Buckley, Menzie and McMurray Families - Niagara Falls, Ontario ...

Part Two – MENZIE & McMURRAY FAMILIES
William John (Will) and Grace McMurray
If the Buckleys were active and prominent in the community, the McMurrays and Menzies were
quiet and self-effacing. The McMurray and Menzie monuments significantly stand close together
and not far from the Buckley Monument in Section A of Fairview, and it was the union of these
two families that linked them to the Buckleys.
William, the first McMurray his descendents know of, arrived in the Town of Elgin earlier than
the Buckleys and somewhere about the same time as the Menzies and the Great Western
Railway. Family lore suggests he came from County Cavan in Ireland and worked as a
conductor. He met and married Eliza in September 1859 in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
Her last name is not recorded on the monument at Fairview as is too often the case with wives,
and the early records of St. Andrew’s in its transitional period to a United Church in 1925 fell
into disorder. One family member believes it was King. Other members
of his family settled in Detroit and Kenosha in the United States from the
records of old photo albums.
Eliza King
William and Eliza lived on
Bridge Street not far from
the new Clifton Railway
Station. They had four
children, three of whom
lived into adulthood.
Andrew and Louise Menzie
The son William John was best known in the town
and later city of Niagara Falls. He graduated from
the Belleville Business College and some time
after his return opened a Hardware store with Mr.
Cole. The store was located on Park Street and by chance behind Buckley’s Albion Hotel. In the
photo Mr. Cole is on the right and Mr. McMurray behind the stove. Mr. Carter’s delivery wagon
stands ready in the shade.