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Name: MURRAY, James Thomas

image of individualimage of individual

Birth Date: 1895

Death Date: 6 Dec 1940 Kima

First Date: 1920

Profession: Missionary (Salvation Army)

Area: Kakamega

Married: 1925 Ruth Fisher b. 1896, d. 9 Jan 1936 Kaimosi

Book Reference: Red 31, Hut

General Information:

Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Nyanza Voters List
Red 31 has J. Murray, Bunyore Mission Station via Kisumu,
Hut the same
Ancestry Passenger list London-Mombasa 4 Aug 1921 - belonged to Salvation Army
https://au-archives.hykucommons.org/downloads/f86da3cc-d986-4b7e-84cf-ee80c798447d?locale=en The Beginning of Church of God Missions in Kenya and the Early Missionaries who Served at Ingotse MissionJames T. Murray, a young man of Scotch – English parentage, came to Kenya Colony in 1920, with the first pioneer members of the Salvation Army. He served in Nairobi with the rank of captain. He came in contact with a Church of God missionary in Mombasa, and later visited the Kima mission where he met Ruth Fisher. In 1925, the couple recited their marriage vows in the presence of Henry Kramer. Having found that he agreed with the theology of the unity of believers taught by the Church of God, James left the Salvation Army and joined the missionary efforts in Bunyore . The Murrays were gifted teachers, and with the help of Mabel Baker, they started the Boys’ School at Kima, and both taught there. Ruth became a master printer, using a foot-operated hand printing press, to produce lessons and books for the school and Sunday School materials.
After James Murray and Ruth Fisher were married in 1925, they served together at Kima, teaching in the Boys’ School they had helped establish. They also educated the children of the Kima missionary families, the Ludwigs and the Kramers with the Bailey children at Ingotse. Ruth continued running the printing press, turning out a great quantity of literature and school lessons. Ruth was a very talented, creative woman and taught tailoring to the boys in the Boys’ School, as well as sewing to the women in the villages. While the Murrays lived at Kima, all three of their infant children died and were buried in the small cemetery on the mission. They persevered until 1932, when it was possible for them to go on furlough. Four months were spent in Scotland where Ruth met and got acquainted with her husband’s relatives. They traveled to the United States in January 1933 and spent the time travelling to many churches, speaking about their plans for working at the new station at Kisa, twenty two miles north of Kima. The next year they returned to the field, fully expecting to take over the new mission station in Kisa, otherwise known as Mwihila.
An unexpected change in staffing occurred when William and Lilly Bailey retired, sending the Murrays instead to the north station, Ingotse, in 1934. The villagers living in Butsotso were less advanced than the people in Bunyore or Kisa. James taught the young boys in the little mission school, while Ruth continued Mrs. Bailey’s work of caring for the sick who came to the mission for help. A large part of their time was taken up in evangelistic tours, traveling through the bush to reach people in the widely scattered villages, teaching the people about the Savior, Jesus Christ, and how to live the Christian life. It was on one of these camping trips away from the mission, that Ruth became sick with malaria. She took medicine to treat this sickness, but the water she drank was contaminated and she became very ill with typhoid fever. She died a few weeks later on January 9, 1936, at Kaimosi, and was buried next to the graves of her children at Kima mission.
After his wife’s death, James Murray carried on the work at Ingotse alone. He housed, fed and taught twenty boys in the little school on the mission. He cared for the sick, preached in the church and continued with the evangelistic outreach. In 1937, he built the brick bell tower in front of the Ingotse church building, and installed a large bell in it to call the people to church services and the children to school. Near the end of the 1940 school year, James displayed an exhibit from the Ingotse primary school at the annual school show, winning first place. Later that night he became extremely ill with blackwater fever, a pernicious form of malaria. He died on December 6, 1940, and was buried next to his family at the Kima mission.

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