Joseph Murray, son of Concord grocer Joseph Murray and Mary A. Sullivan Murray, was born in 1885. A World War I hero, a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps, and a Purple Heart recipient, Murray died in 1941, at the age of fifty-seven. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In contrast with the Bulkeley children, who were meticulously groomed and dressed for the photographer in 1895 (see #16), young Joseph Murray posed for this outdoor portrait wearing what appear to be hand-me-downs—a circumstance that seems not to have diminished his enjoyment of having his picture taken with his canine friend.