Isaac Murray was born on March 24, 1824, in Meadowville, Nova Scotia.

He was a Presbyterian minister, educator, and editor. While attending Pictou Academy, he served as a rural schoolmaster. In 1844, he entered the theological hall of the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia and completed his education at Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey. In 1850, he was ordained minister of Cavendish and New London, P.E.I., where he served as moderator of the Island presbytery. In 1857, he helped establish the Protector and Christian Witness in Charlottetown and became its co-editor. He also served as an editor of the Charlottetown Presbyterian and was instrumental in founding the Patriot. Education was one of Murray’s principal interests throughout his long career. In 1863, he was appointed to the Island’s Board of Education. He insisted on a distinction between teaching religious values and sectarianism. In 1873, he served as moderator of the Maritime synod of the Presbyterian Church and in 1876, his scholarship and efforts on behalf of the church earned him an honorary D.D. from Queen’s College in Kingston, Ontario. In 1882, he left the Island to become minister at Vale Colliery (Thorburn) and Sutherlands River, both in Pictou County, N.S., and in 1884, he accepted a call from North Sydney where he stayed until his retirement in 1896.

In 1854, he married Jane McKenna Sprott (1827-). He died on December 7, 1906, in New Glasgow, Pictou County, Nova Scotia.