Matthew Murphy (1814 - 1887)

Born 1814 in Portarlington, Kings County, Ireland

Descendants

Died 18 Jan 1887 at about age 73 in Britannia, Nepean Twp, Carleton Co., Ontario

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Michael Murphy [send private message]

Biography

"Murphy, Mathew, came from Ireland to Bytown in 1828, and to South Hull, in 1868. He lived on the McConnell farm, along the river, not far east of Deschenes. He married Elizabeth C. Ebert.

Children: Wm. H., m. Mary J. Ramsay; Eliza, m. Reuben McEwen; James C., m. Fannie, daughter of John McConnell; Louisa, m. Charles W. Hall; Caroline, unm.; Edward A., m. Margaret Starr, and John A., m. Margaret Milne.

A DARING DEED Notes: "Mathew was one of the family known as the "Murphy Brothers". They were among the most noted in all the country for their deeds of daring. It is told of Mathew, and a true story it is, that in 1838, being in Queenston and seeing a great crowd around Brock's monument, went over to find that a man was attempting to climb the lightning rod, in order to put up the flag. By an explosion, some time before, the steps and whole inside had been blown out so that it was impossible to ascend save by the rod on the outside. The man giving up, Mathew offered to put up the flag, and amid the greatest excitement ever known in these parts he did it. It was heralded over the continent as one of the most daring of deeds, as it was.

Another brother, Simon, well known in the Valley as the "Iron Man" for his deeds of prowess in the early days, is the subject of a sketch by W. Pitman Lett in his "Reminiscences of Old Bytown."

Marriages

He married 1st., Catherine Ebert June 27, 1842.^[1] They appear as parents in daughter, Ester Louise Murphy Halls, Death Record. Catherine dies in 1873.

"MURPHY married EBERT, This twenty-seventh day of June One thousand and Eight hundred and forty two. Matthew Murphy of Bytown and Elizabeth Catherine Ebert of Clarendon were married by me under authority of the Governor General's License. S.S. Strong (Samuel Spratt Strong) Christschurch, Signed, Matthew (his mark X) Murphy, E.C. Ebert Present: Henry Murphy, Christiana Cuming, James Murphy, Simon Murphy, Thomas Murphy, John Murphy, William Murphy^[2]

He Married 2nd, Matha Wright, 9 NOV 1875

His Name:Mathew Murphy

Age: 60

Residence When Married: Nepean

Place of Birth: Ireland

Bachelor or Widower (B or W): W

Rank or Profession: Lumberer

Names of Parents: Thomas & Julia Murphy

Her Name: Martha Wright

Age: 44

Residence When Married: Nepean

Place of Birth: Nepean Canada

Spinster or Widow (S or W): S

Names of Parents: Abel & Sarah Wright

Names and Residences of Witnesses: John Murphy, Ottawa, James Murphy, Nepean

Date and Place of Marriage: November 8, 1875, Ottawa

Religious Denomination of Bridegroom: Episcopalian

Religious Denomination of Bride: Methodist

By Whom Married: Rev. Alexander Campbell

By License or Banns (L or B): L , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada^[3][4]

1851 Census

1851 Census.[5]

1861 Census

Head of Household: MURPHY, MATTHEW

Gender: Male

Place of Birth: "Ireland"

Religion: "Church of England"

Job: "Farmer"

Reads: "Yes"

Writes: "Yes"

House Type: "Log" 1.5 stories^[6]

Murphy, Matthew; Con. 2, Lot 25f ^[7]

Murphy, Matthew; Con. 2, Lot 25f ^[8]

1881 Census

Name Matthew Murphy

Gender Male

Age 66y

Birth Year 1815

Birthplace Ireland

Marital Status Married

Occupation Lighthouse Keeper

Ethnicity Irish

Religion Ch. of Eng.

