Monroe was born on a farm near Cameron, Milam County, Texas. He was the next to the youngest of seven girls and three boys. The first five children were born near Westville, Mississippi, in Simpson County, and the remaining five were born near Cameron. As we mentioned earlier, one of the ten children, Willis had died in Mississippi when he was about eleven years old; and two infant daughters had died, Catherine in Mississippi, and Angelina in Texas.

    Let Monroe relate the story of his childhood reminisces in his own words, typed in about 1955:

    My father and mother, Andrew Jackson Murray and Salina McFarland Murray, came to Texas and settled at Houston County near the Trinity River and near Crockett, in the year 1868. With them on this trip were their three little girls, LaVicia, Drew and Kate, and possibly two little boys Andrew and Willis. These little boys died at an early age and I do not know if they died in Mississippi or after the family came to Texas. I am inclined to believe it was after they came to Texas as the place where they settled was very low, damp and there was a great deal of illness in the family due to the climate.

   Coming to Texas at this same time were about forty families from Mississippi and they scattered over a large area. My father's brothers came to Texas either at this time or shortly before or after. They were John Murray and Matt Murray. John's son, John, had previously settled at Fort McCavitt and was a Texas Ranger and there he was joined by his father. John Sr. later went to Robert Lee, Texas, where his son Lock, was sheriff for several years. He had another son, William Murray, who was about eight years old when they came to Texas from Mississippi. Several years ago I noticed an article in the Forth Worth Star Telegram which gave an account of this man who had come to Texas in 1868 with his father, John Murray, and had been a frontier lawman for many years. I wrote him and his daughter answered that he was very old but that he remembered coming to Texas with my Father.

   Matt Murray settled in Milam County with his family. They lived near, probably five miles away, Cameron, Texas. (?) His children included James Monroe, for whom I was named; Katie, who married a Teebow (spelling not certain); Mary who married John Cauley; Lela who married Tom Rhoads and later moved to Abilene, Texas; Jeff who later settled at Moody, Texas, where he died and was buried. Among Matt's grandchildren Jeff had children as follows: Monroe, another son whose name I can't recall, Florence, Katie and Moline. Lela Murray's son lived in Abilene the last time I heard from them. His name was Rhoads. Mrs. Teebow had a daughter about my age named Katie.

   Keeping house for Uncle Matt in Milam County when I was a child was Aunt Tishie the widow of Willis Murray, brother of my father. I know that Uncle Willis had died but I do not know if he died in Mississippi or after they came to Texas. She had three children, Ada who married a man named Kenneth who was a school teacher and visited us with their daughter in the thirties; Tom, who lived at Thorndale the last time I heard about him; and another daughter who married a man named Charley Christian. In recent years I have come to know "Red" Roark whose mother was Charlie Christian's daughter. He lived in Temple, Texas, and his father lives in Milam County. "Red" now is opening a cemetery just west of Temple on the highway out of Gatesville. Old man Johnny White, who lives out on Cow House at this time came to Uncle Matt's house when I was about 6 months old, and he knows more about this family than anyone else I have known. Uncle Matt was a man who always welcomed all the kinfolk’s. I always felt that he was very, very partial to me. Many times I visited him with my father when I was a little boy. Daddy and I went there while mother visited about five miles away with my sister Kate, whose husband John Edwards, my Daddy did not like. When we got ready to go home he always called his many hogs out of the woods, and let me pick the pig I wanted which was always a "red one".

   Another brother of my father's was Archie Murray who came to Texas in about 1880. He was a younger brother and I think a half brother. He has married Drew McFarland who was a sister of my mother. He was a Baptist preacher but was in bad health and did not live long after he came to Texas, as he had cancer. The family was in very poor financial condition and my Daddy always tried to help them. They had first come to Saledo and then moved near us, on a farm which Daddy helped them run. Their children included Howard, Norvel, Hugh, Annie and Mollie. Annie, the eldest married Hugh Berry and they moved out to Fisher County. Later Aunt Drew took the children out to Fisher County to join them. The always had a very hard time. Howard told me in later years that as they passed through Gatesville, there came up a snow storm and they spent several days west of Gatesville at the Summers home before starting on their long journey to Fisher County again. When they got to Fisher County, they homesteaded land and lived in a dug out house and the boys worked on various ranches. This was in about _____. In about 1946 I visited with Hugh who was living near Stephenville at that time. In about 1914 I visited with Norvel and his wife in Hermalee, Texas. Howard visited me here at Gatesville in about 1942. He was living in California with his daughter at that time.

   There was another relative who came to Texas but we were always told to stay from that house. When we went we had to slip off. It was very fascinating because Uncle Cebe Robinson had tall tales to tell. There were also a bunch of chicken and hound dogs, trading horses and a race pony or two. His wife was a sister (Aunt Effie) to my mother who had married against her folks' will. In later years I visited a son out in west Texas and fount the same circumstances that always surrounded Uncle Cebe.

   My Daddy told us stories about his old home in Mississippi. His father was James F. Murray who was a Missionary Baptist preacher and was married to Charity Walker, my grandmother. He had been married once before and later married again after my grandmother died. There were either twenty or twenty-one children in the family of James F. Murray; however, there were three different mothers. It seems that he owned a plantation and slaves which were freed following the Civil War. My Daddy fought in the Civil War along with his brothers. His old home was in Newton County, Mississippi, on the Pearl River.

   My mother had come from Simpson County in Mississippi. Her mother was a Baskin before marrying a McFarland. Her parents died when she was a small child. There were three girls and a boy in that family, and they were reared by relatives. Old Uncle Huland McFarland had reared them in strict Presbyterian fashion. I always understood that my mother's people were Scottish and my Daddy's people were Irish. Her brother was Howard and her sisters were Drew who married Archie Murray, Effie, and Mary who married a Mr. Martin. These Martins lived around Austin many years ago. There was a boy named Johnny Martin.

   While living in Houston County after coming first to Texas, Cora was born to my parents. After their home burned they moved to Milam County in about 1870. The story goes that during the fire the baby was left on a pallet out in front of the house and her face was badly blistered.

   In Milam County three children were born, Lemuel Carroll, Annie Lo who died after a year or two, and I, Monroe Wilson. Their home was near Cameron.

   While they were living in Milam County Vica married John Davis who was killed when a horse pitched him. Joe Davis and Johnnie Mae were their children. Also, I think at that time Kate was married to John Edwards.

   After we moved to Bell County in 1878, Belle was born in 1880. While we were in Bell County, we met with the Hale children who were orphaned coming from Brenham. They were living with their relative, Old Uncle Henry Hale, one of our neighbors. He was the man whom my father followed to Jones County in West Texas. La Vicia married Matt Hale, Cora married Newt Hale and Drew married John Hale. Matt and John had a double wedding on the same day. In the Hale family there were also Lou who married Ki__y and lived in Abilene later. Another girl, Gabe, married Clint Herring who became an early day doctor of that county. He lived at Barclay and while we were there the Santa Fe railroad came through there and Temple was organized. My father was in Temple when it was organized and the railroad came through there. Lem, Cora and Newt Halt attended Baylor University during these days. (About 1867 or 1868). In the winter of 1889 my father, Lem and I went to Jones County and built a two story house in what __ Tuxedo.

   In the winter of 1889 my father bought raw land in Jones County at a place now known as Tuxedo. There later he, Lem and I went and built a two-story home and took the cattle. In the fall of 1890 the whole family went there. Going with us were the three Hale families. Kate and John Edwards had moved to Calahan County the year before. We stayed there five years and never made anything. Because of an unusual drought we lost everything we had. In 1895 we bundled out things and moved to Central Texas and Gatesville.