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From: Sally Flynn <>
Subject: The Murphy Saga - Ancestor chat
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 08:35:07 +1100 (EST)

Well....I would like to talk to my g. grandfather John MURPHY, just
before I wring his neck as he has put me through many sleepless nights
wondering where he could have got to.
John was born 1842 Portland Vic so William Murphy and Catherine KELLY.
When John was aged about 15 the family moved to Lexton Vic where John became a blacksmith, and went on to marry Annie Matilda WARREN in 1871. They had 5 children and while
Annie was pregnant with the 6th child John did a bunk in 1883 to Sydney
taking his oldest child, 12yo George William with him. (When Annie Matilda died in 1.5.1893 as a result of an abortion there was an inquest into her death. I "believe" that this 6th child was not John's and that is why he left.)
John went on to meet and "marry" Esther Elizabeth DYER at St. Paul's Church
Sydney in 1886 and used the alias Frank GRAY.

John and Esther settled in Wyong and had two children, Elizabeth Violet
GRAY born 1887 and Francis Amos GRAY born 1889. (When Esther died in
1921, Elizabeth was called Margaret and Francis was called John). It
would appear that John worked for the railway. All went well until
Esther's father found out John was already married. John was charged and tried for bigamy and got 4 years hard labour. He went from Goulburn goal
24.1.1891, then Darlinghurst goal, then Maitland goal and finally to
Trail Bay goal and was released on 14.4.1894 on a "ticket of licence"
whatever that means. Then........not one thing. I have searched all
Vic. deaths and also purchased NSW deaths under both MURPHY and GRAY with no luck.
Where on earth did you go John? The strange thing is by the time you were
released from goal three of your son's from your first marriage were
living in NSW my grandfather being one of them.............Whispers from an uncle many moons ago were that my grandfather Andrew Walter put you in a "home"....... just give me a hint, which State and which home!
I have always got the feeling that your children understood why you left their mother. Am I correct with my feelings about why you left Annie Matilda? Did you ever see your two children that you fathered with Esther? What did you think when Esther married just 12 short months after you went to goal to Arthur MORRIS in Gosford, and had three children to him? Were you still alive when Arthur MORRIS died in 1899 and then Esther married Francis Bede NOLAN
at Godford in 1910 and had a son in 1911?

When Walter Andrew returned to Victoria around 1900, did you go with him? I read a newspaper article (Warrnambool Standard) saying Walter rode a bike from NSW to Vic. to visit his sister (Amelia Jane REID) who was at the time living at Timboon (later Warrnambool with her husband Joseph REID and children). Were you in any fit state to ride a bike that far or were you dead by then? Providing you were still alive when Walter Andrew meet and married Mabel BEAMES in 1904 at Timboon, did you move in with them?

Or did you stay in NSW with your oldest son George William MURPHY until he married Evelyn Agnes CASEY in 1909 in Chatswood NSW. On his wedding certificate George wrote that you were dead by then. Were you?

Did you stay with your other son Alfred Amos MURPHY who married Rose Evelyn HUGHES in Hillston NSW in 1899. Alfred has you alive on his wedding certificate.

And last but not least....where on earth did your daughter Maud Alice Mary MURPHY get to, I lost her in Warrnambool aged 18 in 1899.

........... You have a lot to answer for when I too roll up the toes.
Sally Flynn
Caloundra



Cheers
Sally Flynn


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• The Murphy Saga - Ancestor chat by Sally Flynn <>