Head of Household Name Matthew Murphy

Event Place Nepean, Carleton, Ontario, Canada

District Number 108

Sub-District A

Division 2

Family Number 85

Affiliate Film Number C-13231

Matthew Murphy M 66y Ireland

Martha Murphy F 48y Ontario

Reuben McKeown (McEwen) M 12y Ontario^[9]

1871 Census

Name: MURPHY, Mathew (labourer)

Sex: M

Age: 57

Place of birth: Ireland

Religion: Church of England^[10]

1881 Census

Name: Matthew MURPHY,

Sex: M CONT

Marriage Status: M,

Age: 66,

Origin: Irish,

Birthplace: Ireland, Occupation: Lighthouse Keeper

Religion: Church of England^[11]

"The Village (Fitzroy Harbour) - Charles Shirreff and sons Alexander and Robert were the first settlers of Fitzroy Harbour or "the Chats" as the village was known in early days. Shirreff had been induced to make a settlement in the wilderness by a grant of 4500 acres and by the possibilities of development of the Huron Route -- a waterway by a series of canals up the Ottawa and on to Lake Huron. Such a route would not be exposed to American gunboats as shipping had been during the War of 1812. There was also a need to have land taken up by settlers who had been given grants at the end of that war. CONT Built on a point opposite a chute, the Shirreff house had a splendid view. From here, Shirrefff directed his operations, employing men from neighbouring townships to clear land. When the township was surveyed in 1820-22, the Shirreff grant included from the 10th line on the west to the township line between Fitzroy and Torbolton on the east, and to within one lot of the Sytles sideroad on the south -- that is, from Lot 17 to 25. As Charles Shirreff sold off lots to new settlers, he continued establishing the services essential to village life, including a sawmill and flour mill on the Carp River and a log building for use as a school and church to be used by all denominations. Other Shirreff houses were built in the village, one of which still exists and is occupied by a Shirreff descendant. ^[12]

"Charles Shirreff of Leith, Scotland, came to the Chats Falls in the winter of 1818-19 with his family and settled. In his opinion the Ottawa River would be canalized and a route to Lake Huron via Lake Nipissing would be created; he say Fitzroy Harbour, the community he established and where he settled, as a strategic location on the Georgian Bay route. The lure of newly established Bytown eventually drew him; he was appointed government collector of timber dues in 1835 at the new settlement on the Rideau. In 1850 The Chats, or Fitzroy Harbour, was a thriving community, but by about 1870 it was going into a sad state of decline. It was a port of call for the river steamers, but Quyon on the other side was much more active, for cargoes en route up the Ottawa were transhipped nearby to the Union Railway, to be drawn by horses past the Chats Falls. The completion of the railway in 1847 must have marked the beginning of the decline of Fitzroy Harbour."^[13]

Death and Burial

Name: MURPHY Mathew

Place: Nepean Twp

January 18 1887

Registration No: 003079

Registration Year: 1887^[14]

DIED. MURPHY - At Britannia, Ont., on Tuesday, the 19th inst., Matthew Murphy, aged 72 years. The funeral will take place from his late residence, Britannia, on Friday, the 21st inst., at 10 o'clock a.m.^[15]

Burial, 21 JAN 1887, Bellevue Cemetery, Aylmer, Quebec

Research Notes

"WHERE ARE THE RECORDS FOR CASTLE GARDEN? Prior to the opening of Ellis Island, immigrant processing was the responsibility of the state, and before 1855, there was no official center. In 1855, the State of New York began processing immigrants through the facilities at Castle Garden (previously known as Castle Clinton) in response to a massive influx of immigrants. This did not prove to be the best possible site, though, because as the new immigrants left the facilities, they were routinely exploited by con men, who sold them phony tickets to various destinations, took their money in exchange for non-existent jobs, or found other ways to part the unwary immigrant with his or her money. No administrative lists from Castle Garden are known to have survived, but the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has microfilmed copies of passenger lists from this period. That's the good news. Now for the bad news: There is no central index to these records. NARA's "Immigrant and Passenger Arrivals: Select Catalog of NARA Microfilm Publications" (http://www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/immigrant/immpass.html) lists the following for New York, New York under 'Index to Publications by Port (The letter / number combination in brackets is the NARA series number. Within each series are varying numbers of films. The lists of microfilm rolls are available at, [2]):

Indexes to passenger lists:

1820-1846 [M261]

1897-1902 [T519]

1902-1943 [T621]

1906-1942 [T612]

1944-1948 [M1417]

Passenger lists:

1820-1897 [M237]

1897-1957 (includes crew lists) [T715]

Registers of vessels, 1789-1919 [M1066]

