The Story of Matthew Murphy

(born 1814, Portarlington, Kings Co., Ireland;

died January 18, 1887, Britannia, Nepean Twp., Ontario, Canada)

Matthew Murphy was from a Protestant family, of the Church of England denomination. We think they left Portarlington, Ireland, about 1825, possibly via the port of Newry bound for New York, when Matthew was 10 years old. We know they arrived in the Bytown area in 1828.

We know that Matthew's parents are "Thomas and Julia Murphy", due to this information on the marriage registration for Matthew's 2nd marriage, that took place in 1875 when Matthew was 60!

The registers of Christschurch, Bytown, record that Thomas Murphy, a shoemaker aged 56, died on May 12, 1833. This information places his year of birth at about 1777. We also know that he too was born in Kings County, Ireland.

As far as Thomas' wife, Julia, is concerned, we don't know much yet. We have her burial record at ChristChurch, Aylmer, that records the date of her death (Feb 25 1864) and her age at her death (77), which places her year of birth around 1788. we only have one other definite record of Julia Murphy, which is in the Census of Aylmer in 1851. She and her youngest son Henry (a tinsmith) were living in Aylmer at that time. Julia is listed as "Julia G. Murphy" but we do not -- as yet -- know her middle or maiden names.

Alas -- Henry died a short time later, on September 17th 1854, at the age of 33. Presumably, since Julia was still alive (in her late seventies), John Murphy and his 2nd wife, Abigail Draper, who were also living in Aylmer, must have taken over her care. As mentioned above, her burial record refers to her as a resident of Aylmer.

According to historical sources ("History of the Upper Ottawa" by Anson Gard), Matthew, his father, five brothers and a sister arrived in the Bytown area around 1828. These are the children of Thomas and Julia that we're pretty sure of:

• John (b. 1809; d. 1881, Ottawa, Ontario)
• William
• Simon
• Thomas Jr. (b. Abt 1813, Kings Co., Ireland; d. Aug. 3, 1871, Ottawa, Ontario)
• Matthew (b. 1814, Portarlington, Kings Co., Ireland; d. January 18th, 1887, Nepean Twp., Ontario)
• Edward Henry "Henry"(b. Abt 1821; d. Sept. 17, 1854)

This matches the historical account of Anson Gard quite well, leaving unknown the sister that we are still searching for.

Of Matthew's siblings, we know most of all about his brother John. Matthew worked with John at the trading post of Ithamar Day, formerly of the Northwest Company, at Deschenes. Ithamar Day was an American, and a close friend of the infamous John Lebreton, who owned the grist mill at Britannia across the river. The site of Lebreton's mill would later became the site of a short-lived lumber mill and is now the location of the Britannia Yacht Club.

Matthew's brother John was known as "John the Penman" due to his writing skills, which were only one of his celebrated talents. (Read his story here: "John "The Penman" Murphy")

Matthew Murphy's early life is not as well known. Family tradition has it that he worked on the Erie Canal (in New York State) and perhaps on the Welland Canal in the Niagara area as well. It should be said that the main work on the Erie Canal was completed by 1825 (when Matthew was only 11!) so we feel that must be wrong. If Matthew ever worked on the Erie Canal, it is could only be as part of an expansion project that was begun circa 1835.

There is historical data concerning his visit to Queenston Heights in June 1839 during a trip through the USA and the Canadas, reportedly with his brother Simon.

During this trip, Matthew became moderately famous. As separately documented in this Website, Matthew climbed the ruins of the Brock Monument at Queenston Heights to plant the British flag. The monument had been partially destroyed earlier in 1840 by political dissidents. The public outrage at this desecration (since 1826 it was also the Brock's tomb) led to the site being the venue for the "Great Brock Meeting" on July 30th, 1840, held to announce and promote the land reforms that would result in the 1842 union of Canada East and Canada West.

