Sorry I am late to this party! I see that Michael and Lyn and others have Cahir Murphys. My Murphy ancestors came from Cahir at the same time, and my Catherine O'Brien may be one of the two mentioned. Here is what I have: John Murphy, born late 1700s in/near Cahir to a family of stone masons, married Catherine O’Brien in Cahir circa 1800. (Evidently a different Catherine O’Brien from the one mentioned above, who married Martin Murphy in 1811. Perhaps the earlier of the two? But see below)
There were reportedly seven sons, of which my ancestor John B. Murphy (b. circa 1820, I heard) was one of the elders. NB The birth date of 1820 for an older son makes little sense if his parents were married ca. 1800, but I am just setting down what was told to my great great uncle.
John B. Murphy (the son) came to America before 1840. His father John Murphy reportedly came ca. 1833 and worked in construction. We were told that all the brothers eventually came. Their mother Catherine O’Brien never came, and died in Ireland (no date here). John B. Murphy (d. 1889) is my ancestor through his daughter by a first marriage, Kate Margaretta Murphy (b. 10/15/1848). Kate’s mother’s name may have been Margaret Driscoll. There is some conflicting information re. whether Kate M. was born in Ireland or not. If John B. were already in America before 1840 that may have been difficult. But I should be able to find out, with help.
John B.’s younger brother William Joseph Murphy was baptized in Cahir on 10/8/1830, and later took his mother’s name of O’Brien. He joined the British army in 1846, came to the USA in 1855, married Mary Conway here in 1866, and died 1899. His son Monsignor Wm. F. O’Brien was born 1872, and served in North Carolina and elsewhere. (Mary came from Cahirciveen/Cahersiveen in Kerry and was a cousin of Daniel O’Connell, whose ggf John married Elizabeth Conway.)
I know the names of no other brothers of John B. Murphy at this point, nor anyone else. Clearly the information is not perfect. I have not yet gone to the databases; I just got this from my mother. Msgr O’Brien wrote that when he attended a Eucharistic conference in Ireland in 1932 he went and and looked over the family records at St Mary’s in Cahir. That is where he saw his father's baptismal information.
There seem to have been a lot of Murphys in Cahir, at least originally. The population dropped so quickly in the 1840s and after that it is not surprising that there weren’t many Murphys listed in 1850.
If anyone has a connection or can direct me to a document, please let me know. Fron internal evidence alone I can't tell which Catherine O'Brien mught have been mine, but the age of 20 at marriage to John Murphy seems more likely than an age of 16, but I don't know whether late or early marriage was common.
Simon in New York
PS One of Ireland’s Victoria Cross recipients, Michael Murphy, was born in Cahir ca. 1837 to Michael Murphy, a blacksmith. He had a younger sister named Mary. Murphy won the Cross at Nathapur, during the Mutiny, though it was taken from him for a conviction for theft (posthumously restored). See Wikipedia. So we have even more Cahir Murphys to deal with!
