He is sometimes credited as the leader of the most down-and-back companies in Latter-day Saint history, as he directed multiple ox-drawn wagon trains sent from Utah to bring back both merchandise and emigrating church members from back East.

[5] Murdock later married Mary Ellen Wolfenden and May Bain as plural wives.

For a time Murdock served as the regional presiding bishop in Beaver County, Utah.

[1] As stake president, Murdock essentially ran the government operations in Beaver County while the Mormon-backed People's Party was in control.

For example, in the 1870s, John Hunt was appointed as sheriff of Beaver County largely because he was a People's Party supporter.

At the behest of their second wife, Wolfenden, the location is some distance away from the grave of Almira Henrietta Lott Murdock (d. 1878), her bitter rival who preceded her in death.