More good news: There are efforts to post the lists online through websites like the Immigrant Ship Transcribers Guild (http://istg.rootsweb.com/), or Olive Tree Genealogy (http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/index.shtml)." (End of Article)

"Following up this information, we should find: (1) the Indexes to the "Murphy" passengers on Microfilm roll "71" of series "Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, NY, 1820--1846. M261. 103 rolls. 16mm. DP." (2) The actual passenger lists for the period (May 2--Dec. 29, 1825 ) on microfilm roll "7" of "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, NY, 1820--1897. M237. 675 rolls. DP."^[16]

Sources

1. ↑ Descendants of Martin Ebert, Database of the Mr. Robert Sample. [1]
2. ↑ Registers of Christ Church, Bytown."
3. ↑ Ontario Vital Statistics - Marriages Author: Province of Ontario, Page: Film 1819491 - Carleton Co. P 355
4. ↑ District Marriage Registers - 1780-1858, RG 80-27-1, Appendix A18, Bathurst Lanark County; Western part of Carleton County,MatthewMurphy&ElizabethEbert_desc_2013-04-08.ged
5. ↑ Year: 1851; Census Place: West, Bytown (town), Canada West (Ontario); Schedule: A; Roll: C_11771; Page: 342, 1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada.Census of Nova Scotia, 1851. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ancestry.com
6. ↑ 1861 Census of Nepean Author: Goverment of Canada, Bruce. S. Elliot (ed), p.62, Family Number 372, MatthewMurphy&ElizabethEbert_desc_2013-04-08.ge
7. ↑ Carleton County Directory (1864-65), Township of Nepean, Page 267
8. ↑ Carleton County Directory (1869-1870), Township of Nepean, Page 36
9. ↑ "Canada Census, 1881," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MVX8-DNT : 30 June 2017), Matthew Murphy, Nepean, Carleton, Ontario, Canada; citing p. 17; Library and Archives Canada film number C-13231, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 1,375,867.
10. ↑ 1871 Census of Canada,, C10026; Dist 93; SubDistrict b-1; page 33
11. ↑ 1881 Census of Canada, Statistics Canada - Government of Canada Call Number: R929.371383 Cen, 1891, FHL Film 1375867 NAC C-13231 Dist 108 SubDist A Div 2 Page 17 Family 85, MatthewMurphy&ElizabethEbert_desc_2013-04-08.ged
12. ↑ Beyond Our Memory ...A History of Fitzroy Township Author: Runtz, Karen Lewis, Fitzroy Historical Society, 1989; Call Number: 971.383 B573, p. 10
13. ↑ Ottawa Country, The: A historical guide to the National Capital Region by, Bond, Courtney C. J. , Queen's Printer, Ottawa, 1968, Call Number: 971.384 B711o, P. 105
14. ↑ Ontario Vital Statistics - Death Index, Province of Ontario Repository Page: Film 1819277
15. ↑ Ottawa Free Press, Thursday, January 20, 1881; page 1
16. ↑ Ancestry Daily News, Ancestry.com, MatthewMurphy&ElizabethEbert_desc_2013-04-08.ged

• "Michigan Deaths and Burials, 1800-1995," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHLK-RXW : 9 December 2014), Mathew Murphy in entry for Esther Louise Hall, 30 May 1907; citing Saginaw, Michigan, reference v 1897-1908 p 251; FHL microfilm 967,177.

• Descendants of Martin Ebert, Database of the Mr. Robert Sample. [3]

• Library of Michael Ross Murphy, 16 Hemmingwood Way, Ottawa Ontario Canada K2G 5Z2 / (613) 727-1739

• Ottawa Public Library - Centrepointe Branch, 101 Centrepointe Dr., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Ottawa Public Library (Main Branch), Metcalfe & Laurier, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

• Diocese of Ottawa Archives, 439A Queen Street, Ottawa, Ontario / (613) 232-7124 x234

• Family History Center, 1017 Prince of Wales Dr., Ottawa, Ontario / (613) 224-2231

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Michael Murphy for creating WikiTree profile Murphy-3452 through the import of MatthewMurphy&ElizabethEbert_desc_2013-04-08.ged on Apr 8, 2013.

Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Michael and others.