Re: Haid/Strimple/Moon/Collier/Murphy Family History

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: : I don't know if we are talking about the same person but I do have info on a Samuel Murphy: : Samuel Murphy. I found my info on Ancestory.com : Captain Samuel Muphy, progenitor of the Murphy family of Armstrong County, Pa. was : originally a native of Frederick County, Virginia. He was born in Virginia during the year of 1756. : This man had a remarkable career, one which was filled with adventure, action, and usefulness to his country. He was famous as a soldier, scout, and ranger. He proved to be a pioneer of great magnitude, He was left an orphan at a very early age, and was reared by a Col. Stinson, a Revolutionary patriot and a personal friend of Gen. Washington. : Mr. Murphy enlisted in the English Crown's Army of Va. and accompanied Lord Dunmore : in his expedition into the region of South Central Ohio in the year of 1774. : At the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, Mr. Murphy joined the Continental Army ( the 8th Pa. Regiment ). He served with distinction until he was mustered out of service in the year of 1783. : In the fall of 1781 he was captured by Indians on the fork of the North Salt River in Kentucky and was taken with other prisoners for the English by a band of Indians under Simon Girty, a renegade, no good white man, who had cast his lot with Indians and the British In the Revolutionary struggle, This man had taken on to himself an Indian squaw and had been living a life plundering the white settlers throughout the colonies. : Samuel Murphy was taken by Girty and his band to an island on the St. Lawrence River, 60 miles above Montreal, Canada. The weather was turning bad up there and Mr. Murphy was making plans to make his way to the mainland and make his escape. The prisoners were being closely watched, but one night the opportunity did present itself and he made the break for the river, at the extreme end of the island, Mr. Murphy succeeded in getting away from his pursuers. : He finally made the mainland and after many hardships made his way back to the Colonial Army again. He performed valiant services on the frontier during the remaining days of the revolutionary War period and in the subsequent Indian War. : * 1 Major Denny said that Mr. Murphy was the best soldier he had ever known. He was intimately acquainted with Gen. George Washington. On one occasion while he was yet a boy, at the suggestion of Col. Stinson, he perpetrated on that great man a practical joke which so pleased Gen. Washington that he gave the young Mr. Murphy a large silver coin as a token of the General's esteem for him. A short time after the g close of the Revolutionary War, Capt. Murphy removed to what is now Sharpsburg, Pa. Samuel Murphy in the home of his bride's brother, Benjamin Powers, was married July 5, 1787. His bride was born in Maryland during the year of 1768. After the marriage the newly married couple took up housekeeping on Guyuserthas Bottom on an island near what is now Sharpsburg, Pa., which Mr. Murphy had taken up after his release from the Army. During the year of 1793 while Mr. Murphy was absent on a trapping expedition, a band of roving Indians showed up along the river. Mrs. Murphy who was alone on the island with her two baby children, William and Thomas, was aware of the Indian raid and she stayed on the lookout and when the Indians started across the river to their island, she got her two babies and hid in an eddy on one side of the island where the Murphys had hidden their boat when it was not in use, this location was hidden from view. : Mrs. Murphy took her babies to this spot. She could see the Indians come on the island, ransack and burn their cabin. Mrs. Murphy waited for darkness and then with all three safely in the boat, with the babies Iaying on the bottom of the boat, she proceeded to guide the boat through the narrow passage out into the stream. She then paddled her way across the river, where she secured the boat and then with her babies in her arms she made her way to the home of her brother, Thomas Powers, who lived on what was called at that early date Powers Run. The husband returned to find his cabin burned to the ground, he then immediately set followed the plow with a rifle on his shoulder. Although peace was concluded with the Western tribes some years prior to this date, yet in many a Red man's bosom rankled a smoldering hate for the race that had driven the Indian from his loved hunting grounds, and it was not known at what moment this hatred, encut for the brother-in-law's home where he heard the good news that his family was safe. With help from the brother-in-law and other settlers, they succeeded in rebuilding their cabin and getting things in shape again. The family continued to live on this island until the year of 1798 when the Murphy's purchased and secured a tract of land through the government's help about four miles up the Allegheny River from Freeport in what is now South Buffalo township in Armstrong County, Pa. : With help, he in a short period of time, hewed out enough logs to build the family a comfortable home. He set out to clear a sizable section of land for farming purposes. The Murphys reared a family of 13 children on this South Buffalo township farm. Mrs. Murphy died and was buried on this farm