{{Short description|Canadian-born American settler and rancher in California (1826–1882)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Daniel Martin Murphy | image = Daniel Martin Murphy.png | birth_date = January 17, 1826 | birth_place = Frampton, Quebec, Lower Canada (now Canada) | death_date = October 22, 1882 | death_place = Elko, Nevada, U.S. | resting_place = Santa Clara Mission Cemetery,<br /> Santa Clara, California, U.S. | spouse = Maria Fisher Ceseña (m. 1851–1882; his death) | children = 6 | father = Martin Murphy Sr. | relatives = Martin Murphy Jr. (sibling),<br /> John Marion Murphy (sibling),<br /> Carl David Maria Weber (brother-in-law) }} '''Daniel Martin Murphy Sr.''' (January 17, 1826 – October 22, 1882) was a Canadian-born American rancher, farmer, landowner and an early settler in California. He was one of the wealthiest property owners in the United States during his lifetime, with ownership of Rancho Refugio de la Laguna Seca (near present-day Morgan Hill, California), a ranch in Durango, Mexico, and a ranch in Elko, Nevada.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=August 29, 2006 |title=Daniel Murphy – Pioneer of the West |url=https://morganhilltimes.com/daniel-murphy-pioneer-of-the-west-2/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251121041121/https://morganhilltimes.com/daniel-murphy-pioneer-of-the-west-2/ |archive-date=November 21, 2025 |access-date= |website=Morgan Hill Times |language=en-US}}</ref> He co-founded the mining town of Murphys, California.
== Early life, and migration == Daniel Martin Murphy was born on January 17, 1826, in Frampton, Quebec, Lower Canada (now Canada), to Irish parents Martin Murphy Sr. and Mary Foley from the Murphy family. He was the youngest of nine children.<ref name="Circa-2006">{{Cite web |last=Circa: Historic Property Development, San Francisco |date=October 2006 |title=Historic Context Statement for the City of Morgan Hill |url=http://www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2607 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107041537/http://www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2607 |archive-date=November 7, 2016 |pages=25–26}}</ref>
In 1840, the family moved to Atchison County, Missouri to a settlement called Irish Grove.<ref name="Appeal-Democrat-1865">{{Cite news |date=March 29, 1865 |title=Death of Notable California Pioneer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/appeal-democrat-death-of-notable-califor/184468492/ |access-date=2025-11-12 |work=Appeal-Democrat |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> His mother died at Irish Grove, as there had been many disease.<ref name="Appeal-Democrat-1865" />
On May 6, 1844, Murphy Sr. and his sons gathered a wagon train to move to California; they were all a part of the Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party, led by his father.<ref name="Appeal-Democrat-1865" /> They were the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada.<ref name="Lea-2004">{{Cite web |last=Lea |first=Ralph |last2=Kennedy |first2=Christi |date=October 1, 2004 |title=Pioneering brothers: Murphys struck gold and built town |url=https://www.lodinews.com/features/vintage_lodi/article_18c0a8fa-cb4c-5a4a-9c3c-351faf6c569a.html |access-date=2025-11-12 |website=Lodi News-Sentinel |language=en}}</ref>
== California == During the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), Murphy fought under Manuel Micheltorena.<ref name="Stockton Evening Mail-1882">{{Cite news |date=October 25, 1882 |title=Death of Daniel Murphy |work=Stockton Evening Mail |type=Obituary}}</ref> He served as a private in Company G, and later as a sergeant in Company H in the California Battalion, a volunteer company, under John C. Frémont in 1846.<ref name="Stockton Evening Mail-1882" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mexican War Veterans, M-Z |url=https://www.calaverashistory.org/mexican-war-veterans-m-z |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022002701/https://www.calaverashistory.org/mexican-war-veterans-m-z |archive-date=October 22, 2020 |access-date= |website=Calaveras Heritage Council |language=en |quote=Murphy, Daniel: Pvt., Co. G, California Battalion, October 1846/Sgt., Co. H, November 1846-NA; b. 1828, Canada (brother of John); d. October 22, 1882, Elko, Nevada; buried San Jose (Obituary/Elko County Territorial Enterprise October 26, 1882) [Photo – Portrait]}}</ref>
After the war Daniel and his older brother John Marion Murphy earned a living as merchants, but like many others, they began prospecting when the California Gold Rush began.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pankey |first=Marilyn R. |date=May 28, 2017 |title=John Marion Murphy |url=https://goldennuggetlibrary.sfgenealogy.org/scbmur6.htm |website=Santa Clara County Biographies |publisher=Golden Nugget Library}}</ref><ref name="Castro–1968">Castro, Doris (July 27, 1968). "There Were These Two Irishmen, See..." ''The Record''. p. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record-there-were-these-two-irishmen/185376286/ 34], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record-the-rags-to-riches-saga-of-da/185376365/ 57]. Retrieved 2025-11-21 – via Newspapers.com.</ref> Their brother-in-law Carl David Maria Weber (married to sister Helen), had formed the Stockton Mining Company in Placerville, California (formerly known as Hangtown).<ref name="Lea-2004" /> They initially started mining work with Weber under his company.<ref name="Lea-2004" /><ref name="Castro–1968" /> The brothers eventually decided to go out on their own and moved south.<ref name="Lea-2004" /><ref name="Castro–1968" /> In July 1848, the Murphy brothers found gold<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marvin |first=Judith |date=January 2003 |title=Murphys |url=https://www.calaverashistory.org/murphys |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Calaveras Heritage Council |language=en}}</ref> at what they called "Murphys Old Diggings," later known as "Murphys New Diggings," "Murphy's Camp," and eventually by 1835 it was just "Murphys". The Murphy brothers made far more money as merchants than as miners.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pioneering Murphy Family Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=18546 |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Historical Marker Database (HMDB) |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Woodman |first=Katharina |title=The Murphy Story |url=https://heritageparkmuseum.org/sample-page/the-museum/murphy-story |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> Daniel Murphy was a member of the Carson Creek Consolidated Co. (or Morgan Mine).<ref name="Castro–1968" />
