Samuel John MURRAY
The Mechanical Genius
Following is the Wikipedia page for Samuel. The reference citations are scarce. I found that most of this article was copied from The Paper Box Maker and American Bookbinder, Volumes 23-24.
I have now made contact with Samuel's great-grandson who has recently published a book on the family. I have added, in red, the differences I have now learned........
Samuel J. Murray (March 7, 1851 – August 23, 1915) was a New York printer's apprentice of humble origin, who rose to become an inventor who revolutionized the printing business, and one of the most successful businessmen of his time. At the time of his death at age sixty-five, Murray was vice president and treasurer of the United States Playing Card Company, and a director of the W. B. Oglesby Paper Company of Middletown, Ohio. His block of stock in the United States Playing Card Company was said to be worth $1,000,000. (That is equal to $30 million in 2023. But, I found that when his Will was probated, it stated his estate was only worth 1/10th of this amount.)
Called "a mechanical genius, the marvel and admiration of the technical and inventive world," Murray made his mark by creating and installing manufacturing equipment. While with the National Card Company he patented an automatic punch machine which "increased the output of cards fourfold" and reduced labor costs by sixty-six percent. With the automatic punch machine, great sheets of paper were fed into the machine and came out as complete packs of playing cards, printed in four colors.
Samuel J. Murray was born in New York City on March 7, 1851. His father (An English born dock worker and NYC Irish gang member) died when he was 12 years old. (Killed during the Draft Riots) To help support his mother, two younger sisters, Catherine and Elizabeth, and younger brother, William, (There was an older brother Thomas that died earlier) Murray found a job after school as a newsie delivering newspapers. (Possibly, but between age 18 and 21 he was a waiter.)His mother died when he was thirteen, leaving him to raise his younger siblings on his own. (This is not true. She lived until 1904.)
He was hired as a printer's devil by Victor Eugene Mojet (The name is spelled Mauger. It is French and is pronounced MOH-zhay) who was so impressed with the young Murray, that he paid for him to go to England to learn the playing card printing business at the Goodall plant in London. (Not true. Goodall sent a man over to train Samuel. Before that Samuel was a printer's assistant at the New York Herald newspaper according to an obituary. This could have been in 1874/75)
After his attempt to start a small playing card plant in Montreal, Canada was thwarted by a money panic, Murray was then recruited by Victor Mauger. (The Money Panic was in 1873. In 1875 he is listed in the NYC Directory as a Printer. He married in NYC in 1877. It is true he was in Montreal, but that was because Mauger sent him there for a job.)
In 1881 he was hired by Colonel Robert J. Morgan of the Russell & Morgan Company, to assist in the manufacture of playing cards at their plant in Cincinnati. (He had already been working for him in NYC) Here, Murray thrived, and with him, the fortunes of Russell & Morgan. (Mauger claims to have suggested to Morgan to print playing cards. Morgan also hired August Crusius from Mauger)
The advent of Mr. Murray marked the advancement of the concern to the first rank as a playing card manufacturing establishment. He not only made the plant highly efficient, but when he found that any device was needed he evolved it himself and astounded his company by his ability to meet any emergency no matter how difficult.
Murray was said to have had a falling out with Russell & Morgan and in 1888 went off on his own to form the National Playing Card Company in Indianapolis – a move that Russell & Morgan came to regret. According to one source, as a competitor, Murray "was a serious menace to the Russell & Morgan Company and as a matter of self preservation, the latter bought him out, consolidating the Indianapolis concern with the United States Playing Card Company."
(If R&M was so afraid why did they invest in 20% of NCC when it started? Plus Murray and Crusius worked for R&M for 2 more years after they incorporated NCC and started shipping cards from the NCC factory in Indianapolis.)
As a concession, Murray was given a "block of stock in the merger" and "unrestricted charge of the manufacture of playing cards." After this, he was steadfast in his loyalty to the United States Playing Card Company, even turning down an offer of $2 million by a big printing house in New York.
Murray is credited with several inventions, including the re-usable paper box (Tuck Box), a machine for cutting cardboard, and a streamlined process for printing and packaging playing cards.
Samuel named his first son Victor Eugene apparently after Mauger.
Samuel J. Murray has a vault in the St. Joseph New Cemetery located in the Price Hill section of Cincinnati, Ohio. His obituary stated he was being buried there, but he is not. He is buried in the family plot in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. This cemetery is about a mile west of the National Playing Card factory site.
