John Murray Murdoch was born in Scotland and began herding sheep at the age of 11. In December 1851, responding to the call for skilled sheep herders in Utah, John, his wife Ann Steele, and their two children traveled from Scotland to Liverpool by steamship and then crossed the Atlantic. During the voyage, their daughter Elizabeth and son James both died, but John and Ann continued on, arriving in the Provo Valley, now Heber, in the spring of 1860 and making their home within Heber Fort. John was known for honesty, industriousness, and devotion to his family. He served as a high priest for 48 years and was regarded as a man of unwavering faith and strength even in affliction and poverty. He fathered 22 children, and his family grew to include 101 grandchildren and 65 great-grandchildren.