After a few years they both brothers moved back to Santa Clara County, California near their father's Rancho Ojo del Agua de la Coche.<ref name="Sherman-1960">{{Cite news |last=Sherman |first=Lola |date=May 20, 1960 |title=Family had roots in Ireland, were first settlers to cross Sierra to California |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-peninsula-times-tribune-family-had-r/184472761/ |access-date=2025-11-20 |work=Peninsula Times Tribune |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In January 1851, Daniel Murphy married Maria Fisher Ceseña (also written as Mary Fisher, and later Mary Fisher Murphy–Colombet).<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" /> Together they had 6 children, however only 3 of the children lived into adulthood.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" /> His wife had lived on the neighboring farm with her parents Captain William Fisher from Boston, and Liberata Ceseña Ojeda from Cabo San Lucas.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" /> Right before their marriage, her father William Fisher died and left the new couple his rancho.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" /> They inherited the {{Convert|19,000|acre}} Rancho Refugio de la Laguna Seca, near present day Morgan Hill, California in Santa Clara County.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Hoover |first=Mildred B. |url=https://archive.org/details/historicspotsinc00rens |title=Historic Spots in California |last2=Rensch |first2=Hero |last3=Rensch |first3=Ethel |last4=Abeloe |first4=William N. |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1966 |isbn=978-0-8047-4482-9 |url-access=registration}}</ref>
Murphy later purchased a {{Convert|4,000,000|acre}} cattle ranch in Durango, Mexico; which in turn made him the one of the wealthiest property owners in the United States.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" /> Additionally he owned tracts of land in Tulare County, California and in Arizona.<ref name="Stockton Evening Mail-1882" />
== Late life, death, and legacy == [[File:MitchlerHotel MurphysCA 1860s.jpg|alt=Mitchler Hotel (c. 1860s) now known as the Murphys Hotel, in Murphys, California|thumb|Murphys Hotel (c. 1860s) in Murphys, California]] In his later years Murphy moved to Elko, Nevada, where he raised cattle on his ranch.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" /> He lived separated from his wife but they did not divorce.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" /> Murphy was considered one of the greatest cattlemen in the world towards the end of his life.<ref name="Castro–1968" /> He was running cattle in a snow storm when he caught pneumonia.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" />
Murphy died of pneumonia on October 22, 1882, in Elko.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" /> He was buried at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery in Santa Clara, California.<ref name="Morgan Hill Times-2006" />
After his father's death, Daniel Martin Murphy Jr. (1863–1915) inherited his father's land in Durango, Mexico, and through poor administration he lost most of the land.<ref name="Circa-2006" /> His daughter Diana Helen Murphy (1869–1937) married Hiram Morgan Hill, and inherited all of her father's lands in Santa Clara County, and in Nevada.<ref name="Circa-2006" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cheek |first=Martin |date=November 10, 2006 |title=Hiram Morgan Hill Led Life of Trials and Tribulations |url=https://morganhilltimes.com/hiram-morgan-hill-led-life-of-trials-and-tribulations/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020202958/https://morganhilltimes.com/hiram-morgan-hill-led-life-of-trials-and-tribulations/ |archive-date=October 20, 2020 |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Morgan Hill Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
The town of Murphys, California is named after the brothers.<ref name="Castro–1968" /> A historical marker dedicated to remembering Murphy's death was erected by the Morgan Hill Historical Society in Morgan Hill, California.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Daniel Murphy Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=213169 |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Historical Marker Database (HMDB) |language=en}}</ref>
The Murphys Hotel (formerly the Mitchler Hotel) in Murphys, California was named for the two brothers, and is reportedly haunted.<ref name="Lea-2004" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ferrell |first=Jamie |date=2025-10-14 |title=This Small CA Gold Rush Town Is Known As The 'Queen Of The Sierra' — Famous For A Haunted Hotel That Once Hosted Mark Twain |url=https://secretsanfrancisco.com/murphys-california-historic-haunted-hotel/ |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Secret San Francisco |language=en-US}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Daniel Martin}} Category:1826 births Category:1882 deaths Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American volunteer soldiers of the Mexican–American War Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States Category:Farmers from California Category:Merchants from California Category:Murphy family (California) Category:People of the California Gold Rush Category:People from Elko, Nevada Category:People from Quebec Category:People from Morgan Hill, California Category:People from San Jose, California Category:Ranchers from California Category:Founders of populated places in California