West Cork · Butte · Los Angeles
A family, in the words printed at the time
Newspaper clippings, census sheets, parish registers and lodge minute books, from the Famine on the Beara peninsula to the copper camp of Butte and on to Los Angeles — transcribed, cross-referenced, and linked to the people they name.
- 364sources194 clippings · 170 documents
- 327people153 at family confidence 75+
- 98placesfrom townlands to city wards
- 1820–2001span of the record177 full newspaper pages
Where to start
- Story James and Patrick Murphy, chapter by chapter, each sentence resting on its sources.
- Nexus The web of family, in-laws and associates — click a person to see the evidence for every line.
- Timeline Lifelines and sources laid against Irish, Irish-American and Montana history.
- Historical context The eras the sources sit inside, and which sources fall in each.
- Key terms AOH, Land League, Council of Defense, the Company — what they were, and where the sources name them.
- Open question: 1850 or 1858? Which Patrick Murphy he was and who his father was — the evidence weighed, with a confidence on the answer.
- Curio cabinet Period texture: the lost Airedale, leap-year invitations, squibs kept for mood.
What the archive holds, by year
- Ireland
- Irish America
- Butte, Montana & the West
- Family & social life
- Public affairs
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
309 sources dated 1840–1945, in five-year columns, coloured by the main subject of each source’s themes. Click a column for its decade. Set against the history of the time →
- IrelandFamine, the land struggle, Home Rule and the revolution — the Ireland the family left and kept reading about.
- Irish AmericaEmigration and the organised Irish-American effort for Ireland, from the Land League collections to the republic.
- Butte & MontanaThe copper camp: statehood, the Copper Kings, the Company, the unions, and the wartime clampdown.
- Nation & worldThe wider events that reached every household in these sources.
People in the most sources
- James Joseph "James J." Murphy (b. 1883 Ardgroom; d. 1938 LA)155 sources★
- Judge J. J. Lynch (Silver Bow / Butte AOH)49 sources
- Patrick "Pat" J. Murphy (Cork-born bartender / shoemaker; d. 1912 Warm Springs MT)44 sources★
- W. J. Sewell / Walter J. Sewell (Butte AOH)38 sources
- Ellen (Lyne) Murphy (b. Ardgroom; m. Patrick Murphy 1881; d. Butte 1935)33 sources★
- Agnes Kelly Murphy33 sources★
- Charles H. Gallagher (b. c.1875 Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland; d. 28 Aug 1964 Butte, age 89; founder of Wiz-Way Stores; AOH state president)30 sources
- James Connolly (Butte AOH Division 1 officer; county treasurer 1912)30 sources
- T. J. McCarthy (Silver Bow AOH)28 sources
- John Gribben25 sources
- John J. Crowley (Butte AOH; president of Division No. 1, 1916)22 sources
- Agnes Terese Murphy (m. Llewellyn 1940)20 sources★
Dot = family branch · ★ family confidence 75+ · ? candidate. All 327 people →
Places in the most sources
- Butte, Montana252 sources
- Ireland74 sources
- Centerville (district of Butte)69 sources
- County Cork42 sources
- Montana40 sources
- Los Angeles, California39 sources
- Silver Bow County, Montana37 sources
- Anaconda, Montana36 sources
- Beara Peninsula33 sources
- Castletownbere, County Cork22 sources
- Eyeries (village + parish + RC Chapel)21 sources
- Jamestown, North Dakota20 sources
Themes
All 60 themes →Ireland
Irish America
Butte, Montana & the West
Family & social life
Key terms the sources use most
All key terms →- AOH86
- Centerville63
- Hibernia Hall49
- Hennessy’s31
- Daughters of Erin25
- Walkerville21
- Gaelic League11
- RELA8
- Parnell8
- K. of C.7
- Irish Volunteers7
- Warm Springs7
- Dublin Gulch6
- FOIF5
The number is how many sources’ text mentions the term. Hover a chip for the definition.
Story threads
- Famine to emigration53 sources
- Berehaven Murphys122 sources
- The Reynolds case in the Land League press7 sources
- The Pat-and-Ellen Murphy household — Butte 1887 to LA 1980135 sources
- Murphy-Softley and Money Back Store — JJM's Butte retail era 1920-192420 sources
- Butte Irish-American organisational life — Hibernians, Gaelic League, Erin's Daughters, RELA129 sources
- The Sagebrushers — James J. Murphy's 1907 Yellowstone trip2 sources