USA > California > Santa Clara County > History of Santa Clara County, California : including its geography, geology, topography, climatography and description > Part 82
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Francis Butter Murdoch. Born in Cumberland, Alleghany county, Maryland, March 21, 1805. When about nineteen years of age he was sent to Bedford, Pennsylvania, where he attended an academy for some time, and studied law in the office of Judge Thomson, being afterwards admitted to the Bar of the Circuit and Supreme Court of that State. He subsequently moved to Berrien county, Michigan, and in connection with another proprie- tor, laid out its county seat-Berrien Springs. The ill-health of his wife obliged him to seek a more congenial climate. After her death, of consump- tion, he became a resident of the State of Illinois, and practiced in the courts of Madison county, and also of St. Louis, Missouri, and in this last State was also admitted into the United States District Court. In May, 1852, he crossed the plains to California, and settled in the month of September, 1852, in San Jose, and was admitted to the Bar of the District Court in San Fran- cisco, and also of Santa Clara county. A few weeks after arriving at San José Mr. Murdoch was induced by his Whig political associates, to take charge of a newspaper, and established and conducted the Sun Jose Weekly Telegraph in 1853. On the passage of Mr. Douglas' bill to repeal Mr. Clay's compromise bill of 1820, restricting slavery, he clearly foresaw the result would be the breaking up of old parties and the establishment of new parties, with the distinctive issue of free territory, and his paper openly assumed and maintained the principles subsequently adopted by the Republi- can party. Early in 1856, and before the meeting of the Republican National Convention, the Telegraph placed at the head of its columns the names of General J. C. Fremont for President, and Francis P. Blair, Sr. for Vice-Pres- ident. Mr. Murdoch continued to conduct that paper until the Fall of 1860, when he sold out, and retired from newspaper labors until 1863, when he established the San José Weekly Patriot, which was changed to a daily issue in a year or two, and was so continued until 1875, when he sold the Patriot to S. J. Hinds. In connection with others, two years ago he aided in establishing the San José Daily Times, but retired from it about six months afterwards.
Alexander Philip Murgotten. Whose portrait appears in this work, was born at La Gro, Indiana, February 10, 1846 (the mem- orable year in California history). Here he lived with his parents, until May 2, 1852, when in company with his mother and sister, Mary Helen, he started for California, via the Isthmus, to join his father whither he had gone in 1849. The means of locomotion in those days were some- what in contrast with the present. From his home he took the slow mov- ing canal boat to Toledo, thence to Albany by steamer, and from Albany by a rickety old railroad, to New York, where they took the steamer Independence for Aspinwall. At the latter place, he was placed in a basket,
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and a native swung it on his shoulders and started off on a dog trot for Panan a. Here his mother took her first lesson in muleback riding. At Panama they took passage on the steamer Columbia for San Francisco. The only incidents that can be remembered by him, as he was then but six years of age, were the appearance of a large whale alongside the vessel, and the drowning of a sailor. He was standing by the ratlins of the main mast watching a sailor as he was ascending the mast, when the sailor had about reached the maintop mast, he fell over backwards into the foamy sea. The sea was running very high, and he was soon carried far from the vessel. Young Murgotten saw the poor sailor's hand raised above his head as he rode the high waves, a great distance off, and attempted to point him out to the captain, but in an instant he was out of sight again forever. The scene was so indelibly impressed upon his mind, that time can never efface it. And though nearly thirty years ago, he can see the sailor's hand raised above the briny wave as plainly as though it were yesterday.