in 1820. Mr. Murphy passed on during the year of 1850 and was also buried on this farm. : From the personal records of W. G. Truby : *1 Denneys Military Journal Military Record of Samuel : Murphy. : Captain Samuel Murphy : (Letters to the editor, Freeport Journal) : Inasmuch as you publish matters now and then, relating to the early days, I thought that you might welcome a few words concerning the history of Capt. Samuel Murphy, one of the noted men of Pioneer Days whose dust reposes in the soil of South Buffalo Town Ship on the banks of his long-loved Allegheny. : He was born at Bullskins, Frederick County Virginia in 1756. Left an orphan at an early age, he was reared in the family of Col. Stinson, a friend of George Washington. On one occasion, young Murphy at Col. Stinson's instigation played a joke on Washington much to the pleasure of the future leader of the American Armies, he gave the young fellow a coin as a reward, I suppose you would call it. : At the age of 18, Samuel Murphy entered the service of Va. as a scout in Lord Dunmore's War which broke out in 1774 between Va. and the Shawnee Indians of Ohio and what is now W. Va. The causes of this war were fraudulent land sales and the murder of Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, by some VA., militia under Daniel Greathouse. Lord Dunmore led one Army in person against the Shawnees and sent another under command of Gen. Andrew Lewis. Lewis proceeded down the Great Kanawha, and Dunmore assembled his troops at Fort Pitt, whose name he changed to Fort Dunmore then proceeded down the Ohio to the mouth of the Hockhocking, : The original plan for the two armies to meet at what is now Point Pleasant, West Va., but after leaving Fort Pitt Dunnore changed his plans and sent messengers to Lewis ordering him to cross the Ohio and proceed to the Shawnees villages on the Scioto, where Dunmore would join him. Now Samuel Murphy was a scout in Dunmore's division and was intimately acquainted with the messengers whom Dunmore sent to Gen. Lewis, one of whom was Simon Girty who later became a noted renegade and merciless raider of the Frontiers of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky. Before Gen. Lewis could carry out the orders of Dunmore, he was attacked by the great Shawnee chief, Cornstalk and his warriors at the terrible battle of Point Pleasant, where Cornstalk fought with such consummate general-ship and valor. Murphy missed the battle by a few days but was at the treaty held at Chillicothe, Ohio in November, 1774 between Cornstalk and Lord Dunmore. While this treaty was in progress, Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, in the forest some distance from the scene of the treaty made his famous speech which has made his name immortal. : Samuel Murphy also served in the Revolutionary War, being a member of the 8th Pa. : Regiment. In 1781 he was captured on the North fork of Salt River in Kentucky and was taken by Simon Girty to an island in the St. Lawrence about 60 miles above Montreal. Here one bright morning he jumped to the ceiling of the guard house and uttered a piercing war whoop, the occasion being the sentinels whispering in his ear the news that Cornwallis was captured, thus ensuring the triumph of the American arms. Samuel Murphy took up his residence at what is now Sharpsburg, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania after the revolution. In 1792, he was a ranger engaged in scouting in the Allegheny Vally during the Indian uprising beginning in 1789 and ending with Gen. Wayne's victory over the western tribes in 1794. He was one of the band of rangers that pursued the captors of Massa Harbison in the Spring of 1792. In 1794, he saw service once more in the Allegheny Valley and was promoted to the rank of Captain. In the same year, he assisted in laying out the town of Erie. : In 1798, he took up his residence at Murphys Bend on the Allegheny a few miles above Freeport, where he outraged by the British might again cause the children of the forest to rise in savage wrath. : In 1850 Capt. Murphy ended his long and eventful life and by the banks of the scenic and historic river he sleeps serenely in the arms of peace, awaiting the trump of God. May the younger generation of Freeport and South Buffalo not forget this outstanding character of the days when the foundations of America's present greatness were laid. : Very sincerely yours, : C. Hale Sipe. : Butler, Pennsylvania : 3-20-1928 : Captain James Murphy : Born September 10, 1796 on an island in the Allegheny river at Sharpsburg, Pa., then reared on the south Buffalo township farm. : James Murphy helped his father with farming until he was 25 years of age when he decided to make a life for himself on the river. : Capt. James Murphy operated the first steamboat to ascend the Allegheny River above Freeport, Pa. He worked at this profession until 1850 when he decided to travel to California, walking part of the way. The father, Samuel Murphy, died during this time in in 1850 and after a period of a year in California, James Murphy returned to his home and farm in Freeport, Pa. He assumed charge of the farm and successfully operated it for many years, His brothers and sisters, Margaret, Nancy, James, and John Murphy were all unmarried and they spent their life on the farm.

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