{{Short description|Irish-born American settler, farmer (1807–1884)}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Martin Murphy Jr. | image = Martin Murphy Jr.png | birth_date = November 9, 1807 | birth_place = County Wexford, Ireland | death_date = October 20, 1884 | death_place = San Jose, California, U.S. (now Sunnyvale) | resting_place = Santa Clara Mission Cemetery,<br /> Santa Clara, California, U.S. | spouse = Mary Bulger (m. 1831–) | children = 11, including Bernard D. Murphy, Patrick W. Murphy, Elizabeth Yuba Murphy | father = Martin Murphy Sr. | relatives = John Marion Murphy (brother),<br /> Daniel Martin Murphy (brother) | signature = Martin Murphy Jr. signature.png }}
'''Martin Murphy Jr.''' (November 9, 1807 – October 20, 1884)<ref name="The Pacific Bee-1884">{{Cite news |date=October 24, 1884 |title=Martin Murphy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pacific-bee-martin-murphy/184590012/ |access-date=2025-11-09 |work=The Pacific Bee |pages=3 |type=Obituary |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> was an Irish-born American farmer, and settler who founded Sunnyvale, California. He owned Murphy's Ranch in Elk Grove, California, which was the location of the start of the Bear Flag Revolt, and is now a historical site. His former residence is the Martin Murphy House, which was replicated and is now used as the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum.<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=2025-11-07 |work=Peninsula Times Tribune |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
He is from the Murphy family who were on the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada, they were early settlers in California, and the founders of early Santa Clara Valley.<ref name="Woodman">{{Cite web |last=Woodman |first=Katharina |title=The Murphy Story |url=https://heritageparkmuseum.org/sample-page/the-museum/murphy-story |access-date=2025-11-09 |website=Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Early life == Martin Murphy Jr. was born on November 9, 1807, in County Wexford, Ireland, to parents Mary Foley and Martin Murphy Sr.. He was the eldest of nine children.<ref>{{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> The family was Catholic and were persecuted by the Protestant ruling class.<ref name="Cheek-2006">{{Cite web |last=Cheek |first=Martin |date=November 10, 2006 |title=MH Founding Father Became Leading Citizen |url=https://morganhilltimes.com/mh-founding-father-became-leading-citizen/ |access-date=2025-11-07 |website=Morgan Hill Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Migration == In 1820, the Murphy family migrated to Quebec Province, Lower Canada (now Canada), and settled in an Irish community in Frampton for the next twenty years.<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=2025-11-07 |work=Appeal-Democrat |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
He married Mary Bulger in 1831.<ref name="The Pacific Bee-1884" /> Together they had 11 children, including Bernard D. Murphy and Patrick W. Murphy. In 1840, the Murphy family moved to Atchison County, Missouri to a settlement called Irish Grove.<ref name="Appeal-Democrat-1865" />
On May 6, 1844, they started a wagon train from Missouri to California; it was made up of the Stephenson family, Townsend family and the Murphy family, called the Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party. It was the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada in 1844, and the journey took nine months to California.<ref name="Cheek-2006" />
== Life in California == {{See also|Murphy's Corral|Martin Murphy House}} [[File:The Old Murphy Homestead.jpg|thumb|Martin Murphy House in Sunnyvale, California]] He settled in what is present-day Elk Grove, California, near the Monterey Trail some {{Convert|19|miles}} from the settlement of New Helvetia (later called Sutter's Fort).<ref name="The Pacific Bee-1884" /> It was there where he formed Murphy's Ranch (also known as Murphy's Corral), which was the site of the start of the Bear Flag Revolt. The former ranch is now a historical site.
