be a missionary for Christ as well as a representative of the Confederate Government, and endeavored as best he could to feed their souls with spiritual food as well as care for their temporal wants. In 1870 Mr. Murrow returned to his home in Georgia, where friends placed him in a hospital for the blind in the city of Atlanta, as he was suffering from a severe disease of the eyes, brought on by excessive labor and neglect. During this time he had ample time to study the Indian field of work and he became impressed with the thought that something should be done for the wild Indians of the western part of the Indian Territory. As a result of the plans thus formulated and his exertions a mission was commenced among these wild or blanket Indians in 1874, and it has continued. After four years of work among the Creeks and four years with Seminoles, Dr. Murrow came to the Choctaw Nation and in 1867 located at what is now the City of Atoka, a place to which he gave the name and of which he will always be regarded as the founder. As the location was on the direct trail and mail route of the Government, Mr. Murrow determined to have a post office established there and after writing the petition and the necessary correspondence was successful and the post office was named Atoka. In July, 1872, Rev. Mr. Murrow issued a call to the churches of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to meet in Atoka for the purpose of organizing the Choctaw and Chickasaw Baptist Association. Sixteen churches responded. The organization thus established did much for the two nations and sent from its ranks many of the present strong Baptist bodies of the old territory and the New State. In 1876 he introduced a preamble and resolution in the annual meeting of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Association, looking to the immediate organization of all the Baptist Association of the territory into a general convention. This was done for the purpose of breaking up tribal walls in religious work, bringing about more fraternal feeling and a broader acquaintance between workers in the field and to secure a more active co-operation and interest in the support and maintenance of mission work among the blanket Indians and other needy fields. This was not effected until 1881, when the Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention was organized and rapidly grew into a great power for good. Mr. Murrow was for seventeen years president of this convention, giving much of his time, means and prayers to its work. For many years Rev. Mr. Murrow's missionary work was done under the auspices of the mission board of the Southern Baptist Church. In 1899 he changed his relationship to the Baptist Home Mission Society of New York and for fourteen years had general supervision of all Indian Missionary work for the Baptist Church in Oklahoma and Indian Territory. He organized more than seventy-five Baptist churches in the Indian Territory, and assisted with his own hands and money in the building of nearly that many houses of worship. He assisted in the ordination of more than seventy preachers, mostly Indians, and baptized not less than 2,000 people, most of whom were also Indians. In 1887, largely due to Rev. Mr. Murrow's leadership, the Atoka Baptist church successfully inaugurated the Atoka Baptist Academy. This splendid school was conducted under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society for eighteen years, and was then merged into or absorbed by the Murrow Indian Orphan Home. The founding of this, home has been considered by Mr. Murrow as his last and best effort for the assistance of the people to whom he has given nearly sixty years of service. Rev. Mr. Murrow, with the assistance of others, organized and estalished the Bacone University, a Baptist Institution at Muskogee, for the education of the Indians. He served fifteen years as president of the Board of Trustees and it has been largely through his untiring efforts that the institution grew and prospered and has become one of the leading educational institutions of the country. He was also a pioneer of journalism of the Indian Territory, having served as editor of the Vindica, a weekly publication first published at Boggy Depot and later moved to Atoka. Rev. Mr. Murrow was one of the oldest and most distinguished Masons in Oklahoma. He organized the first Masonic Lodge in the territory after the war, locating it at Boggy Depot, later moving it to Atoka. For more than thirty years he was grand secretary of the Blue Lodge of the territory, and he assisted in organizing, and at one time was secretary of the Grand Lodge and the Grand Chapter and Grand Recorder of the Grand Commandery of the Grand Council. He also organized the first council of Royal and Select Masters in Oklahoma, and served as Grand Master of the Grand Council until April, 1912. In the Scottish Rite he attained the very great distinction of the thirty-third degree. Dr. Murrow's contributions to Masonic literature and his activities in fraternal enterprises, gained for him a national reputation and he is known throughout the United States as the "Father of Oklahoma Masonry." The history of the commonwealth of Oklahoma will be an unfinished story without a chapter devoted to the life, and achievements of this man.