When the writer reached Placerville, which he did June 25, 1852, he was soon infused with the spirit of the times, that of money making, and was at that early age, seven years, engaged in selling Eastern papers, for Alex. Hunter, now dead. Then the New York Tribune and Herald and Missouri Republican were the favorite papers and brought from twenty-five to fifty cents cach, while the pictorials sold for fifty cents and one dollar each. From a newsboy he went into the peanut business, and collected many quarters and halves selling peanuts and candy, fruit, etc., in the old Empire Saloon, and among the miners at their camps, being supplied by old "Greek John," a familiar character in those days. After attending school for a number of years, our subject thought he would like to own a team, and be a wood merchant. The team was purchased and a stock of wood procured. The rains, of the memorable Winter of 1861-62 came, and the floods carried away about one hundred cords of his wood, which dampened his ardor in that line, so he thought he would try the forge. A month or two at the anvil convinced him that his delicate constitution would not allow of such muscular employment, so he found his way into a printing office, the old Mountain Democrat. Here he learned his trade, and in 1866 came to San José as an attache of the Argus office, the foremanship of which he held, and where he labored until he conceived the idea of starting The Pioneer, which he did in 1877, an account of which will be found elsewhere. Of Mr. Murgot- ten's antecedents, he is able to trace his lineage on his father's side, going back as far as his grandfather, who he finds was a soldier under the First Napo- leon, and banished to America, was wrecked off the Southern coast, and found his way into Baltimore, Maryland, where he married and raised a family of six sons and three daughters, four of whom are living, three in Maryland, and one in California. He died, in 1831, of cholera, the first appearance of
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that disease in Baltimore. On his mother's side the family name was Shaffer who, coming from Germany prior to the Revolution, settled in Pennsylvania. His great-grandfather, on his mother's side, was killed by the Indian allies of the British, during the Revolutionary War. His grandfather was a native born, and had four daughters and one son, four of whom are still alive. The father and mother, of Mr. Murgotten, still reside in Placerville, upon the same homesteadl they located upon twenty-nine years ago, with their chil- dren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, growing up around them, to cheer the venerable old pioneers in their declining years. Mr. Murgotten has been the Secretary of the Santa Clara County Pioneers since its organization; was, for five years, Grand Secretary of the Order of Champions of the Red Cross of California; and one year, Secretary of the Sinta Clara Valley Agri. cultural Society. He is at present Supreme Representative from the Grand Lodge of California Knights of Honor; and Incorporate Director of the Grand Lodge, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen of California.
Hon. B. D. Murphy. Mayor Murphy, of San José, was born in Que- bec, Cana la, March 1, 1841, and accompanied his grandfather. father, and the rest of the Murphy family, to Missouri, and afterwards, in 1844, to Cal- ifornia. After settling in San José, he was elected its Mayor, April 14, 1873, by the Democrats. In 1868 he was returned to the Assembly, when he polled two thousand two hundred and twenty-nine votes; and, in 1877, he was sent to the State Senate, with a total vote of three thousand two hun- dred and sixty-two. While holding the latter office, he was instrumental in securing the location of the State Normal School in San Jose. Besides this boon to the Garden City, he was one of the original founders of the San Jose Woolen Mills, and was a stock-holder in the concern until 1881. He is also interested in the Angora Robe and Glove Factory; and is President of the Commercial and Savings Bank as well. On the death of the eminent phil- anthropist, James Lick, Mr. Murphy was named by him one of the Trus- tees to his will, and so remained on the Trust until a new deed was executed. He was one of the chief movers in forwarding the road to the summit of Mount Hamilton. In 1862 Mr. Murphy studied law in the office of Will- iams & Thornton, and Campbell, Fox & Campbell, being "called" in 1865; he has, however, not practiced on account of his official duties. Married, in 1869, Annie McGeoghegan, and has living: Mary, Eveline, Martin, Elizabeth, and Gertrude. There are two deceased, Bernard and Thomas.
James Murphy. Was born in County Wexford, Ireland, September 19, 1809. In the year 1819 he emigrated to Cana la, and when twenty-four years of age removed to Maine, but returning to Canada for nine years he then moved to Holt county (now Atchison), Missouri, where locating, he went
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to Saint Joseph to take out lumber. In April, 1844, he set out for Califor- nia with ox-teams, and in December arrived at Sutter's Fort. Leaving his family here he joined Captain Sutter, and with him proceeded to Los Angeles under Governor Micheltorena and returned in the following March. Mr. Murphy now moved his family to San Rafael, Marin county, where he resided and engaged in the lumbering business, furnishing the timber for the first wharf built in San Francisco, Leidesdorf's. When the discovery of gold broke out he went to the mines, coming to Santa Clara county at the end of a year. Our subject now settled near San Jose, and in company with his brother Daniel purchased the ranch San Francisco de Las Llagas, near Gil- roy, but after a short time removed to San Jose and purchased five of the historical five-hundred-acre tracts about three miles from town, where he erected his present splendid residence in 1870. Married, April 12, 1839, Ann Martin, a native of Ireland, and has: Mary F., born in Canada, Febru- ary 4, 1842; Martin D., born in California, at Sutter's Fort, February 6, 1845 ; William B., born in California, at Ring Wood Farm, August 21, 1850; Lizzie A., born in California, at Ring Wood Farm, July 8, 1853; Julia A., born in California, at Ring Wood Farm, June 6, 1857; Daniel J., born in California, at Ring Wood Farm, April 25, 1861.