And so Matthew played his small part in this historical event. The Brock monument was later fully rebuilt and visitors can now climb much more safely by an interior stairwell. (Read the story of "A Bytown Youth!")

Matthew married Elizabeth Catherine "Betsy" Ebert on June 27th, 1842, at Christschurch in Bytown. Elizabeth was the daughter of Martin Jr. Ebert and Roxanne Waller. The wedding was performed by Anglican minister "the Reverend Samuel Spratt Strong", who was later to baptise many of the children of this marriage in the same church. Listed as in attendance appear the following: "Henry Murphy", "Christiana Cuming", "James Murphy", "Simon Murphy", "Thomas Murphy", "John Murphy" and "William Murphy". Matthew made "his mark" on the wedding register, which tells us that he was not literate at that time. (However, the 1861 Census record would indicate Matthew had learned both to read and to write sometime after his marriage!). Elizabeth Ebert was listed in the register as being a resident of Clarendon Township of Canada East at the time of her marriage, but we are reasonably sure that she was born in Utica, Oneida County, New York, in 1815.

Matthew and Elizabeth had eight children:

1. William (b. 12 Nov 1843, Bytown; d. 3 Dec 1920, Britannia)
2. Eliza Harriet(b. 18 Nov 1845; d. 1869, Nepean)
3. James Cornelius (b. 3 Aug 1847, Aylmer; d. 15 May 1927, Woodroffe)
4. Ester Louisa (b. 2 Jan 1850)
5. Caroline Amelia (b. 15 Jan 1852)
6. Edward Armstrong (b. 21 Dec 1854)
7. Matthew Jr."Mattie"(b. 1857)
8. John Albert "Albert" (b. 12 Jan 1860; d. 1941)

It is tempting to wonder whether Matthew first encountered Elizabeth while he worked on the Erie Canal, which passes close by Utica, New York. But this is unlikely, since Elizabeth's youngest brother was born in Lower Canada in 1830, still more evidence that the Martin Ebert family had arrived in the Canadas at nearly the same time as the Murphys. The Ebert family had settled in Clarendon Township, at Concession 2 on the north shore of the Ottawa River, near Shawville. Matthew's elder brother John had married Elizabeth's younger sister Esther in 1837, which was more likely the source of the connection.

From the Baptismal Registers of ChristChurch, Bytown, we know that the first child of Matthew and Elizabeth -- William Henry -- was born and baptised in Bytown in November 1843. The next child, Eliza "Harriet", was baptised at Fitzroy Harbour in November 1845. We believe that Matthew was working for Fitzroy founder and landowner Charles Shirreff during this period, perhaps one of several men from adjacent townships who were known to have cleared Shirreff's lands for wages.

Matthew may have been one of the workers on Shirreff's canal project to bypass Chat's Falls, which could be the source of the tradition that he was involved in canal construction. According to historical sources, the work on this canal was abandoned in 1847 on the death of the project's sponsor, John Egan. In any case, the family had indeed returned to the Bytown area by the time of the birth of their third child, James Cornelius Murphy, in August 1847, where the record shows he was baptised at ChristsChurch, Bytown.

The 1852 Census of Bytown contains a record of the Matthew Murphy family in the Bytown West division. Matthew's name shows correctly in the primary documents but the transcription that is the basis for many public indexes to the 1851 census contains a very confusing error that lists "Matthew" as "Martin". (In other words, the spelling of Matthew's name in the index is incorrect but is correct in the original document). Along with the transcription error in the index, there is another, more serious error that has caused us to overlook this census entry repeatedly when searching for the Matthew Murphy family. This one cannot be blamed on faulty transcription! The original census record indicates the family of Matthew and Elizabeth Murphy as "Roman Catholic". We should explain that a unique feature of the 1851 Census was that it was to have been actually completed by the individual householders and later collected by the census takers (rather than the census taker visiting each household, interviewing the inhabitants and recording the responses, as in the later censuses). Householders who could not read or write were instructed to get others to complete and sign the census form, and to indicate also the name of the person who had recorded the information. In this case, Matthew Murphy is indicated as having provided the information but another person completed and signed the form. We cannot know whether this person selected this Murphy family's religious affiliation as "Roman Catholic" due to an assumption or to play some malicious prank. We can only guess at the consequences of this error. Perhaps this incident was the reason Matthew learned to read and write! At this Census, Matthew's occupation is listed as "Raft pilot".

