The Mystery of "Melahannon" Murphy – 52 Ancestors, #56

A while ago, I got a high-confidence fourth cousin AncestryDNA match (33 cM, 2 segments; call him Match A) with Murphys in his tree – specifically, his great-grandfather was one Hammond Malachy Murphy. The name wasn't one I recognized, but shared matches confirmed that the connection was definitely through my Murphy line, so I started researching the fellow.

Unlike my previously known Murphy relations, who congregated in Newburyport, Mass., and Berlin, N.H., after emigrating from Prince Edward Island, the first concrete sign I found of Hammond Murphy was in the 1905 New York state census,¹ where he was working as a bartender in New York City. He had married Irish-born Margaret McGaw about 1903,² and they had four children between 1905 and 1911:

• Anna M. Murphy (1905-?),³ m. Charles Fitzpatrick⁴
• John Daniel Murphy (1908-?)⁵
• Malachis Murphy (1909-1909)⁶
• Elizabeth C. Murphy (1911-1979),⁷ m. William McDowell

Between census records,⁸ WWI draft registration,⁹ and the Social Security Applications and Claims Index (SSACI),¹⁰ I could pretty reliably peg his birth date as 3 June 1875. While earlier census records¹¹ and his children's birth records¹² indicated he was born in the US (the 1910 census, in particular, stated Massachusetts), the 1920¹³ and 1930¹⁴ censuses gave his birth place as "Canada English" and "Canada Eng Prince Edward Isle", respectively, with an 1878 immigration year and naturalization in 1913. He died 24 March 1939, probably in New York City.¹⁵

Unfortunately, none of his records gave any clues to his parents. I wasn't able to find a baptismal or marriage record, and his SSACI entry didn't list parents.

Then I took another look at the name variations I had recorded for him. The family tree of my DNA match referred to him as Hammond Malachy Murphy. In those early censuses, and two of his children's birth records, his name was given simply as Hammond Murphy.¹⁶ But starting with his naturalization in 1913, virtually every record named him as Malachy Hammond Murphy (or just Malachy Murphy).¹⁷ And "Malachy Hammond" suddenly rang a bell for me.

Over a year ago, I wrote a three-post series recounting my search for the origins of a Daniel Murphy from P.E.I. living in Newburyport, Mass., in the early 1900s, who I suspected was a collateral relative in my Murphy line. In Chasing Daniel Murphy, Part 3: Back to the Island, I concluded that he was probably my second great-granduncle, and was probably the widowed Daniel Murphy living in Lot 30, Prince Edward Island, in 1881, with six children, including (in my words) "a 6-year-old boy with a very odd name that appears to be 'Melahannon.'" I noted in a footnote that I was almost certain that "Melahannon" must be a census enumerator-garbled rendering of something else entirely. And now, I realized that "something else" just might be "Mal Hammond".

1881 Canada census, Prince Edward Island, Queens County, Lot 30, dwelling 204, family 204, Daniel Murphy household

Yes, there are some discrepancies. Since "Melahannon" was enumerated in P.E.I. in 1881, clearly he didn't emigrate in 1878. But a child that young wouldn't be likely to know just when when his family emigrated. Likewise, the early statements that he was born in the US/Massachusetts could have been due to the informant (his wife, perhaps?) thinking he was born there – if Daniel brought him to Newburyport as a child, and Margaret knew only that he had "come from Massachusetts" to New York, she could have been unaware of his P.E.I. origins. I can't find anything close to a Malachy or Hammond Murphy in the 1900 US census, either in New York City or in Newburyport, and he's not listed in either city's directories around the turn of the century.

Finally, I started looking for his naturalization papers, and found them in a FamilySearch collection that is apparently only partially indexed.¹⁸ While his petition didn't identify his parents, it did give me a few more details to bolster his identification:

• In addition to confirming the 3 June 1875 birth date, it gives a specific birth place of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. This is consistent with the fact that four of Daniel Murphy's five oldest children were baptized at St. Dunstan's in Charlottetown.
• His emigration date is given as "on or about" 1 June 1880 (still earlier than that 1881 census, but much more plausible as an "about" date). More important is the detail that he arrived at Newburyport, Mass., by rail. This is consistent with Daniel and two of his children living in the Newburyport area in the late 19th and early 20th century, along with a number of his apparent siblings, nieces, and nephews.
• The naturalization petition also confirms his wife's maiden name (Margaret "Magaw") and pinpoints her Irish origins in County Fermanagh. The whole family is tied together with the names and exact birth dates of their three surviving children (matching the dates in their birth and/or death records), and their address is the same one noted in the 1910 census.

The one incongruity in the declaration of intention (dated 14 Mar 1911) and petition (10 Apr 1913) is his occupation, listed both times as "silversmith"! This is exceedingly odd, given that three censuses,¹⁹ three city directories,²⁰ and a draft registration,²¹ spanning the years 1905-1920, identify him as a bartender, and nowhere else have I found any indication that he might have been a silversmith. However, the rest of the information leaves no doubt that the bartender and the silversmith are one and the same man.