Pioneer Baptist missionary to the Indians of Indian Territory, Father of Oklahoma Masonry pioneer of journalism of the Indian Territory. At the early age of nineteen he entered a religious career by uniting with the Green Fork Baptist Church in Georgia and a year later was licensed to preach the gospel. He soon entered Mercer University to better equip himself for his chosen career but the impatience of youth and the demand for competent lips and hands to labor among the Indian people of the West combined to shorten his college career and hasten the beginning of the work into which he threw body and soul. Long years later (1923) Mercer conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon him as an appreciation of his services for christianity and education. Ordained to the ministry in September 1857, at Macon, Georgia, he was appointed by the Domestic and Indian Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and supported by the Rehoboth Association as a missionary to the Indians of the West. On November 18, 1857, he arrived at old North Forktown, near Eufaula. At that time there were no railroads west of the Mississippi River. He spent five weeks in making the trip. In 1862 at the request of the Seminole Council, he was appointed Confederate States Indian Agent for that tribe. The following year he received additional powers, including the purchase and distribution of supplies and provisions to the women, children and old men of several tribes, including Creeks, Osages, Comanches, Wichitas and others, whose able-bodied men had enlisted with the Confederate Army. He continued to be a missionary for Christ as well as a representative of the Confederate Government, and endeavored as best he could to feed their souls with spiritual food as well as care for their temporal wants. In 1870 Mr. Murrow returned to his home in Georgia, where friends placed him in a hospital for the blind in the city of Atlanta, as he was suffering from a severe disease of the eyes, brought on by excessive labor and neglect. During this time he had ample time to study the Indian field of work and he became impressed with the thought that something should be done for the wild Indians of the western part of the Indian Territory. As a result of the plans thus formulated and his exertions a mission was commenced among these wild or blanket Indians in 1874, and it has continued. After four years of work among the Creeks and four years with Seminoles, Dr. Murrow came to the Choctaw Nation and in 1867 located at what is now the City of Atoka, a place to which he gave the name and of which he will always be regarded as the founder. As the location was on the direct trail and mail route of the Government, Mr. Murrow determined to have a post office established there and after writing the petition and the necessary correspondence was successful and the post office was named Atoka. In July, 1872, Rev. Mr. Murrow issued a call to the churches of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to meet in Atoka for the purpose of organizing the Choctaw and Chickasaw Baptist Association. Sixteen churches responded. The organization thus established did much for the two nations and sent from its ranks many of the present strong Baptist bodies of the old territory and the New State. In 1876 he introduced a preamble and resolution in the annual meeting of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Association, looking to the immediate organization of all the Baptist Association of the territory into a general convention. This was done for the purpose of breaking up tribal walls in religious work, bringing about more fraternal feeling and a broader acquaintance between workers in the field and to secure a more active co-operation and interest in the support and maintenance of mission work among the blanket Indians and other needy fields. This was not effected until 1881, when the Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention was organized and rapidly grew into a great power for good. Mr. Murrow was for seventeen years president of this convention, giving much of his time, means and prayers to its work. For many years Rev. Mr. Murrow's missionary work was done under the auspices of the mission board of the Southern Baptist Church. In 1899 he changed his relationship to the Baptist Home Mission Society of New York and for fourteen years had general supervision of all Indian Missionary work for the Baptist Church in Oklahoma and Indian Territory. He organized more than seventy-five Baptist churches in the Indian Territory, and assisted with his own hands and money in the building of nearly that many houses of worship. He assisted in the ordination of more than seventy preachers, mostly Indians, and baptized not less than 2,000 people, most of whom were also Indians. In 1887, largely due to Rev. Mr. Murrow's leadership, the Atoka Baptist church successfully inaugurated the Atoka Baptist Academy. This splendid school was conducted under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society for eighteen years, and was then merged into or absorbed by the Murrow Indian Orphan Home. The founding of this, home has been considered by Mr. Murrow as his last and best effort for the assistance of the people to whom he has given nearly sixty years of service. Rev. Mr. Murrow, with the assistance of others, organized and estalished the Bacone University, a Baptist Institution at Muskogee, for the education of the Indians. He served fifteen years as president of the Board of Trustees and it has been largely through his untiring efforts that the institution grew and prospered and has become one of the leading educational institutions of the country. He was also a pioneer of journalism of the Indian Territory, having served as editor of the Vindica, a weekly publication first published at Boggy Depot and later moved to Atoka. Rev. Mr. Murrow was one of the oldest and most distinguished Masons in Oklahoma. He organized the first Masonic Lodge in the territory after the war, locating it at Boggy Depot, later moving it to Atoka. For more than thirty years he was grand secretary of the Blue Lodge of the territory, and he assisted in organizing, and at one time was secretary of the Grand Lodge and the Grand Chapter and Grand Recorder of the Grand Commandery of the Grand Council. He also organized the first council of Royal and Select Masters in Oklahoma, and served as Grand Master of the Grand Council until April, 1912. In the Scottish Rite he attained the very great distinction of the thirty-third degree. Dr. Murrow's contributions to Masonic literature and his activities in fraternal enterprises, gained for him a national reputation and he is known throughout the United States as the "Father of Oklahoma Masonry." The history of the commonwealth of Oklahoma will be an unfinished story without a chapter devoted to the life, and achievements of this man.
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