By the 1861 Census of Nepean, the Matthew Murphy family had moved to Lot 25, Concession 2, Ottawa Front. This location was then a farm to the southwest of the intersection of March Road (now called Carling Avenue) and Woodroffe Avenue. The census records that their dwelling was "of log construction, 1 1/2 stories". Even as late as 1860, "Woodroffe Avenue" did not continue southward from March Road to Baseline Road. But the map of Nepean in the 1879 Belden atlas shows that there was some sort of thoroughfare (probably passable on horseback) between lot 25 and lot 26 to the east.

Oddly, the 1861 census further records that Matthew declared his religion as "Church of England" while Elizabeth and all of the children were "Wesleyan Methodist". A sign of the times is that William (aged 16) and Eliza Harriet (aged 14) are no longer attending school while James (12), Esther (10) and Caroline (8) still are. There were limits to the education available at the time. "The City Beyond" contains a map series that shows the school district boundaries in different decades. Based on their home's location, their school was SS #3 at Mosgrove on the Richmond Road. According to historical accounts (such as the "The City Beyond"), in most schools the "desks were angled planks that ran along the side walls, at which the children sat on benches made of split basswood logs, facing the walls". This is a description of the earliest version of SS#3, built around 1834, that all of the Murphy children would have attended, their education long over before the stone school was built in 1887.

According to "Hello, Nepean" by Sara Craig (p 81), the SS#3 school as it was in the late 1850's "was a one-room log affair and had such wide cracks between the logs that, on a bitterly cold day in winter, the benches had to be moved close to the stove to keep the children from freezing."

The caption: But the schoolhouse at Mosgrove shown above, known as "Bell's Schoolhouse" (like its log predecessors, built on land donated by George and Peter Bell), was a stone structure built in 1887 to replace the old log schoolhouse. Here the children of the affluent citizens of the Richmond Road can be seen attending school in relative luxury! This building still stands near Bayshore, now converted to a dwelling. SS#3 was both the oldest and the most progressive school in rural Nepean.

In any case, the former Matthew Murphy farm in Nepean was probably among those devastated by the great fire of August 1870. Historical accounts relate that all properties along the Richmond Road were burned. The 1871 Census indicates many changes in the 10 years spanning Canadian Confederation.

But before the time of the 1870 fire or the 1871 census, Matthew Murphy and family had left Nepean. According to "Pioneers of the Upper Ottawa", Matthew and family had relocated to South Hull in 1868. We can see from the land registry that Matthew Murphy sold his property (Lot 25, Concession 2, Ottawa Front) in 1865. Bruce Elliot's "The City Beyond" records that there was considerable redevelopment and land subdivision taking place to establish Hintonburg and McKellar Park in 1868.

The Belden Atlas for Nepean records "R & G. Sparks" as the owner of the northern section of Lot 25 (120 acres). According to the land registry records, the land was sold several more times before Robert and George Sparks purchased the lands in 1878. Examination of the Belden atlas and comparison of the earlier 1861 ordinance map shows that the two original houses along the March Road (whether lost in the 1870 fire or simply demolished) had been replaced with a single, larger house set back further from the road.

From our frequently quoted source, "Pioneers of the Upper Ottawa", we find that the Murphy family went to the McConnell farm "in South Hull" in 1868. We located and viewed the 1871 Census records for South Hull and Aylmer in the National Archives of Canada and have confirmed that two of our Murphy families (that of Matthew and also that of his married eldest son William) both lived in the same dwelling on the John McConnell farm (Lot 13, Concession 1) as farm help. This farm was located on the north side of the Ottawa River, about halfway between the Deschęnes Rapids and where the Champlain Bridge is today. The Rivermead Golf club was built on the McConnell farm's lands and used the old farmhouse as a clubhouse for the first few years of its operation.

