Contents |
John MURPHY was born on 17th May 1851 to parents James MURPHY and Elizabeth KENNEDY at Shoalhaven, New South Wales. He was baptised by Rev E Luchie on 12th June 1851 at St Francis Xaviour Church in Wollongong. The sponsors at the baptism were James GREEN and Lucy BAILIE (possible relatives via FOLEY's).
John joined the NSW Police, Northern Districts on 5 Aug 1873, registration number 2294. The police records provided the following information recorded upon entry to the force:
He was appointed as a Probationary constable on 5 Mar 1873, and became a Constable on 5 Aug 1873. Later, appointed a constable 1st class on 1 Mar 1879.
John married Rebecca CASSIDY on 23 JUN 1880 at Wellingrove, New South Wales. Witnesses to the marriage were John Cassidy and Maggie Cassidy (brother and sister of Rebecca), before James Kelly officiating minister. John and Rebecca had seven children together:-
John and his family moved around northern NSW due to his job and probably resided in Grafton, Lismore and Bundarra. At the time of his marriage in 1880 he was described as a 'trooper' from Glen Innes. He also spent time at the Wardell Police Station where he was presented with a gold watch by the local residents. The watch was at one time in the possession of his grandson Laurie Roberts, who noted the transcription as follows:-
John was promoted to Senior Constable on 1st Aug 1884. The records indicate that he was demoted to ordinary Constable on 31 May 1886 and dismissed on the same day. There are no details as to the cause of the dismissal listed in the Police Gazette records held at the State Records Office.
By April 1891 the family had moved to Sydney and were living at 198 Union Street, MacDonaldtown at the time his son John Bede MURPHY was born, who died soon after aged 5 months.
By 1897 the family had moved to Smithfield, New South Wales, recorded when John was the informant of his son Lionel's death, aged 16 years. By this time he is working as a labourer.
By 1909 the family had moved to Petersham and were living at 21 Manchester St at the time of his death on the 9th July. The death certificate indicated that he died from Injuries occurred through accidentally falling in the street.
John was buried at Rookwood Cemetery, Catholic Section on the 10th July 1909, in the same grave as his son Lionel. Unfortunately, there is no inscription on the headstone.
A coronial inquest was held at the City Coroners Court, conducted by Stephen Murphy on 14th July 1909. The verdict was effect of injuries accidentally recieved through falling down at the corner of Maddock and Gelding Streets Petersham. Locality of death, 21 Manchester Street. The coroner has noted in the remarks column intemperance.
All official documents during his life recorded his name as John MURPHY. However some family photographs are noted on the back as John B Murphy. Funeral notices placed by two of his sisters Elizabeth DAVIS and Margaret FOLEY state his name was John Bede MURPHY. There has been some suggestion that his middle name may have been 'Bateman' but I can find no reference to this.
Maternal and paternal lines are confirmed back to his parents the ancestral couple James Murphy and Elizabeth Bateman, by matches with four of his grandchildren and a descendant of his sister Eiizabeth.[1]
Thank you to Veronica Williams for creating WikiTree profile Murphy-4073 through the import of CASSIDY and SWEENEY 4_2013-08-13_2013-08-16.ged on Aug 16, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Veronica and others.
This week's featured connections are Redheads: John is 20 degrees from Catherine of Aragón, 22 degrees from Clara Bow, 19 degrees from Julia Gillard, 16 degrees from Nancy Hart, 19 degrees from Rutherford Hayes, 16 degrees from Rita Hayworth, 20 degrees from Leonard Kelly, 17 degrees from Rose Leslie, 19 degrees from Damian Lewis, 22 degrees from Maureen O'Hara, 22 degrees from Jopie Schaft and 37 degrees from Eirik Thorvaldsson on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
Categories: Shoalhaven, New South Wales | Wollongong, New South Wales | Wellingrove, New South Wales | Wardell, New South Wales | Glen Innes, New South Wales | Grafton, New South Wales | Lismore, New South Wales | Bundarra, New South Wales | MacDonaldtown, New South Wales | Smithfield, New South Wales | Petersham, New South Wales | Rookwood Catholic Cemetery, Rookwood, New South Wales