Santa
Clara County
Biographies
MARTIN
MURPHY
The second generation of the
Murphy family in California was represented by Martin Murphy, the eldest son of
the emigrant and his namesake. Born in Ireland and reared in that country and
Canada, he accompanied his father to the States, settled with him in Missouri,
and endured all the privations of the memorable journey across the plains in
1844. In 1845 he came to the Santa Clara valley and bought forty-eight hundred
acres comprising the rancho Pastoria de las Borregas, near Mountainview. (sic) There he
engaged in raising cattle and also made a specialty of wheat farming, from
which latter grain in one year he made $60,000.The valley around his ranch is
now one of the finest fruit and garden regions in the entire state. In 1850 he
erected a house on the ranch. The material for this structure was shipped on a
sailing vessel from Boston, being put together in such a shape that little
remained for the carpenter to do after the shipment reached California. It is a
fact worthy of mention that the house still stands, in an excellent state of
preservation. While awaiting the building of the house the family occupied a
residence in San Jose, opposite the present site of the convent and owned by
Mariano Hernandez.
The Pastoria
de las Borregas became the
permanent home of Martin Murphy, the second, but it was by no means the limit
of his possessions. For a time after coming to the state he lived in what is
now Sacramento county, where he purchased four leagues, and while there engaged
a school teacher, having in his house the first school ever taught in that
county. A believer in education, he endeavored to secure such advantages for
his children as were possible in that period. They availed themselves of the
facilities offered by the schools and colleges of the Catholic fathers and
sisters and became cultured men and women. The establishment of the College of
Notre Dame in this county was due to the support of Mr. Murphy. A number of the
sisters had established a school in the Willamette valley of Oregon and in 1851
four sisters from Cincinnati started to join this religious colony. Sister Mary
and Sister Loyola came down from Oregon to San Francisco to meet them. While
waiting for the vessel to arrive from Panama they visited the Murphy family in Mountainview. (sic) During this
visit they determined to establish an institution at San Jose, and that
determination resulted in the founding of the College of Notre Dame.
Though starting with limited means,
Martin Murphy, the Second, became the largest individual land owner on the
central coast. Included in his possessions were sixty-five thousand acres in
San Luis Obispo county; twelve thousand acres at Point
Concepcion, Santa Barbara county, where the government has since erected a
lighthouse; the Purissima ranch of five thousand
acres in Santa Clara county, and Milpitas ranch of five thousand acres in the
same county. In all he owned over one hundred thousand acres
in the state. The foundation of this immense realty was laid during his
residence on his first ranch, where his profits from wheat were so large as to
give him money for making large landed purchases. A man of progressive spirit,
he was a pioneer in raising grain in large quantities and a pioneer in the
stock business, importing the first Norman horses from France that were brought
into the state. Much of the machinery used in his field work was brought from the
east via Panama.
While in Canada Mr. Murphy married
Mary Bulger, who was born in Ireland. July 18, 1881,
they celebrated their golden wedding on their ranch, on which occasion more
than ten thousand people, including many of the most famous men in the state,
gathered at their homestead to congratulate them and do them honor. Hundreds of
the best animals from the immense herds were slaughtered and the guests were
treated to an old-fashioned barbecue, as well as to the choicest vintages of
France and California. Soon afterward Mr. Murphy’s health began to fail, but he
lived for three more years, dying October 20, 1884, at the age of eighty-one
years. His wife was eighty-four at the time of her death. Their family
consisted of eight children, five of whom attained mature years, and one son
and two daughters are now living.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 428. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Cecelia M. Setty.