(I) William Murfree, founder of the family in North Carolina, was born in 1730, and was a descendant of English ancestors. On August 21, 1775, he represented Hertford County at the Hillsboro convention, and on November 12, 1776, was a delegate to the Provincial Congress which met at Halifax and framed the constitution of North Carolina. It is claimed by competent authorities that Mr. Murfree's draft of the constitution was the one finally adopted. His entrance into public life was made during the colonial period when he represented Northampton County in the Colonial Assembly of 1758-59. In 1762, when Hertford County was formed from portions of three other counties, he was one of the two first members of the General Assembly from the new county. From 1766 to 1770 he served as the second colonial high sheriff of Hertford County. On January 6, 1787, the General Assembly ratified "an act for establishing a town on the lands of William Murfree on Meherrin river in the county of Hertford * * * and the town shall be called Murfreesborough." Mr. Murfree donated a tract of ninety-seven acres for the town site, erecting thereon a stone house which is still standing. He married Mary Moore, of Northampton County, North Carolina, and their children were: Hardy, mentioned below; James; William; Sarah; Patty; Betty, and Nancy. Mr. Murfree died during the War of the Revolution. He was a man of high character and much influence and proved himself a zealous patriot.

(II) Hardy, son of William and Mary (Moore) Murfree, was born in 1752, in Hertford county, and entered the Continental army as captain of the Second North Carolina Regiment, being subsequently promoted to the rank of major and later to that of colonel, for gallant service. He participated in the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, Stony Point, King's Mountain and others. At Stony Point he was chosen by General Wayne to lead the assault with his North Carolina patriots, and his heroic services on this occasion were most appreciatively mentioned in letters written by his commander. His native State presented him with a sword, which is preserved in the State Historical Society of Tennessee. He received also a large grant of land in that State, upon which was afterward built the town of Murfreesborough, now a thriving city. For ten years after the war he served as commissioner of confiscated property in the Edenton district, and in 1784 was appointed one of the commissioners of Albemarle Sound. In 1789 he was a member of the convention called to consider whether North Carolina would join the Union. In 1790 he owned the largest number of slaves of any man in the county, employing them in subduing the forests, cultivating the soil and making tar, pitch and turpentine. In 1807 he settled on the lands received from the government, at Murfree's Fork of West Harpeth River, near the town of Franklin, Tennessee. Colonel Murfree married, February 17, 1780, Sally Brickell, and they were the parents of a son, William Hardy, mentioned below. In 1809 Colonel Murfree died on his estate in Tennessee, where he was buried with the beautiful Masonic ritual, he having been a distinguished member of the order. He is said to have been one of the handsomest men of his day and the last survivor who commanded a regiment in the Revolutionary war.

(Ill) William Hardy, son of Hardy and Sally (Brickell) Murfree, was born October 2, 1781, in Hertford county, North Carolina, graduated at the State University, and studied law at Edenton. After obtaining his license he returned to his native town of Murfreesborough, North Carolina, and entered at once upon the practice of his profession. He soon rose into prominence and acquired great personal popularity. From 1805 to 1812 he was county attorney of Hertford county. In 1805 he represented the county in the House of Assembly, in 1812 was again a member of the House, and from 1813 to 1817 was a Congressional representative of the Edenton district. During his term he defended with ability President Madison's policy in the war with Great Britain. He declined a third election. In addition to his legal and political duties Mr. Murfree had the care of his vast estates, involving all the responsibilities of a wealthy Southern planter of a century ago, and in 1823 he removed to Tennessee to care for his large inherited interests in that State. Mr. Murfree married, February 17, 1808, Elizabeth Maney, and their children were: William L.; Sally Brickell, married David Dickenson, for many years member of Congress from Tennessee; and Elizabeth Maney, mentioned below. William L. Murfree was a graduate of the University of Nashville, an able writer, a profound scholar and lawyer and the author of several standard legal works. His daughter, Mary Noailles Murfree, is the "Charles Egbert Craddock" of fiction. William Hardy Murfree died in Nashville, January 19, 1827, surviving his wife but six months, she having passed away July 13, 1826, near Franklin, Tennessee.
(Source: Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography by John Woolf Jordan, Thomas Lynch Montgomery, Ernest Spofford, Frederic Antes Godcharies – 1914, Pages, 937 – 938)