I have now made contact with Samuel's great-grandson who has recently published a book on the family. I have added, in red, the differences I have now learned........
Samuel J. Murray (March 7, 1851 – August 23, 1915) was a New York printer's apprentice of humble origin, who rose to become an inventor who revolutionized the printing business, and one of the most successful businessmen of his time. At the time of his death at age sixty-five, Murray was vice president and treasurer of the United States Playing Card Company, and a director of the W. B. Oglesby Paper Company of Middletown, Ohio. His block of stock in the United States Playing Card Company was said to be worth $1,000,000. (That is equal to $30 million in 2023. But, I found that when his Will was probated, it stated his estate was only worth 1/10th of this amount.)
Called "a mechanical genius, the marvel and admiration of the technical and inventive world," Murray made his mark by creating and installing manufacturing equipment. While with the National Card Company he patented an automatic punch machine which "increased the output of cards fourfold" and reduced labor costs by sixty-six percent. With the automatic punch machine, great sheets of paper were fed into the machine and came out as complete packs of playing cards, printed in four colors.
Samuel J. Murray was born in New York City on March 7, 1851. His father (An English born dock worker and NYC Irish gang member) died when he was 12 years old. (Killed during the Draft Riots) To help support his mother, two younger sisters, Catherine and Elizabeth, and younger brother, William, (There was an older brother Thomas that died earlier) Murray found a job after school as a newsie delivering newspapers. (Possibly, but between age 18 and 21 he was a waiter.)His mother died when he was thirteen, leaving him to raise his younger siblings on his own. (This is not true. She lived until 1904.)
He was hired as a printer's devil by Victor Eugene Mojet (The name is spelled Mauger. It is French and is pronounced MOH-zhay) who was so impressed with the young Murray, that he paid for him to go to England to learn the playing card printing business at the Goodall plant in London. (Not true. Goodall sent a man over to train Samuel. Before that Samuel was a printer's assistant at the New York Herald newspaper according to an obituary. This could have been in 1874/75)
After his attempt to start a small playing card plant in Montreal, Canada was thwarted by a money panic, Murray was then recruited by Victor Mauger. (The Money Panic was in 1873. In 1875 he is listed in the NYC Directory as a Printer. He married in NYC in 1877. It is true he was in Montreal, but that was because Mauger sent him there for a job.)
In 1881 he was hired by Colonel Robert J. Morgan of the Russell & Morgan Company, to assist in the manufacture of playing cards at their plant in Cincinnati. (He had already been working for him in NYC) Here, Murray thrived, and with him, the fortunes of Russell & Morgan. (Mauger claims to have suggested to Morgan to print playing cards. Morgan also hired August Crusius from Mauger)
The advent of Mr. Murray marked the advancement of the concern to the first rank as a playing card manufacturing establishment. He not only made the plant highly efficient, but when he found that any device was needed he evolved it himself and astounded his company by his ability to meet any emergency no matter how difficult.
Murray was said to have had a falling out with Russell & Morgan and in 1888 went off on his own to form the National Playing Card Company in Indianapolis – a move that Russell & Morgan came to regret. According to one source, as a competitor, Murray "was a serious menace to the Russell & Morgan Company and as a matter of self preservation, the latter bought him out, consolidating the Indianapolis concern with the United States Playing Card Company."
(If R&M was so afraid why did they invest in 20% of NCC when it started? Plus Murray and Crusius worked for R&M for 2 more years after they incorporated NCC and started shipping cards from the NCC factory in Indianapolis.)
As a concession, Murray was given a "block of stock in the merger" and "unrestricted charge of the manufacture of playing cards." After this, he was steadfast in his loyalty to the United States Playing Card Company, even turning down an offer of $2 million by a big printing house in New York.
Murray is credited with several inventions, including the re-usable paper box (Tuck Box), a machine for cutting cardboard, and a streamlined process for printing and packaging playing cards.
Samuel named his first son Victor Eugene apparently after Mauger.
Samuel J. Murray has a vault in the St. Joseph New Cemetery located in the Price Hill section of Cincinnati, Ohio. His obituary stated he was being buried there, but he is not. He is buried in the family plot in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. This cemetery is about a mile west of the National Playing Card factory site.