John Murray Murdoch

John Murray Murdoch was born on 28 December 1820, in Drakemyre, Ayrshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, his father, James Murdoch II, was 34 and his mother, Mary Murray, was 36.

He married Ann Steele on 25 February 1848, in Kirkconnel, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 9 daughters. He lived in Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland, United Kingdom in 1851 and Provo, Utah, Utah, United States in 1860. He died on 6 May 1910, in Heber City, Wasatch, Utah, United States, at the age of 89, and was buried in Heber City Cemetery, Heber City, Wasatch, Utah, United States.

John Murray Murdoch was called by Franklin D Richards, President of the British Mission as one of two sheepherders and their dogs to go to Utah and herd sheep for President Brigham Young. After immigrating and being an original Heber Fort Family in 1860 he organized a cooperative sheep herd and cared for the sheep during the summer months himself. This was the beginning of the sheep industry in Heber Valley. His sheep ranch was located 6 miles north of present-day Heber.