Who were Reuben and Sarah McKeown?

Along with the crowded conditions on the McConnell farm, we found an unexpected mystery in these 1871 census records. The household of Matthew and Elizabeth apparently had an adopted son, Reuben McKeown, aged 2 and a daughter, Sarah McKeown, aged 1. Who could they be?

Before we try to answer this riddle, we should warn the reader that we have only enough scraps of information sufficient to over-excite our speculations but not enough for any definite resolution. According to "Pioneers of the Upper Ottawa", Matthew and Elizabeth's eldest daughter, Eliza Harriet, married one "Reuben McEwen". (We believe this is the same Reuben McEwen, aged 18, who is listed in the 1861 census two doors away from the Murphys at Concession 2, Lot 23, Ottawa Front.) The Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register further documents that Reuben and Eliza had a son, Reuben, born on March 6th, 1869 in Nepean. By this time, as we know, Matthew and Elizabeth had already moved to South Hull. Matthew had already sold the farm by 1865, so Reuben McEwen and Harriet presumably lived elsewhere in Nepean, possibly on McEwen family farm at Concession 2, Lot 23.

Turning again to "Hello, Nepean" (pp 83-84), local historian Sara Craig provides us with a glimpse of what happened next:

Now what just happened? There are potentially two individuals from Concession 2 who could have been called "Mrs. Reuben McEwen": Eliza "Harriet" Murphy (b 1845) who married Reuben McEwen Sr. or his mother, Mary McEwen (b 1821), wife of Reuben's father Daniel McEwen. Remember our theory is they are both living on the same farm.

If it weren't for the fact of the recently-adopted children, we would think that the elder lady would be the more likely victim. But let's explore another possibility: could Eliza "Harriet" have been the one who died in the bitter winter of 1869-70? The timing of Reuben Jr's birth (a little more than 3 weeks after the Whelan hanging and still within the 40 days and 40 nights of the unrelenting "flood" of snow) would aptly fit a scenario of a death in childbirth.

The second scenario is dramatically tempting. But we must be careful to use the scant facts that have come down to us to read the story. What relevant facts do we have and what are we missing?

We have a baptismal record for Reuben on April 5, 1869 in Nepean which lists his birthplace as "parent's residence, Nepean".

But if Reuben McEwen was indeed born March 6, 1869 and Eliza Murphy McEwen died during that winter storm (whether in childbirth or soon afterward), the only explanation for Sarah McKeown / McEwen is that Reuben and Sarah were born as twins. We see no further record of Sarah. Yet (if they were twins, and Sarah had survived for at least long enough to be enumerated in the 1871 Census of South Hull) surely Reuben and Sarah would have been baptised together. Also, it strikes me that the reference to the mother in the baptismal record would have indicated in some appropriate way that the child's mother was recently deceased.

We have an anecdotal reference to the circumstances of the death of a "Mrs. Reuben McEwen" in a particular time period and location. Can we substantiate this? Birth and death registration was not required by the government until 1875, but we can search for funeral service or burial records because at least one of these Mrs. McEwens must have died between March 6, 1869 and the spring of 1870. If it were the elder lady, then the younger must have also died within the following year and there would be additional records.

We have not been able to locate a burial record or surviving burial monument for any "Eliza McEwen" or "Harriet McEwen" in Bells Corners, nor is there a "Mary McEwen". There are several headstones listed as "unknown" due to their deteriorated condition in October 2002 when the monuments at Bells Corners Union Cemetery were photographed by Scott Naylor. So we have to widen our net.

