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Earliest William Murrell of Barbados
and South Carolina and son John Murrell

Cheves, Langdon, ed. "The Shaftesbury Papers & Other Records Relating to Carolina ....."   p. 329 (the footnote)
Sir J. Yeamans arrived in Carolina from Barbadoes about 1 July 1671. With or soon after came.......[list of names including]..... Wm. Murrel, &c. ....
The Blessing sailed about May 14, 1671, touched at Barbadoes? and Bermuda, and reached Carolina Aug 14 with 96 people - [list of names], other passengers and many servants, perhaps .... [list of names including] .... Ro. Lewis.

An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in SC... by Frederick Dalcho, M.D. -- 1st published in 1820 -  1970 reprint.
Dalcho points out that the Cooper River was called the Wando River in the very early records, so when we think of William Murrill [I] & son John receiving land "westward of Wando River", this was actually westward of the Cooper River. The Grand Council date was 1672. Dalcho says this was the date that the present site of the City of Charleston began to be settled. - called New-Town - he gives all the names which received lots [not Murrill or Lewis]. Then talks about the Council providing for the defense of the Colony.
"And that all the inhabitants on the other part of the river, called the Oyster Pont, do repair to the plantation there, now in the possession of Hugh Carteret, and being so embodied do march forward to the plantation now in the possession of Mr. Thomas Norris, or Mr. William Morrill, which may be thought most safe and useful for that design, under the command of Mr. Robert Donne."

Salley, A.S., ed. Journal of the Grand Council of SC...   
p. 37   report on June 1672 - talking about who lived where - "Plantation on Oyster Point now in possession of Mr. Thomas Norris or Mr. William Morrill.."

p. 62 Aug. 9, 1673  "Mr. William Murrill & Mr. Richard Berrey made oath they had seen damage done to Vandones his corne in Charles Towne - value the loss of one bushell & halfe of Corne"
 

Warrants for Lands in South Carolina 1672-1711   A. S. Salley, Jr
p 41
Carolina./
By the Governor by and with the
advice and consent of the Councill
You are forthwth to cause to be admeasured and layd out for Mr William Morrill ...... acres of land bounding on same to the Eastward of the lands already layd out to Anthony Churne and John Hawkes and to the Westward of Wando River without prejudicing or removeing the lines of any lands lying next the same And a certificate fully specifying the scituacon and bounds thereof you are to returne to us with all cenvenient speed and for your soe doeing this shall be your sufficient Warrt. Given under my hand at Charles Towne this xxviijth day of September 1672.
John Yeamans
To John Culpeper
Surveyor Generall.

Warrants... p 67
You are forthwith to cause to be admeasured and laid out for Mr William : Morrill four hundred and seaventy acres of land being the proportion allowed to him by the Lords Proprs : Concessions for himself & John : Morrill his sonne arriveing in December 1671, & three servants namely Nathaneel : Wigmore, Richard : Wells, & Susan : ..... arriveing in August 1672 in such place as you shall be directed by him; soe as ye same be not within any lands heretofore laid out or marked to be laid
out for any other person or use, and if the same happen upon any Navigable river or any river capable of being made navigable, you are to allow onely the fifth part of the depth thereof by ye waterside And a Certificate fully specifieing the scittuacon and bounds thereof you are to returne to us with all convenient speed and for your soe doing this shall be yor : sufficient warrt : Given undr : our hands at Charles Town the xxvijth : day of January 1673/4/
To Capt : Stephen : Bull                   John : Yeamans
Surveyor :/                             Will : Owen     Joseph : West
                                                      John : Godfrey


Warrants ... p 97
Carolina
You are forthwith to cause to be admeasured and laid out for Mr : William : Morrill a certaine parcell of land lyeing to ye Eastward of ye lands of Anthony Churne, and John : Hawkes and the Westward of wandoe river not injureing the lines of any lands lying next ye same, And a Certificate fully specifieing ye scittuacon, bounds, & quantity thereof you are to returne to us with all convenient speed, and for yor : soe doeing this shall be hor : sufficient warrt : Given undr : our hands at Charles Towne this xijth day of June 1675/
To Mr : John : Yeamans                 Mau : Mathews   Jos : West
Surveyor/                                       Will Owen    John : Godfrey

 
 

Salley, A. S. Warrents  p.123
...for Mr. Wm Murrell one of the settlers of this Province (Carolina) ___ hundred acres of land.   dated 30 Dec 1676/
 p.132 ... for Mr. Timo Biggs upon Ashley River between land of Tho: Hunt to ye SE & the Plantation & Land of William Murrell to North. dated 21 Apr 1677 p.198  ....Unto William Murrill one Towne Lott at Oyster pointe.   dated 19 Apr 1679


From Descendants of Jeremiah Mitchell and Allied Families by Ann Mitchell Horne, 1995, p 199:

[referring to her efforts to determine the possible ancestry of Mary Murrell b Sept 15, 1704 who married Moses Milliken Sept 9, 1721 St Thomas/St Denis Parish, SC]

"We employed Brent Howard Holcomb of Columbia, SC. in an attempt to identify the parents of Mary Murrell. His summary follows:

D:64 is Records of the Register and Secretary of the Province 1675-1697, 1703-1709, p 64, and reads:  Barbados. John Tothill Esqr,. of Island aforesaid appointes son in law John Birde, Gentleman, attorney, to demand of William Murrell possession of what lands he the said Murell is possessed of belonging unto me in the confines of Carolina and likewise the stock belonging unto me there or of his son John Murrell  Jurati com me 24 July 1678 Joseph West.

