Robert Murray (1721–1786), a prominent merchant, was born in Scotland, arriving with his father John Murray from Perthshire, Scotland, moved at age one to Ireland. He immigrated with his family to Pennsylvania in 1732. Murray operated a mill as a teenager. After he married Mary Lindley in 1744, the couple stayed in Pennsylvania a couple of years and moved to North Carolina about 1750. He moved to New York City of the Province of New York in 1753 and became a successful importer and exporter, ship owner, merchant, and dock owner. Murray did business with the British and was loyal to them. When he unloaded cargo from Britain, against the colonist's law, he incurred their rath and was saved from being banned from New York by his wife, Mary Lindley Murray, who also entertained British soldiers so that a regiment of the Continental Army could safely pass a larger contingent of British soldiers. He built a mansion on Murray Hill overlooking the East River with extensive gardens.

Mary Lindley Murray is known in the American Revolution as the Quaker woman who in 1776 held up British General William Howe after the British victory against American forces at Kips Bay. Murray treated Howe and his generals to cake, tea, and wine and delayed them several hours as the American rebels led by General Israel Putnam got away safely and undetected.