One solid piece of evidence is that Mary McEwen is alive and well in the 1871 Census of Nepean at Concession 2, Part of Lot 23, Ottawa Front. And son "Ruben" (sic) listed as aged 30 and "widowed" in the same household as his parents seems to jive with the conclusion that the "Mrs. Reuben McEwen" mentioned in Sara B. Craig's history must have been Eliza Harriet McEwen (nee Murphy). Harriet must be the unfortunate "Mrs. Reuben McEwen" who died in the storm. This leaves us with the unanswered question of "Sarah McKeown/McEwen" to contend with! Whether Harriet died in childbirth, or shortly after, the only possible explanation for the existence of Sarah can be that she was a fraternal twin of Reuben. Why is there no baptismal record for her? Were the infants separated for a time, to be later reunited within the Matthew Murphy household?

Matthew and Elizabeth (living in South Hull in March 1869 at Reuben Jr.'s birth) would naturally have taken Reuben Jr. and Sarah(their first grandchildren) into their home. Supporting this theory, Reuben McKeown (aged 2) and Sarah McKeown (less than 1 year old) are shown living as adopted children of Matthew Murphy and Elizabeth Ebert in the 1871 Census of South Hull.

Reuben McEwen Sr.remarried in 1875 in the Brockville area and brought his second wife to settle again in Nepean.

Marriage of James Cornelius Murphy and Fanny McConnell

To a more cheerful topic. Our g-grandfather James Cornelius Murphy, 2nd son of Matthew Murphy and Elizabeth Ebert went on to marry the farmer's daughter -- the eldest daughter of the John McConnell family, Frances Ann ("Fanny") McConnell. At the time of the 1871 census of South Hull, James is still listed as part of the Matthew Murphy household. But James must have already been establishing his own household around this time, since he purchased the land in Nepean, later to be known as Woodroffe, a part of Concession 1, Lot 26, Ottawa Front, in February 1871. By the time of their marriage in October 1871, James is listed in the marriage register at ChristChurch as a resident of Nepean.

Death of Elizabeth Ebert and Matthew's Remarriage

Matthew's wife, our ancestor Elizabeth Catherine Ebert, died in 1873 and was buried in Conroy's Cemetery (now known as Bellevue) at Aylmer, Quebec. At 60 years of age(!), Matthew married again, to Martha Wright. The wedding took place in Ottawa on November 9th, 1875, at the newly-built church at March Road and Britannia Road. Witnesses were a "John Murphy" and a "James Murphy". The "James Murphy" is clearly Matthew's 2nd son. "John Murphy" must be Matthew's eldest brother John (the "Penman") who (as mentioned near the beginning of this article) had married Elizabeth Ebert's younger sister Esther. I suppose when John married Abigail Draper in 1850, he had set a family precedent of remarriage.

Martha Wright was, like Matthew's first wife Elizabeth Ebert, a Wesleyan Methodist. The practice of widowers remarrying even so late in life was quite usual in this era, unmarried men (then as now) being quite unable to care for themselves! There was also the welfare of the young Reuben (aged 6) to consider, having presumably lost first his mother and then his grandmother. Still no further mention of sister Sarah...

Due to the disparity in their ages, we have to wonder whether Matthew and Martha were subjected to an annoying folk custom called "the Chivaree" which was often perpetrated when elderly men married younger women. According to this custom, anonymous callers would pay a visit to the honeymooner's residence late on the night of the marriage and disrupt their rest with catcalls and stones pelted at the windows!

The 1881 census locates Matthew, his second wife and the 12-year old boy we are still presuming to be Matthew's grandson Reuben McKeown (McEwen?) back in Nepean, Lot 20, Concession 1, Ottawa Front, in Britannia Village (then called Britanniaville). The Census data indicates that Reuben "McKeown" was attending school. Based on the 1880 school district map, he, like his parents, attended PS #3 Mosgrove School on the March Road. As before, there is no mention of Sarah McKeown(or McEwen). Matthew's eldest son William Murphy and his wife, Mary Jane Ramsay, have had five children of their own and are nearby in Britanniaville in a separate household.

