Murphy

CAPTAIN SAMUEL MURPHY —
CAPTAIN JAMES P. MURPHY —
THE MURPHY FAMILY

The progenitor of the Murphy family of this county was Capt. Samuel Murphy,
a native of Frederick county Virginia, born in 1756. He led a remarkable
career, one full of adventure, vicissitude and usefulness, and was famous both
as soldier and pioneer. Left an orphan at an early age, he was reared by a
Col. Stinson, a revolutionary patriot. He accompanied the forces of Lord
Dunmire in their expedition into the region now Southern Central Ohio, in
1774, and joining the Continental army (the 8th Pa. regt.), served through the
revolutionary war. In the fall of 1781 he was captured by the Indians, on the
north fork of Salt river, in Kentucky, and taken by Simon Girty to an island
in the St. Lawrence river, sixty miles above Montreal. He performed valiant
and valuable service on the frontier during the revolutionary war and the
subsequent Indian wars, and Major Denny said that he was “the best
soldier he ever knew.” He was intimately acquainted with Gen. Washington,
and on one occasion, while a boy, at the suggestion of Col. Stinson, he
perpetrated upon that great man a practical joke which so pleased Gen.
Washington that he gave young Murphy a silver coin. Shortly after the close of
the revolutionary struggle, Murphy removed with his family to what is now
Sharpsburg, where he remained, with the exception of some brief absences,
until 1798. He assisted in the laying out of the town of Erie, and was a
lieutenant in a company of rangers in 1794. In 1798 he removed to that part of
Armstrong county now known as South Buffalo township, and settled upon the
farm which is still in the possession of the Murphy family. He remained here,
following the quiet vocation of farming, until his decease, which occurred in
1850. He was a fine type of the Armstrong pioneer, six feet two inches in
stature, muscular, well formed, and possessing great courage and endurance.

Capt. Murphy’s wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Powers, was a native
of Maryland, and ten years his junior. She died in 1820. Their children were:
William, Thomas, Mary, James, Elizabeth, Margaret, Samuel, Benjamin, Nancy,
Susan, John and George, all of whom are living except William, Thomas,
Elizabeth and Samuel. William, who was a farmer, removed to Washington county,
Ohio about 1818, and died there in his eighty-third year. Thomas died in
Mississippi, and Samuel in California, in the year 1872. The others are all
living in this county.

Mary married James Patterson.

James, or Capt. Murphy, as he is more familiarly known in this part of the
state, was born in Sharpsburg, September 10, 1796, and reared in Armstrong
county. He remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-five years of
age, when he became a river man, which occupation he followed in various
capacities for about twenty years. He ran the first steamboat which ascended
the Allegheny river, in 1828. In 1850 he went to California by the overland
route, walking the greater part of the distance. He remained on the Pacific
coast about a year, during which time his father died, and on his return he
went on to the farm where he has since resided. He possesses many of the
distinguishing characteristics of his father, and is widely known for his
integrity of character and marked social qualities.

Margaret, Nancy, James and John are unmarried, and live upon the homestead
farm acquired by their father.

Susan became Mrs. William Truby. Elizabeth married Benjamin King, one of
the prominent citizens of Freeport; both are deceased. Benjamin was born May
10, 1815, and reared on the old home farm, a portion of which he owned and
tilled, until his removal to Freeport, where he now lives, in 1879. He married
Miss Jane, daughter of James Green, of North Buffalo township. They have
reared a family of eleven children: James, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Samuel,
Margaret, Emily, Walter P., Isabella, Theodore, Sarah and Lovina. Samuel died
in the service. Walter P., one of the prominent business men of Freeport, is
the only son living.