Martin Murphy, Senior. Martin Murphy, Sr., was born in the county of Wexford, Ireland, on the twelfth day of November, 1785. Mr. Murphy was married early in his native country and resided there until 1820, when he emigrated with his wife and six children, then born to him, to Lower Canada, and settled in the township of Frampton, near Quebec. He soon gathered around him a considerable Irish settlement in the midst of a Cana- dian-French population, where he continued to live until 1840, when incited by a love of Democratic institutions, he emigrated with his family to Holt county, Missouri, since divided into Holt and Atchison counties, where many of his old neighbors in Canada followed him and formed a prosperous settle- ment known as the Irish Grove. The country, however, was subject to the diseases common on the Mississippi and its tributaries, and the colony suffered a good deal from sickness, and here it was that Mr. Murphy had the misfortune to lose his noble wife, the mother of his numerous family. This event deter- mined him to make another change, and disposing of his effects and convert- ing them into cattle and wagons, he and his family formed the larger part of a train organized to cross the Continent and seek a new home on the shores of the Pacific. It was on the 6th of May, 1844, that the train led by the old patriarch left the Missouri river and started on its long and uncertain journey. It consisted of twenty-six wagons drawn by oxen, and the following persons were of the party: Martin Murphy, Sr. ; Martin Murphy, Jr., wife and four children; James Murphy, wife and child; Bernard Murphy, Daniel Murphy,
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John M. Murphy ; Helen Murphy, now Mrs. Weber of Stockton; James Miller and his wife, daughter of Martin Murphy, Sr .; Captain Stevens, now of Tulare county, who had general command of the party; John Sullivan, of San Francisco; Michael Sullivan, of San Jose; Dr. J. B. Townsend and wife, who died in San Jose; M. Schallenberger, William, Patrick, and Denis Martin, Allen N. Montgomery and wife, and some forty others, all more or less well known on the roll of California's Pioneers. The journey across the plains was a pleas- ant one and without accident, or molestation from the Indians, and the com- pany arrived in safety in the month of November of that year at Sutter's Fort, on the Sacramento. The party crossed the mountains by the Donner Lake route, making their own road as they progressed, for at the sink of the Humboldt, all indications of a trail ceased. They brought the whole of their wagons across the mountains and made the first wagon tracks in California. At. Sntter's Fort they learned that the country was in a state of war, that the native Californians under Alvarado had risen against Micheltorena, the Mexican Governor, and were endeavoring to drive him out of the country. The emigrants immediately enlisted in the Mexican service, and leaving the women at the fort, marched to Los Angeles, where they arrived late in Jan- uary or early in February, 1845. After the battle of Chauvengo, Mr. Mur- phy and his sons returned northward and settled in Santa Clara county, at the Rancho Ojo de Agua de la Coche, which he purchased and where he resided for a number of years. Always noted for his kindness and hospi- tality, Mr. Murphy's house, which was situated on the great road leading north and south, was one of the most noted at that early day in California. An abundance of the goods of this world awarded the old man's labors, and his children too have been liberally blessed in this way. In 1854 he erected on the San Martin Ranch a neat and commodious chapel and donated a tract of land for a graveyard. San Martin's Chapel was destroyed by an incen- diary, April 2, 1877. Mr. Murphy was in many respects a remarkable man. He was always gentlemanly, always kind and considerate, with a countenance singularly mixed with an expression of gravity, gentleness and cheerfulness. We do not think he ever hal an enemy, we never heard of one, we never heard any one speak of him except in terms of the highest respect. Truthfulness, conscientiousness and natural goodness, in its broad sense charity, were prominent marks in his character. We never heard him say an unkind word of a single being, living or dead, we have often heard him utter a word of excuse or apology, something to extenuate when others were condemning. Certainly that was a most beautiful Christain trait in his character and it is not to be wondered at that such a man should live beloved and respected and die regretted. Mr. Murphy died at the residence of his son-in-law, Thos. Kell, near San Jose, on Thursday, March 16, 1865, and on Saturday, March the 18th, his remains were followed to their last
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resting place, in the Catholic cemetery at Santa Clara, by an immense con- course of mourners. In token of respect for the deceased, and in order that all who desired might attend the funeral, the County Court adjourned imme- diately at the opening on Saturday.
