Early Life
Philip Murray was born in Blantyre, Scotland, in 1886. His father, William Murray, was a Catholic coal miner and union leader who emigrated from Ireland to Scotland prior to his son's birth. His mother, the former Rose Layden, was a cotton mill weaver. Rose died when Philip was only two years old. William Murray remarried and had eight more children. Philip was the oldest boy, and after only a few years of public education he went to work in the coal mines at age 10 to help support the family.
In 1902, Philip and his father emigrated to the United States. They settled in southwestern Pennsylvania and obtained jobs as coal miners. Young Philip Murray was paid for each ton of coal he mined. By the following year they had saved enough money to bring the rest of the family to America.
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