In 1849, Murphy moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, at the invite of his friend and brother-in-law Carl David Maria Weber (1814–1881; also known as Carlos Maria Weber). Murphy bought land in the Santa Clara Valley from Mariano Castro in 1849.<ref name="Woodman" /> He had his home milled and pre-assembled in Bangor, Maine, and it was shipped around the Cape Horn in 1850.<ref name="The Pacific Bee-1884" /><ref name="Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum">{{Cite web |title=The Murphy Family Story |url=https://www.heritageparkmuseum.org/murphy.html |access-date=2025-11-09 |website=Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum}}</ref> There were no sawmills in California at the time, so the house was re-assembled using straps and wood pegs.<ref name="Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum" />
During the period leading up to statehood for California in 1850, many Mexicans had problems providing their land titles, and sold their cattle to raised funds for lawyers.<ref name="Woodman" /> Murphy made a profit from hides sold for leather.<ref name="Woodman" /> He grew wheat and raised cattle on the land around his homestead.<ref name="Woodman" /> He allowed the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad (later known as Caltrain) to add a train stop on his property in 1861.<ref name="Woodman" />
In the 1860s Murphy bought more land in California, including a {{Convert|9000|acre}} ranch in Santa Margarita, which was run by his son Patrick.<ref name="Woodman" /> He started diversifying his crops around this time period and started planting orchards and vines.<ref name="Woodman" /> In 1861, he also bought Rancho La Purísima Concepción in present-day Los Altos Hills, California from Juana Briones de Miranda, and he gifted this ranch to his daughter Elizabeth after her marriage in 1863.<ref name="Los Altos Town Crier-2015">{{Cite web|title=Taaffe family descendants recall early days of Los Altos Hills|url=https://www.losaltosonline.com/community/taaffe-family-descendants-recall-early-days-of-los-altos-hills/article_eae52086-333d-54db-8c47-6a5d9497d67b.html|website=Los Altos Town Crier|date=November 11, 2015|access-date=2025-12-02|language=en|first=|last=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Early Los Altos and Los Altos Hills|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Early_Los_Altos_and_Los_Altos_Hills/4dw-6-uYtCQC|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|date=2010|isbn=978-0-7385-8010-4|language=en|first=Don|last=McDonald|pages=9}}</ref>
The Murphy family helped found two schools in Santa Clara County: the Santa Clara College for Boys (later known as Santa Clara University) and Notre Dame College for Girls (later known as Notre Dame de Namur).<ref name="Woodman" />
== Death and legacy == Murphy died on October 20, 1884, in his home in San Jose, California (now Sunnyvale).<ref name="The Pacific Bee-1884" />
At the time of his death it is estimated that Murphy owned {{Convert|1,000,000|acre}} in California.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 2, 1901 |title="Black Prince" Dies Suddenly |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/san-francisco-chronicle-black-prince-d/184601088/ |access-date=2025-11-09 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |pages=16 |type=Obituary |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> His house in Sunnyvale remained in the Murphy family until 1953,<ref name="Pioneer">{{cite book |author=Sullivan |first=Gabrielle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZQ8AAAAIAAJ&q=%201785-1865 |title=Martin Murphy, Jr., California Pioneer, 1844-1884 |date=1974 |publisher=Pacific Center for Western Historical Studies, University of the Pacific |isbn=9780931156045 |pages=18}}</ref> but parcels of their land were sold starting in 1900 to real estate developer Walter Crossman.<ref name="Woodman" /> The land around the train stop developed into a town, which eventually became Sunnyvale, and incorporated as a city in 1912.<ref name="Woodman" />
Murphy had built the Murphy Building (1862) at 36 South Market Street in San Jose, California; which had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Santa Clara County on April 28, 1975, and was demolished on January 12, 1976.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Metroactive Features: Lost Historic Buildings |url=https://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07.03.97/cover/gone-9727.html |access-date=2025-11-24 |website=Metroactive}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gilbert |first1=Lauren Miranda |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/San_Jose_s_Historic_Downtown/dnfsVt5OePEC |title=San Jose's Historic Downtown |last2=Johnson |first2=Bob |date=2004 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=0738529222 |page=36 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=National Register #75002133: Murphy Building in San Jose, California |url=https://noehill.com/santaclara/nat1975002133.asp |access-date=2025-11-24 |website=noehill.com}}</ref>
The site of his former house in Sunnyvale was listed a California Historical Landmark in 1960; and it contains a historical marker erected by California State Park Commission, the City of Sunnyvale and the Sunnyvale Historical Society.<ref name="Parks">{{cite web |date=April 28, 1958 |title=Martin Murphy Home and Estate (Site) |url=https://ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail/644 |access-date=November 10, 2025 |work=Office of Historic Preservation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Home of Martin Murphy, Jr. Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=30171 |access-date=2025-11-10 |website=Historical Marker Database (HMDB) |language=en}}</ref>
The Murphy family were the subject of Marjorie Pierce's book, ''The Martin Murphy Family Saga'' (2000);<ref name="Cheek-2006" /> and the PBS documentary film, ''The Forgotten Journey'' (2021), produced by John Krizek.<ref name="Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{Cite book |last=Sullivan |first=Gabrielle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZQ8AAAAIAAJ |title=Martin Murphy, Jr., California Pioneer, 1844-1884 |date=1974 |publisher=Pacific Center for Western Historical Studies, University of the Pacific |isbn=978-0-931156-04-5 }} * {{Cite book |last=Pierce |first=Marjorie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kk6AQAAIAAJ |title=The Martin Murphy Family Saga |date=2000 |publisher=California History Center & Foundation |isbn=9780935089233}}
== External links == {{Commons}} * [https://libguides.scu.edu/c.php?g=459052&p=3153626 Murphy Family Papers] at Santa Clara University Library
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy Jr., Martin}} Category:1807 births Category:1884 deaths Category:Farmers from California Category:Irish emigrants to Canada Category:Irish emigrants to the United States Category:Murphy family (California) Category:People from County Wexford Category:People from San Jose, California Category:People from Sunnyvale, California Category:Ranchers from California Category:Settlers Category:Founders of populated places in California