So, is Malachy Hammond Murphy really the "oddly-named" six-year-old in Daniel Murphy's 1881 family? The evidence so far is still circumstantial, but if it's so, it would make Match A my fourth cousin, with a shared 33 cM that's pretty much spot-on for the average for fourth cousins according to Blaine Bettinger's Shared cM Project.²¹ Until I come up with another possibility for this match, or find some additional evidence one way or the other, I'm assigning Malachy tentative status as Daniel's son in my tree, making him my first cousin three times removed.

Are you related to this family? If you have more information on this puzzle – say, a marriage record or death certificate with parents listed, or anecdotal confirmation of the relationships – please contact me through the email link on my profile page.

Late-Breaking News!
I had planned to post this on Saturday, but I didn't get the sources done, and now I'm glad I waited. Going through DNA matches this morning, I discovered a 4th cousin match to my brother (but not to me) for someone (call him Match B) whose tree shows him to be descended from Daniel Murphy's son Pius. My brother shares Match B with Match A. If I have correctly identified Malachy Hammond, then Match A and Match B would be 3rd cousins.

 (This post was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow's 2018 "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge, but not by the "Invite to Dinner" prompt of the week. Just in case you were wondering what this all had to do with a dinner invitation.)

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SOURCES

1. 1905 state census, New York, population schedule, New York County, Manhattan, p. 41, dwelling 242 East 87th Street, Hammond Murphy household; digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 17 Jun 2017).
2. 1910 U.S. census, population schedule, New York, New York City, Bronx Borough, enumeration district (ED) 1547, sheet 25A, p. 44 (stamped), dwelling 132, family 543, Hammond Murphy household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017).
3. "New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Annie Murphy birth, 20 Aug 1905, Manhattan; citing "cn 39035". 
4. "New York, New York, Marriage Certificate Index 1866-1937," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Charles Fitzpatrick-Anna M Murphy marriage, cert. no. 32834, 7 Nov 1927, Manhattan; also image of certificate, downloaded 17 Jun 2017 from unrecorded source (probably an Ancestry collection but no longer extant on 8 Dec 2017); citing "Index to New York City Marriages, 1866-1937 ... prepared by the Italian Genealogical Group and the German Genealogy Group, and used with permission of the New York City Department of Records/Municipal Archives."
5. "New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909," database, entry for John Daniel Murphy birth, 30 Mar 1908, Manhattan; citing "cn 18227",
6. "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 7 Dec 2017); entry for Malachis Murphy death, 11 Aug 1909, Manhattan.
7. "Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2012," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Dec 2017); entry for Eliza C McDowell, 6 Nov 1979, Enfield; citing state file no. 21960. Also, "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Elizabeth McDowell, SSN 131147714.
8. 1905 state census, New York (note 1). 1910 U.S. census (note 2). 1920 U.S. census (note 13). 1930 U.S. census (note 14).
9. "U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017); card for Malachy Hammond Murphy, serial No. 2877, order no. A2690, division 137, New York City.
10. "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Malachy Hammond Murphy death claim, SSN 112-12-6262, 24 Mar 1939.
11. 1905 state census, New York (note 1). 1910 U.S. census (note 2).
12. Annie Murphy birth (note 3). John Daniel Murphy birth (note 5).
13. 1920 U.S. census, population schedule, New York, New York, New York City, Manhattan Borough, enumeration district (ED) 1038, sheet 3B-4A, dwelling 11, family 70, Malica Murphy household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017). 
14. 1930 U.S. census, population schedule, New York, New York, New York City, Manhattan Borough, enumeration district (ED) 31-973, sheet 10B, dwelling 44, family 199, Malachy Murphy household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017). 
15. "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," entry for Malachy Hammond Murphy (note 10).
16. 1905 state census, New York (note 1). 1910 U.S. census (note 2). Annie Murphy birth (note 3). John Daniel Murphy birth (note 5).
17. "New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Malachy Hamond [sic] Murphy, 1913, New York, New York; volume "Declaration of intention index 1911-1924 More, John-Newman, Henry". Also: WWI draft registration card for Malachy Hammond Murphy (note 9).  1920 U.S. census (note 13). 1930 U.S. census (note 14). "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," entry for Malachy Hammond Murphy (note 10). 
18. "New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 27 Jan 2018), New York > Petitions for naturalization and petition evidence 1913 vol 118, no 28851-29100 > image 169 of 581, p. 65, declaration of intention no. 27631 and petition for naturalization no. 28915 for Malachy Hamond [sic] Murphy.
19. 1905 state census, New York (note 1). 1910 U.S. census (note 2). 1920 U.S. census (note 13). 
20. Trow's General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York, 1910, p. 1050, entry for Hammond Murphy; database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Jan 2018). Also, R.L. Polk and Co.'s Trow General Directory of New York City ... Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, 1915-1916,  p. 1346 (1915), p. 1222 (1916), entries for Hammond Murphy; database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Jan 2018).
21. WWI draft registration card for Malachy Hammond Murphy (note 9).
22. Blaine Bettinger, "The Shared cM Project," The Genetic Genealogist (https://thegeneticgenealogist.com : accessed 28 Jan 2018).