My Genealogy Hound

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN MURPHY, a leading farmer and dairyman of Whitpain township, Montgomery county, is a man who takes a lively interest in public matters and is always interested in new ideas for the general good. As a farmer he keeps in touch with the most approved modern methods, and he is careful in the breeding and selecting of his stock.

John Murphy, father of Benjamin Franklin Murphy, came from the north of Ireland and settled in Jarrettown, Upper Dublin township, about 1850, four years before his son Benjamin F. was born. He was a farmer, possessed of the lively disposition and cheerful humor of his race. He took a leading part in township affairs, and was especially interested in public education. He served as supervisor of public roads and was fearless and independent in the expression of his political views, which accorded with the principles of the Democratic party. He married Mary Ann (Dean) Gillen, a widow, who bore him four sons, John Fitzwater, Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Jackson and George Dean, who were given all the advantages afforded by the public schools. John Murphy died August 20, 1887, aged sixty-five years, and his wife died in 1861.

Benjamin Franklin, second child and second son of John and Mary Ann Murphy, was born September 16, 1853, in Whitemarsh township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. After leaving school he was apprenticed to the carpenter’s trade, and for eight years he was occupied with the work of carpentering and building. Ultimately, however, he returned to the farm and to the activities of his earlier years. He bought the property formerly known as the Chalkley Potts farm in Whitpain township, which is now his home. The land is rolling and well drained, and he has brought it to a high state of cultivation. His dairy herd is carefully bred and selected with much intelligence. In it are strains of Holstein, Guernsey, and Alderney blood.

March 28, 1878, he married Julia Frances, fifth daughter and ninth child of John Jacob and Louisa Hoffman. Her parents were Lutherans, and with her husband and family she adheres to that denomination. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, are as follows: George Dean, born June 26, 1879, died June 23, 1881; John H., born March 26, 1882, died August 5, 1882; Ida L., born August 7, 1883, died February 24, 1885; Harvey, born January 13, 1886; Emma Blanche, born November 9, 1887, Benjamin Franklin, born January 5, 1890, Walter H., born August 12, 1893 and Clara M., born October 11, 1895, are at home.

In politics Mr. Murphy is a Democrat when national issues are involved and votes independently at local elections. He was supervisor of his town for ten consecutive years, and was a member of the Independent Order Odd Fellows for twenty years, but withdrew from the organization.