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    The following has been obtained from many sources, including the Internet.

    The Murrays trace their heritage back to the twelfth century and take their name from the great province of Moray, once a local kingdom. It was during this time that a Flemish lord, Freskin, son of Ollec, crossed the North Sea and into the Scottish realm. Either Freskin or his son William intermarried with the ancient royal house of Moray. The senior line of the Murrays took the surname of Sutherland and became Earls of Sutherland in around 1235.

    Thereafter the chiefs of the Murrays were the Lords of Petty in Moray (who also became Lords of Bothwell in Clydesdale in around 1253).

    An heir of this line, Sir Andrew of Murray, was the brilliant young general who led the Scots under William Wallace in 1297 in their first uprising against the English conquerors. He was mortally wounded while winning his famous victory at Stirling Bridge. His son, Sir Andrew Murray, 4th Lord of Bothwell, Regent of Scotland, was killed in 1333 in the battle against the English at Halidon Hill. The last Murray Lord of Bothwell died in 1360.

    By the 16th century, there were many Murray families scattered throughout the Kingdom. At that time they banded together and proclaimed the Tullibardine lineage as chiefs. Sir John became the 1st Earl of Tullibardine in 1606 (The late George Iain Murray, 10th Duke of Atholl was also Marquis of Tullibardine as recognized in Lyon Register as Chief of the Murrays). The 2nd Earl of Tullibardine married Lady Dorothea Stewart, heiress of the Earls of Atholl in 1629, and became the Duke of Atholl. Blair Atholl Castle in Perthshire became the Clan seat, which is still maintained by the present Chief, the Duke of Atholl.

    Since 1703, the Murray's chiefs have been Dukes of Atholl. In 1736 the 2nd Duke of Atholl inherited the sovereignty of the Isle of Man through his grandmother, and had their own coinage and parliament, The House of Keys. The Murray Dukes surrendered this to the government in 1765 for £70,000. The 1st Duke's younger son Lord George Murray, was the brilliant Jacobite general responsible for the highlander's astonishing successes throughout the greater part of the 1745 uprising. The Atholl Highlanders who fought at Culloden are the only unit of the Jacobite army surviving today and are also the only legal private army in Scotland. Blair Castle at Blair Atholl is still the family seat of the Dukes of Atholl where the Chief resides.

    Lord George's descendent George Iain Murray, the 10th Duke of Atholl, passed away in February of 1996. The new Duke of Atholl is John Murray of South Africa.

    To their medieval peacock's head crest (motto-Praite), they added the mermaid holding a comb and mirror (motto -Tout Prêt - Quite Ready), as Lords of Balquidder (this is considered the legal crest by Lord Lyon); and in the seventeenth century, they took the demi-savage holding a sword and a key commemorating the capture of the last Lord of the Isles by the 1st Stewart Earl of Atholl in 1475 hence the motto Furth, Fortune, and Fill the Fetters. (Go forth against your enemies, have good fortune, and return with hostages and booty). This is the crest preferred by the Duke.