The Murrays
During the 1870's and 1880's, enterprising mixed-blood Indians and intermarried
whites carved extensive ranches from Indian lands in the Chickasaw Nation. Two
of these pioneers - Frank and Alzira Murray - constructed a massive masnion in the
center of their empire. The Lindsay Historical society is operating this mansion as
a physical legacy of those enterprising men and women.
In the 1850's, young Frank Murray arrived in New Orleans. Although from a prominent
family in Ireland, he entered the new land penniless. He drifted for a while, and finally
arrived in Indian territory. While on that frontier he met and married Alzira McCaughey-Powell.
Alzira was a Choctaw who had been 16 years old when she joined her tribe in
Indian Territory. In 1868 she married Captain William Powell. They had a daughter, Anita,
born in 1869. Captain Powell died two months later. In 1871, Alzira met and married the
ambitious Frank Murray. In 1888, Anita married Lewis Lindsay.
The young couple and Anita moved to Pauls Valley on the western edge of the Chickasaw Nation,
and from there they relocated in Erin Springs, about two miles south of Lindsay.
Situated near the Washita River, their four room cabin was also on the stage line
between Caddo and Forth Sill, a busy road which carried freight and passengers
from the rail station to the fort. Their nearest neighbors were reportedly 25 miles distant.
Email: mlmansion1879@yahoo.com