John McCarty. Born in County Cork, Ireland, June 24, 1828, and immigrated to the United States in 1849, first settling in Lynn, Massachu- setts, where he resided five years. He then came to California by way of the Nicaragua route, in 1853, and soon found employment in a saw-mill at Bolinas, Marin county ; thence he proceeded to San Francisco ; afterwards to Benicia and Suisun, Solano county; then to Sacramento, Marysville, Wy- andotte, Springtown, and Mountain Spring, and back to Sacramento, where he purchased a team after a year's work, and commenced peddling fruit to Grass Valley and Nevada City. Selling out at the end of twelve months, he found employment in the hoisting works of the Allison Ranch mine, but leaving this occupation in September, 1859, he returned to the Eastern States; however, the following year saw him back in Grass Valley. From there he went to Napa; from there to San José, Santa Clara county, and was variously employed until 1863, when he purchased a ranch in Evergreen, on which he resides. It comprises seven hundred and eighteen acres of ground, divided into stock range and arable land. Married, in 1863, Mary Gaveney, and has no issue.
Judge Lewis D. McKisick. The subject of our sketch, though not a pioneer of California, is descended from a pioneer family of his native State. His grandfather, Daniel MeKisick, having served with distinction throughout the Revolutionary war as a Captain in the North Carolina line, and after the war, having served in the Senate and Assembly of that State as the rep- resentative of the then great county of Lincoln, down to 1799; in the year 1800 removed with his family and settled in what is now Bedford county, Tennessee, then the heart of the Indian country. Doctor Wilson H. McKisick, the father of the Judge, settled in Henderson county, Tennessee, in 1828, where the subject of our sketch was born, March 7, 1829. His mother having died in 1836, with a younger brother, he was sent to reside with his maternal grandparents, in the State of Alabama, where they remained until 1841, when they returned to Henderson county, Tennessee, and entered the academy at Lexington, the county town. After remaining there less than a year, the Judge went to the country and worked on a farm for some years, going to school when he could, and availing himself of every opportunity to improve his education, which he finally completed at the Lexington Academy in 1850. In 1851 he was elected by the Trustees Principal of that school, which he conducted for one year, in
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the meantime devoting all his spare time to the study of the law. In 1852 he enterel the office of Honorable Return J. Meigs, a distinguished lawyer of Nashville, Tennessee, with whom he remainel a year. In 1835 he attended a term of the Law School of Cumberland University at Leb- anon, Tennessee. At the end of the term passel a successful ex umina- tion before Judges R. L. Caruthers of the State Supreme Court B. L. Ridley, one of the Chancellors, and Nathaniel Baxter, one of the Cir- cuit Judges, and was by them license.l to practice in all the courts of the State. He first opened an office at Lexington in his native county, was then a lmitted to the Bar of the Circuit anl Chancery Courts in the Fall of 1853, anl to the Bur of the Supreme Court of the State at Jackson in the Spring of 1854. He remained at Lexington, doing fairly well, for about two years, and then removed to Point Henry county, Tennessee. From there he was induced to remove to Memphis about the first of November, 1858, where he continued to reside, engaged in professional pursuits, until the 11th of July, 1879. In 1875 the Legislature of Tennessee created a Court of Arbitration, or Commission of Appeals, to consist of three judges to aid the Supreme Court in disposing of the large mass of civil business which had accumulated on its docket. The first knowledge which Judge MeKisiek had that his name had been mentioned to the Governor, Honorable James D. Porter, in connection with this tribunal, was the information that he had been appointed one of the members of the Court. The existence of the Court was limited to a short perio l. The Commissioners discharged their duties with so much satisfaction to the Bar and to the people, that in 1877 the Legislature re-created the Court, to continue for two years. Judge MeKisiek was again appointed, and was by his associates elected Chief Jus- tice, which position he filled during the existence of the Court. The business of the Supreme Court being still behind, the Legislature again, in 1879, passed an Act re-creating the Court. An appointment was again tendered to the Judge by Governor Marks, which was, however, declined. The Gov- ernor, however, shortly afterwards sent to him, which he accepted, a com- mission as Special Judge of the Supreme Court, to hear causes in which one of the regular Judges of the Court was incompetent. This was in June, 1879. In July of that year the yellow fever became epidemic in Memphis for the fourth time during the period of the Judge's residence in that city. Satis- fied that Memphis is within the yellow fever zone, and that it will be subject to visitations of that dreadful scourge for all time, he felt it to be a duty which he owed to his wife and children to remove with them to a locality free from an epidemie disease, about which all that is known, is that it comes and kills-the first and only safe prescription which the physician gives, after he learns of its presence is : "Go, and stand not on the order of your going." Having been thus admonished, on the morning of the 10th