The reference to John Morrill and William Morril in A. Salley's Warrents for Land 1672-1711 indicates that William Morrill and John Morrill (his son) arrived in December 1671. This indeed is an early reference. Our first written record in South Carolina dates from 1671. If this is the same name as Murrell, this John could be two generations earlier than Mary Murrell.

From Records of the Register and Secretary of the Province:
Anthony Churne of Charles Town, Carolina, planter, for thirtie shillings sterling paid by William Murhaile, Gent., tract of 24 acres on Cooper river... and 1 April 1678, John Norton of Carolina, Turner, to William Muraile, planter for 3 pounds and fiftie acres by discharge from Anthony Churne all that parcell of land the said William Muraile dwelleth upon, 50 acres, on Wandoe River.

With reference to the earlier action from Barbados was the following: '... William Murrell of Caroline, planter, for 35 pounds to John Tothill of Island of Barbados, Esqr...' dated 9 Sept 1678. He is here shown as paying his debt to Mr. Tothill which had earlier been demanded."


Hotten p.456  List of Landowners in St. Michael's (Barbados)  [1678, I think]
Wm Murrell,  11 acres,   8 Negroes

Jno Murrell                     2 Negroes
 


 http://www.rootsweb.com/~brbwgw/1679StMichael.htm

Barbados: 1679 St. Michael Inhabitants

Transcribed by Terri England, 2002.

A LIST Of Owners And Possessors Of Land Hired Seruants & Apprentices, Bought Seruants & Negrocs In Ye Parish Of St Michaells. [1679]

[List includes only these with a name similar to Murrell]
Wm Murrell
Jno Murrell

http://www.rootsweb.com/~brbwgw/1680CensusStPeterAll.htm
Barbados Census 1680 - St. Peter All Saints Parish
[included in the list was]
Tothill Esq.r Jn.o

http://www.rootsweb.com/~brbwgw/1680CensusStMichael.htm

Barbados Census 1680 - St. Michael Parish

Sources: The Original Lists of Persons of Quality; Emigrants; Religious Exiles, Political Rebels; Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years; Apprentices; Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed; and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700, Edited by John Camden Hotten. Public Records Office, State Papers, Colonial Office General, CO1/44/47/f141-379, State Papers, CO28/16/2/f100-375

Transcribed by Terri England, 2002.

[List includes only these with a name similar to Murrell]
Murrell Wm
Murrell Jno
 

Later Barbados records for Murrells can be found at http://members.aye.net/~carnett/barbados.htm

Although the names William, John, and Francis appear frequently, I see nothing that proves a connection to the early William Murrell and son John of Barbados and SC or the unplaced Murrells of SC. It is interesting that within 20 years after William Murrell and son John appeared on the census in 1680 - and seemed to be the only Murrells in Barbados - there were a number of Murrells showing up in theBarbados records. But still, we can't prove that these later Murrells were descendants of the early William Murrell.

SCHGM article [Vol. XXIX, January, 1928, No. 1, p. 2]
Henry A. M. Smith discusses the first  warrant like this:  William Murrell was among
the first settlers in the Province, having arrived about 1671.  The writer has found no record of the original grant to Murrell but according to the recitals of a later deed it was for 400 acres.  The grant to Murrell seems to have escheated for on 5 May 1704 three grants were issued covering this 400 acres: one to James Kennedy for 100 acres lying next West of the Yeamans grant [which the author earlier in the article described as bounding west on Mr. Will:Murell -- unfortunately a circular reference in this context] , one to Thomas Ferguson for 200 acres lying next West of Kennedy and one to Edward Curzon, Coram, or Corant for 100 acres next west of Ferguson.  Thomas Ferguson had other grants in the vicinity and was the ancestoer of Thomas Ferguson of the Council of Safety and other important posts in the Revolution of 1776.  From Thomas Ferguson the 200 acres passed to Bryan  Reily or Riley.  The transfer does not appear as on record but from the boundary given in 1718 in another instrument Bryan Riley then owned it.  On 2 February 1724 Bryan Reily conveyed to John Carmichael the plantation containing 200 acres part of the 400 acres formerly granted to Wm. Murril  . . . 
 

