Murray Fowler (“M.F.”), 1833-1900

by Brian Stevenson
last updated September, 2020

Murray Fowler was a Scottish coal miner who developed a strong interest in microscopy and slide-making during the 1870s. Not surprisingly, a large number of his known slides are thin-sections of fossils that he found in coal (Figures 1-3). Advertisements and surviving slides indicate that he also prepared and exchanged a wide variety of specimen types, including diatoms and botanical subjects (Figures 1 and 4). Fowler’s known slides exhibit a considerable degree of skill, with expertly-sectioned minerals and fine, colorful ringing (Figure 1).

Curiously, Fowler, his wife, and 10 children moved to western Pennsylvania, USA in 1882. It is not known whether continued to prepare microscope slides after that time.

Figure 1. Circa 1870s microscope slides that were prepared by Murray Fowler. The four slides on the left are signed with his name or initials. The second from the left slide is a thin section of coal from Slamannan, Scotland, where he lived and mined, and may have been prepared from coal that he himself mined. The other coal specimens came from elsewhere in the UK, and were presumably obtained in exchanges. The two slides on the right are unsigned, but their labels, handwriting, and ringing are very similar to Fowler’s signed slides. Exchange advertisements indicate that Fowler was interested in non-fossil specimens such as these (see Figure 4).

Figure 2. Cross section of a tooth of Pleurocanthus laevissimus (an extinct shark, now Xenacanthus laevissimus), from a coal measure mined in Slamannan (see Figure 1). Photographed with a 10x objective lens, transmitted light, and a C-mounted digital SLR camera.

Figure 3. Cross section of a “rootlet of Stigmaria” (a name for such structures of Carboniferous lycopsid trees), from a coal measure that was mined in Dudley, England (see Figure 1). Photographed with a 3.5x objective lens, transmitted light, and a C-mounted digital SLR camera.

Murray Fowler was born on October 27, 1833, in Inveresk, Midlothian, son of William and Jane Coventry Fowler. Some records indicate that Murray may have had a middle name “Coventry”.

Murray married Margaret McGregor on April 2, 1855, in Beath, Fifeshire. Census and immigration records suggest that they had at least 10 surviving children.

The 1861 and 1871 censuses show the Fowlers living in Bo’ness (Borrowstounness), West Lothian. Murray was working as an “iron stone miner”.

The earliest known record of Murray Fowler’s interest in microscopy is an 1875 exchange advertisement that he published in Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip (Figure 4). He was then living in Slamannan, Stirlingshire. Exchange offers appeared with some regularity through 1880. The next census, conducted in 1881, described him as a “coal miner”.

Murray, Margaret and 10 children (aged 1 to 19) arrived in New York City on July 12, 1882, aboard the “Circassia” (Figure 5). Murray’s occupation was listed as “photographer”.

Murray died in 1900, and was buried in West Newton, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh). The 1900 US census listed Margaret as living with son Murray Jr. in nearby Sewickley, Pennsylvania. Murray Jr. then worked as a “coal miner”, raising the possibility that his father had also been a coal miner in Pennsylvania.

Figure 4. Exchange offers from Murray Fowler that were published in “Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip”. His first known offer was published in 1875, marking the probable beginning of his microscopical interests.

Figure 5. Immigration record of Murray Fowler and his family upon their entry into the USA on July 12, 1882. His occupation was listed as "photographer", suggesting that he had experience in that technology and that he intended to pursue it as a profession in his new homeland. Later censuses and death records confirm that this immigration record was indeed for our coal miner / microscopist. The 1900 census listed son Murray Jr. as "coal miner", indicating that at least some of the family continued with that occupation.

Resources

Gravestone information of Murray Fowler (1900) accessed through https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107844125/murray-fowler

Hardwicke's Science-Gossip (1874) Exchange offers (none from Murray Fowler), Vol. 10

Hardwicke's Science-Gossip (1875) Exchange offers from Murray Fowler), Vol. 11, pages 240 and 284

Hardwicke's Science-Gossip (1876) Exchange offers from Murray Fowler), Vol. 12, pages 72, 120, 168, 192, 240, and 284

Hardwicke's Science-Gossip (1878) Exchange offers from Murray Fowler), Vol. 14, pages 72 and 216

Hardwicke's Science-Gossip (1879) Exchange offers from Murray Fowler), Vol. 15, pages 48 and 216

Hardwicke's Science-Gossip (1880) Exchange offer from Murray Fowler), Vol. 16, page 240

Immigration record of Murray Fowler and family (1882) accessed through ancestry.com

Marriage record of Murray Fowler and Margaret McGregor (1855) accessed through ancestry.com

Scotland census records, accessed through ancestry.com

USA census records, accessed through ancestry.com