When Mr. Murphy reached California he found the country in a state of rebellion. “The native Californians had revolted against Mexican rule, seized the government arms and ammunition stored at the Mission of San Juan Bautista and marched upon the capital. The Mexican military force in the country was small and Governor Micheltorena, fearing defeat, called for aid upon John A. Sutter, who had been a foreign resident in the country since 1839. Sutter responded, and with one hundred mounted men, mostly foreigners, hastened to the rescue.”
Mr. Murphy and his sons were of the number who journeyed southward, “making haste slowly” ’neath winter’s sun and showers through the fairest land on which the light of Heaven shone. They reached Los Angeles late in January or early in February, 1845. After the battle of Chauvenga and the overthrow of the Mexican administration, Mr. Murphy and his sons returned to Santa Clara valley. Here he found the glorious realization of his hopes in a soil of rare fertility and a climate equable and healthy, and here he made his home.
He purchased the Rancho Ojo de Agua de la Coche, Rancho San Francisco de las Llagas, Rancho de las Uvas, that portion of the San Ysidro ranch now known as Ba Polka, and one-sixteenth of the Rancho de Las Animas, a stretch of country extending from mountain top to mountain top east and west, and from the vicinity of Madrone station in the North to the present town of Gilroy in the South.
His home at the Ojo de Agua de la Coche was well known by all who traveled the Camina Real from Monterey to San Francisco, and its generous hospitality was shared by the distinguished men of all nations which held the balance of power during the formative period of our state’s existence, and who with decisive energy moulded its chaotic elements into the perfect whole which has made California the wonder of an admiring world.
Clergymen, distinguished soldiers, grave statesmen, and authors whose names are honored, loved to linger there. Bayard Taylor describing a ride made in company with Mr. Murphy to the summit of El Toro, the lofty peak near his home, draws a vivid picture of the wondrous beauty of hill and valley in his exquisite word painting.
In 1850, Helen Murphy became the wife of Capt. Charles W. Weber of Stockton, John M. Murphy married Virginia E. Backenstoe Reed, and in 1851 Daniel wedded Mary C. Fisher. In this year also Bernard, having revisited Canada, there married Catherine O’Toole. On his return to California he was accompanied by his sister, Mrs. Johanna Fitzgerald, who with her children came at her father’s request to share his loving care, she being recently widowed. Mrs. Kell had reached the Pacific in 1846, and the family were again citizens of one land.
April 11, 1853, Bernard, while en route to San Francisco, was killed by the explosion of the boiler of the steamer Jenny Lind, plying between Alviso and the city. With him was his nephew, Thomas Kell, who shared his sad fate.
In 1854, Mr. Murphy erected a commodious chapel on the San Martin ranch, that the Catholic families settled in the neighborhood might enjoy the consolation of religious instruction. It was visited monthly by the pastor of St. Joseph’s Church, San José, until 1856, when it was placed in charge of the pastor of San Juan Bautista, the Rev. Francis Mora, who later became bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles. In 1864, a resident pastor, Rev. Thomas Hudson, was appointed and a church erected in the town of Gilroy. St. Martin’s chapel was destroyed by an incendiary fire April 2, 1879.
To the last, Mr. Murphy never faltered in the performance of life’s daily duties. He personally attended to business, and his real estate in city and country benefitted by his immediate supervision. He saw to the details of the wearying lawsuits entailed in the quieting of land titles, making long journeys to distant parts of the state, paying with scrupulous exactness every claim, lest the shadow of wrong might rest upon him.
Notwithstanding his advanced age he never failed to keep the fast of Lent, and his charity to the poor was bounded only by his ability to help them. Food and shelter were never refused an applicant. He was his own almoner and broke his bread with the needy and the orphan. He shrank from public applause and press notoriety, and loved the quiet of peaceful country surroundings. His life in word and deed inculcated strict obedience to the commands of God, and a faithful compliance with the laws of the land.