Sacramento County
Biographies
MICHAEL JAMES DUNPHY
MICHAEL JAMES DUNPHY.--When one considers the importance to the
modern city both of a thoroughly up-to-date fire-prevention and fire-fighting
equipment, and also of an experienced, far-sighted, and aggressively progressive
overseer of the complicated system, the value to a great city like Sacramento
of such a fire chief as Michael James Dunphy will at
once be apparent. A native son, he was born at Gibsonville, Sierra
County, on November 18, 1871, the son of James
and Elizabeth (Foley) Dunphy, the latter a native of New
York, while the father was born in Ireland.
James Dunphy came out to California
at the age of twenty-five, and here in the Golden
State he and Miss Foley were
married. He was a blacksmith for the Southern Pacific for thirty years;
and when he died, those who knew him lamented the passing of an honest and
capable expert workman. Mrs. Dunphy, who was
always beloved by those who knew her, is also deceased.
Michael Dunphy began his schooling in the grammar grades of the
public school system, and afterwards attended the Brothers
College at Sacramento.
In 1879 the family removed to Sacramento,
and on June 2, 1888, our subject began a service of twenty-three years in the
Southern Pacific shops, which terminated on June 11, 1911. By that time
he had become a car-builder, nor has the Southern
Pacific had his superior at that trade; so that when he joined the Sacramento
fire department on February 20, 1899, he brought with him a valuable technical
experience. He went in as a call-man, and was promoted to be foreman
call-man on November 27, 1911. The following year, on June 17, he was
made a uniformed fireman; on February 1, 1913, he was appointed captain of
Engine 2; on February 4, 1917, he was made assistant chief; and on July 1,
1921, he was designated chief of the department. In politics Mr. Dunphy is a “man above party,” and earnestly contributes
what he can toward the making of good citizenship.
On December 31, 1901,
Mr. Dunphy was married to Miss Elizabeth O’Keefe, a
native daughter of Loomis, Placer County, Cal.,
and the representative of another old pioneer family. Gertrude and Marie Dunphy are the two children of this union. Mr. Dunphy is an enthusiastic baseball fan. Fraternally,
he belongs to the Elks, and also to the Owls. He is a Knight of Columbus
of the third degree.
Transcribed by Barbara Gaffney.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County, California
With Biographical Sketches, Page 420. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Barbara Gaffney.