{"id":4383,"date":"2013-10-20T19:27:05","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T02:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/blog\/?p=4383"},"modified":"2013-10-20T20:22:13","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T03:22:13","slug":"james-b-mcmurry-land-baron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/blog\/james-b-mcmurry-land-baron\/","title":{"rendered":"James B. McMurry, land baron?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wanted to see if any other members of the McMurry family made the move from Kentucky to Indiana in 1830\u20131831, but what I discovered is that James Benton McMurry was quite the land baron. I’m still looking, but so far I’ve found 17 parcels of land that he purchased, for a total of 2,153.67 acres (3.4 square miles). That may not seem like a big number, but he owned more land than two countries (4.3 times as much as Monaco<\/a> and 19.6 times as much as Vatican City<\/a>)\u2014crickey! And I don’t think I’ve found all of his land yet\u2014watch out Nauru<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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Here’s the list of his land purchases that I’ve found so far (note that I’ve only examined the records for the purchase of land from the federal government; there could be many, many more purchases to be found once I comb through the indexes to private sales):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Name<\/td>\nDate<\/td>\nCounty<\/td>\nTownship<\/td>\nRange<\/td>\nSec.<\/td>\nAcres<\/td>\nCert.#<\/td>\nDocument<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nPutnam<\/td>\n16-N<\/td>\n3-W<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n191.67<\/td>\n11,575<\/td>\n\"11575<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nPutnam<\/td>\n16-N<\/td>\n3-W<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n382.33<\/td>\n11,576<\/td>\n\"11576<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nMontgomery<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n3-W<\/td>\n33<\/td>\n80<\/td>\n11,581<\/td>\n\"11581<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nMontgomery<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n3-W<\/td>\n33<\/td>\n160<\/td>\n11,582<\/td>\n\"11582<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nHendricks<\/td>\n16-N<\/td>\n2-W<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n98.08<\/td>\n11,583<\/td>\n\"11583<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nHendricks<\/td>\n16-N<\/td>\n2-W<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n98.67<\/td>\n11,584<\/td>\n\"11584<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nHendricks<\/td>\n16-N<\/td>\n2-W<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n80<\/td>\n11,585<\/td>\n\"11585<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nPutnam<\/td>\n16-N<\/td>\n4-W<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n93.03<\/td>\n11,876<\/td>\n\"11876<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nMontgomery<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n3-W<\/td>\n22<\/td>\n160<\/td>\n12,025<\/td>\n\"12025<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nMontgomery<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n3-W<\/td>\n22<\/td>\n80<\/td>\n12,026<\/td>\n\"12026<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nPutnam<\/td>\n16-N<\/td>\n4-W<\/td>\n14<\/td>\n160<\/td>\n12,027<\/td>\n\"12027<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nPutnam<\/td>\n16-N<\/td>\n4-W<\/td>\n14<\/td>\n80<\/td>\n12028<\/td>\n\"12028<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n18 Mar 1837<\/td>\nHendricks<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n2-W<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n169.89<\/td>\n23,124<\/td>\n\"23124<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n18 Mar 1837<\/td>\nHendricks<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n2-W<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n80<\/td>\n23,125<\/td>\n\"23125<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n18 Mar 1837<\/td>\nHendricks<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n2-W<\/td>\n18<\/td>\n80<\/td>\n23,126<\/td>\n\"23126<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James McMurry<\/td>\n18 Mar 1837<\/td>\nHendricks<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n2-W<\/td>\n17<\/td>\n160<\/td>\n23,127<\/td>\n\"23127<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The above parcels are just those that James purchased himself. His half-brother Hisner McMurry also purchased two parcels very close to James’ land:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Name<\/td>\nDate<\/td>\nCounty<\/td>\nTownship<\/td>\nRange<\/td>\nSec.<\/td>\nAcres<\/td>\nCert.#<\/td>\nDocument<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n
Hisner McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nMontgomery<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n3-W<\/td>\n34<\/td>\n80<\/td>\n11,577<\/td>\n\"11577<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hisner McMurry<\/td>\n3 Jan 1831<\/td>\nMontgomery<\/td>\n17-N<\/td>\n3-W<\/td>\n34<\/td>\n160<\/td>\n11,578<\/td>\n\"11578<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Together, James and Hisner owned 2,313.67 acres of land in the area around where Montgomery, Putnam, and Hendricks counties abut.<\/p>\n

When mapped, the distribution of McMurry land in central Indiana (well, at least the parcels I’ve found so far) looks like this:<\/p>\n

\"Overview<\/a><\/p>\n