Matthew's Long Life

The 1881 census listed Matthew's occupation, not as "raft pilot", or "farmer" but as "lighthouse keeper". We have no other details about this career taken up so late in life. We know there were more than 40 lighthouses at that time on Lake Ontario alone. We believe that he was must have been stationed at the Aylmer Light, on an island in the middle of the river narrows between Shirleys Bay and Aylmer. The only lighthouse shown in the 1879 Belden Atlas is the lighthouse on Aylmer Island. The later lighthouse at Britannia, located with the boathouse at the end of Britannia pier, just have been built around 1900, at the modern-day location of Andrew Haydon Park, which would have been quite a bit more convenient to Matthew's residence. (Remember, he was 66 years old by this time!) Later accounts indicate the "Britannia lighthouse" was accessible only by boat. Here is a picture of what these lighthouses looked like (notice the figure atop the tower):

Matthew Murphy died at the age of 72 at his residence in Britannia on January 18, 1887, survived by his second wife, Martha Wright. Martha lived on for more than 20 years, and died at the age of 79 at the Perley Home in Ottawa in 1909. Matthew Murphy and both of his wives, Elizabeth Ebert and Martha Wright, are buried at Bellevue Cemetery in Aylmer, Quebec. There are at least 118 direct descendants of Matthew and Elizabeth, including this writer!

1. "The City Beyond: A History of Nepean, Birthplace of Canada's Capital 1792-1990" by Bruce S. Elliot (1991) ISBN 1-55036-258-5
2. "Pioneers of the Upper Ottawa" by Anson Gard (1906)
3. "Hello, Nepean" by Sara B. Craig (1974)
4. "Bellevue Cemetery, Aylmer, Quebec (Volume 1)" by Joan Jowsey & Lillian Mulligan (1986)
5. "Aylmer, Quebec: Its Heritage" by Diane Aldred (1974)
6. "Notes Historiques" de Rodolfe Maltais (1947)
7. "Hull, 1800-1900" by Lucien Brault (1950)
8. "Hurling Down the Pine" by John W. Hughson & Courtney C. J. Bond (1964)
9. "Historical Sketches of Ottawa" by Leslie Maitland & Louis Taylor (1990)
10. "An Ottawa Album: Glimpses of the Way We Were" by Marion Van de Wetering (1997)
11. "Ottawa: An Illustrated History" by John H. Taylor (1986)
12. "100 Years, Ottawa and the Valley: A Backward Glance from Centennial Year" by Harry J. Walker (1967)
13. "The Carleton Saga" by Harry J. Walker and Olive Walker(1968)
14. "Historical Sketch of the County of Carleton" by H. Belden & Co. (1879)
15. "The Ottawa Country" by Courtney C. J. Bond (1968)
16. "The Upper Ottawa Valley" by Clyde C. Kennedy (1970)
17. "History of the Ottawa Valley" by Rev. John L. Gourlay (1896)
18. "Pioneer Days in Upper Canada" by Edwin C. Guillet (1966)
19. "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online - Sir Isaac Brock" by C.P. Stacey (1959)
20. "1842 Census - Canada West - Carleton County"
21. "Recensement nominatif des familles du village d'Aylmer (Comté d'Ottawa) 1851"
22. "Births, marriages & deaths: abstracts from the Renfrew Mercury, 1901-1910" by Aldene Church (1987)
23. "1851/1852 Census of Canada"
24. "1861 Federal Census of Canada"
25. "1871 Census of Canada, The"
26. "1881 Census of Canada, The"
27. "1891 Census of Nepean, The"
28. "1901 Census of Canada, The"
29. "Township of Nepean - Land Registry Abstract for Concession 1, Lot 20, Ottawa Front"
30. "Township of Nepean - Land Registry Abstract for Concession 1, Lot 25, Ottawa Front"
31. "Township of Nepean - Land Registry Abstract for Concession 2, Lot 26, Ottawa Front"

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