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of July, within less than twenty-four hours the Judge was on his way with his family, to the mountains of East Tennessee. Having settled his wife and children in comfortable quarters for the Summer, he set about seeking a new home, and having long desired to visit California, he determined first to prospect that State. He came, and was so much pleased with San Jose and the beautiful valley surrounding the Gar- den City, that he made up his mind to return for his family and settle here, without returning to Memphis, and on the 23rd October, 1879, while the fever was still desolating their late home, they became citizens of their new one. The Judge soon after his arrival formed a partnership with Judge B. P. Rankin, which still continues. He was admitted by the Supreme Court, in 1879, to practice in all the Courts of the State. He has been a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States for several years. He was first married June 25, 1855, to Cornelia, a native of the same county in which he was born, and daughter of the late Honorable C. H. Williams. She died July, 1862. By this union there is one surviving son, Christopher W., born October 17, 1858. February 1, 1866, he was married to his present wife, Lizzie, a daughter of Honorable Robertson Topp, late of Memphis. She was then the widow of Colonel William B. Ross, who was killed at the battle of Murfreesboro or Stone View, to whom a posthumous daughter, Miss Willie B. Ross, a member of the Judge's family, was born February 22, 1863. By this union there are now living, four sons and one daughter. Lewis, born November 17, 1866; Robertson Topp, born January 18, 1871; Harmon, born April 7, 1872; Madeline, born September 15, 1875 ; and Donald, born in San Francisco, October 29, 1880.
Albert B. McNeil. Born in Sandusky, Ohio, August 11, 1850. His mother died at St. Louis, when he was but nine years of age, and together with three brothers, he resided for some time with relatives, at Unionville, Lake county, Ohio. His father having married again, Mattoon, Illinois, was then his home for several years, and until he began learning the printer's trade, in 1866, when he went to Chicago and finished his apprenticeship. Working at his trade, and corresponding with different newspapers (at one time being connected with the Chicago Times), Mr. McNeil traveled through most of the Eastern and Southern States, arriving on this coast, from New Orleans, in June, 1876. He at once connected himself with the Sun José Mercury, in the capacity of associate editor, which position he held for nearly two years, when, with a younger brother, he established himself in the print- ing business, at No. 372 First street. The San Jose Republic, started by A. B. and H. H. McNeil, was a six-column, eight-page weekly, and, although a fine publication, was of short life. Confining their attention thereafter to job printing, the firm of McNeil Brothers, gradually established a specialty
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in Druggists' Labels, which is now their principal business, their trade extend- ing all over the Pacific coast, some ten to fifteen hands being in their employ. In October, 1879, their establishment was moved to larger quarters, in Knox Block, where it still remains. January 1, 1881, Mr. McNeil bought out his brother, and although the firm name remains McNeil Brothers, the subject of our sketch now conducts the business alone.
J. M. Ogan. Was born in Boone county, Missouri, April 6, 1835, and is the oldest son of Alexander and Sarah Ogan. When quite young. his parents moved to Linn county, Missouri, where the subject of our sketch received his primary education, and was raised a farmer. On May 12, 1852, in company with his parents he crossed the Missouri river en route for California. The journey across the plains was a very pleasant one, save a little sickness from the cholera, when two out of the company, with which they were traveling, fell vietims to the dread disease. After arriving at Hangtown, now Placer- ville, on September 20th, the company divided, and the subject of this sketch proceeded to this county. They located on a portion of the old homestead. In 1856-57, after J. M. became of age, he located a ranch in the hills, east of San José, where he made his home until the Fall of 1869, when he moved his family to the valley. In 1859 he returned to his native State an I county, being absent two years. He then re-crossed the plains. and is now living upon the farm vacated by his deceased father, and comprising one hundred and sixty acres. He marrie l, February 7, 1851, Miss N. E. Dryden, a native of Missouri, and has: Henry Walter, born February 16, 1862; Archer C., born December 25, 1863, and died April 29, 1866; William E., born Decem- ber 11, 1865; Laura J., born September 22, 1867; Charles A., born May 4, 1870: Albert R., born July 2, 1872; and Frederick J., born April 3, 1875; His father, Alexander Ogan, was born in Madison county, Kentucky, in 1800, and departed this life, on May 5, 1874. His wife is still living.
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