Martin
Murphy: An
Immigrant’s
Courage
Written by William Briggs, Board Member
Morgan Hill Historical Society
Martin Murphy, Sr. (1850)
Clyde Arbuckle Collection, San Jose
Library California Room.
M
artin Murphy Sr. was born
in County Wexford, Ireland,
in 1785. The Murphy family
motto, Fortis et Hospitalis, translates to
“Brave and Hospitable.” A fitting senti-
ment for a patriarch whose courage,
industry and hospitality would become
legendary in Santa Clara Valley.
Murphy immigrated to Canada,
then to the United States, and after a
stint in Missouri, settled his family in
California. But what steeled his charac-
ter to lead his family on a difficult jour-
ney to settle far from their native land?
English overlords had ruled Ireland
for centuries, denying the Irish the right
to own land or practice their Catholic
religion. Martin Murphy had joined his
108
father in the bloody rebellion of 1798.
While he escaped punishment, Murphy
faced a bleak future of farming.
Ireland was a country of small tenant
farms. Crops and livestock were not for
personal consumption, but for landlord
profit and rent. Farmers often subsisted
on a single acre relegated to a single
crop: potatoes. Rents increased and ten-
ants were ousted by absentee landown-
ers consolidating farmlands. Murphy
was modestly successful with long-term
leases, but not immune to such pres-
sures. Only his oldest son (of eight
children) could inherit the farm, leaving
younger siblings without opportunities.
The promise of land ownership, reli-
gious freedom, and a better life for his
children all factored into the difficult
and risky decision to emigrate and start
anew in Canada. Murphy could not
have imagined what lay ahead.
After 35 days sailing across the
cold North Atlantic in dank steerage,
the Murphy family arrived at Quebec
City in 1819. Because they had simply
moved from one part of the British
Empire to another, they were not
legally considered to be immigrants.
They joined other Irish Catholics
in Frampton, near Quebec. The St.
Lawrence River bottomlands were
soggy, while higher ground was rocky
and the soil of poor quality. Malaria
and cholera were a constant danger.
The weather was harsh. The Irish and
French Canadians of Lower Canada
did not assimilate well and anti-Irish
discrimination was prevalent in English-
dominated Upper Canada.
By 1840, Murphy’s attention was
fixed on America, a young country that
twice defeated England and enshrined
liberty and religious freedoms within
its borders. It promised fertile lands,
warmer weather and better health. The
Murphys traveled south to Missouri and
a settlement near St. Joseph known as
Irish Grove where harvests were bounti-
ful but fresh-plowed virgin farmland
released centuries’ worth of air-borne
pathogens including malaria and ague.
Disease claimed the lives of Martin’s
wife Mary and several grandchildren.
A Catholic priest visiting the grieving
Murphy clan told of better farming and
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
SPRING 2020
a safe haven for Catholics in a coastal
region known as California. Martin
Murphy’s spirit kindled like a peat
fire in an Irish cottage hearth, and his
desire to push westward took hold.
Historic diaries and memoirs chron-
icle how, in 1844, the Murphy family
joined a wagon train led by Elisha
Stephens and headed west. An Indian
named Truckee showed them a pass
in the Sierra Nevada Range through
which they maneuvered their wagons
and survived winter snowstorms to
arrive at Sutter’s Fort, Sacramento.
There, they were caught up in the Bear
Flag Rebellion, the Mexican War, and
ultimately, California’s independence
and eventual statehood.
As a Catholic, Murphy could obtain
Mexican citizenship, facilitating his
purchase of Mexican land grants. In
1845, he bought the Ojo de Agua
de la Coche rancho, located between
modern Morgan Hill and Llagas Creek,
from Juan Maria Hernandez. Murphy
called his estate San Martin in honor of
his patron saint, St. Martin of Tours.
The land acquisitions of his son
Daniel Murphy, the “Cattle King of
Nevada,” made him the world’s larg-
est landowner at that time. Daniel’s
daughter Diana Murphy and her
husband, Hiram Morgan Hill, built a
country home they called Villa Mira
Monte, facing Murphy’s Peak (El Toro
Mountain), which have become iconic
symbols of modern-day Morgan Hill.
After the discovery of gold in 1848,
several of the Murphys made fortunes
in placer mining as well as in lumber,
cattle ranching, wheat production and
trading. Throughout the Santa Clara
Valley the Murphys were revered for
their vision and works, establish-
ing Santa Clara College, Notre Dame
Academy for Girls, San Jose Normal
School, the county courthouse and
post office in San Jose, as well as the
foundations for the cities of Mountain
View and Sunnyvale.
When Martin Murphy Sr. died in
1865, he was mourned by thousands.
The gritty Irishman had realized
his dream, provided for his family,
and paved the way for progress in
California. Fortis et Hospitalis.
gmhtoday.com