Samuel J. Murray

Samuel J. Murray (March 7, 1851 – August 23, 1915) was a New York printer's apprentice, inventor, and businessman. 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.

Called "a mechanical genius, the marvel and admiration of the technical and inventive world", Murray made his mark on the United States Playing Card Company by creating and installing manufacturing equipment, such as 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.

Early life Murray was born in New York City on March7, 1851. He grew up in Brooklyn and was childhood friends with Timothy Sullivan who introduced him to John F. Ahearn, whose daughter would eventually marry his son William. Murray's father died in the Draft riots when he was 12 years old. To help support his mother, two younger sisters, Catherine and Elizabeth, and younger brother, William, Murray found a job after school as a newsie delivering newspapers. He also worked as a waiter.

He was hired as a printer's devil by Victor Eugene Mauger, where Murray learned from a worked sent to the US from the Goodall plant in London. a machine for cutting cardboard, and a streamlined process for printing and packaging playing cards.

Marriage and family Murray married childhood sweetheart Annie E. Reilley. They had five children: Victor C. Murray, who followed him into the United States Playing Card Company; Miss Geneva M. Murray; and Samuel J. Murray, Jr. He is buried at the Holy Cross and Saint Joseph Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.