SC Archives records that seem to reflect this land:
 

Series Number:
S372001
Volume: 
00D0
Page: 
00181
Item:
02

Date: 1721-1730
Description: BEALY, BRYAN TO JOHN CARMICHAEL, DEED OF RELEASE FOR 200 ACRES OF LAND IN ST. JAMES GOOSECREEK.
Names Indexed: BEALY, BRYAN/CARMICHAEL, JOHN/
Locations: SAINT JAMES GOOSE CREEK PARISH/
Type: DEED OF RELEASE/
 
 

Series Number:
S111001
Volume: 
0001
Page: 
00090
Item:
00

Date: 1732/06/13
Description: WELSHINGTON, DANIEL, MEMORIAL FOR 200 ACRES IN ST.JAMES GOOSE CREEK PARISH, BERKLY COUNTY, SUMMARIZING A LAND GRANT OF 400 ACRES TO WILLIAM MURRILL DATED SEPT. 4, 1675 AND A DEED OF RELEASE DATED JULY 1, 1731 FROM CHARLES HILL.
Names Indexed: WELSHINGTON, DANIEL/MURRILL, WILLIAM/HILL, CHARLES/
Locations: SAINT JAMES GOOSE CREEK PARISH/BERKELEY COUNTY
Type: MEMORIAL/LAND GRANT/DEED OF RELEASE


Perhaps this is the Corant land.

Series: S372001 Volume - 00A0 Page - 00138 Item - 00 
Date: 1719-1721 
Description: CORANT, EDWARD TO RICHARD SPATT, LEASE AND RELEASE FOR 100 ACRES OF LAND IN BERKLY COUNTY. 
Series: S111001 Volume - 0002 Page - 00168 Item - 00 
Date: 1733/05/14 
Description: SPLATT, ANN, MEMORIAL FOR 100 ACRES ON GOOSE CREEK, BERKELEY COUNTY, EXHIBITING A DEED OF RELEASE DATED NOV. 18, 1720 FROM EDWARD CORANT TO RICHARD SPLATT.


The following comes from Gene Waddell's sources given in Indians of the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1562-1751.  Southern Studies Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia (also issued under the imprint of the Reprint Company, Publishers, Spartanburg), 1980.

http://www.cofc.edu/~waddelle/Sources13.pdf
1672 (28 Sept,; Salley & Olsberg 1973:  41) Warrant by John Yeamans to John Culpeper, Sur. Gen., for laying out land to William Morrill "to the Eastward of the lands allready layd out to Anthony Churne and John Hawkes and to the Westward of Wando River...."  Culpeper left the Province soon afterwards so the warrant was reissued 12 June 1675 (q. v.).  The location is uncertain; this grant may refer to the "Murrell" listed in 1682 as No. 10 on upper Goose Creek or as No. 14 on the inset of Gascoyne (but cf. Etiwan, 9 Feb. 1675).  Cf. also William Muraile," 1 Apr. 1678.

1675 (12 June; Salley & Olsberg 1973:  97-98)  Warrant for "Mr: Wiliam: Morrill a certain parcell of land lyeing to ye Eastward of ye lands of Anthony Churne, and John: Hawkes, and to the Westward of Wandoe river."  Cf. 28 Sept. 1672.

1678 (1 Apr.; Anon. 1675-1709:  69)  Sale of 50 a. by William Muraile to John Norton "bounding on the East to Wandoe River...," N on William Muraile, W on Tho. Hurt, & S on Capt. Biggs.  Ent. 26 Sept. 1678 by Andrew Percival.  Cf. 28 Jan. 1672 and 12 Jun. 1675 for Morrill, presumably the same.

http://www.cofc.edu/~waddelle/Sources7.pdf

1675 (9 Feb. 1674/5; Anon. 1675-1709; 11; cf. Anon. 1675-1705;  20 Grant to "Margaret lady Yeamans, Widdow" for 1070 a. already in her possession "Apon Yeamans his Creeke in Ittawan River, to ye Eastward of Mr. Jno. Comeing...to ye westward of Mr. Witt Murrills..." (entered by Andrew Percival).  This grant was on Goose Crk. (cf. Gascoyne 1682, numbers 11 & 12 in the table, and df. also Wando 28 Sept. 1672).
  

Burials at the Parish of St. Michaels, Barbados Island, 1678 and 1679
Source: "Hotten's Lists", pages 425-437
Murril, John (son of John & Elisabeth Murril) November 4, 1678

Since William Murrell and John Murrell were the only Murrells listed in Barbados from 1678 to 1680, it is probable that John and Elisabeth Murril, the parents of the burial record, were William's son John and his wife. It is possible that they were the same as John Murrill of Wandoe d ca 1706 and widow Elizabeth. If so, they must have had a second son also named John born about 20 years later - John Morrall of "Murrell's Inlet". It is also possible that they were the parents of another unknown son born early enough to be the father of John Murrill of Wandoe d ca 1706. And it's possible that there was no connection at all between John Murrill d 1706 and the Murrells from Barbados. At this time, we have no records to prove or disprove any of these possibilities.

The compilation of these records is the collective work of Elizabeth Girardeau, John Morrel, and Frances Cullom Harper. All three are Murrell or Morrall descendants - as well as Elizabeth's husband. Additions and corrections will be appreciated. With your help, perhaps more can be proven in the future.