Andreas Murray

Who was Andreas Murray?

Andreas Murray was a German-born Swedish priest, founder of the Swedish Murray family.

Andreas Murray was born in Memel in East Prussia, on 9 August 1695. The name is common in the Scottish county of Moray, and is held by the ancient noble Scottish family of Murray, but no genealogical connection to the noble family has been found. He studied in Königsberg in 1710 and in Jena in 1715, and was ordained in 1717. In the following year he traveled to Hamburg and England. He became an associate professor in Kiel and a preacher in Haddebreg in Holstein. In 1736 he was sent to Sweden as assistant pastor at the German Church in Stockholm, and in 1739 was made first pastor of the same church. In 1752 he became a Doctor of Theology in Uppsala.

Andreas Murray died in 1771. He was praised as a thorough theologian and as a particularly excellent preacher.

Andreas Murray's son by his first marriage, Johann Philipp Murray, became a professor of History at the University of Göttingen. From his second marriage, Johann Andreas Murray became a professor and Gustaf Murray became a Bishop and was ennobled in 1810. His youngest son was Adolph Murray. Adolf was a pupil of Carl Linnaeus. He became Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at Uppsala University.