Terese Murphy to Dan, 9 April 1967: 'Dad was born in Balykrewan ... about the year 1854'; her mother's two fathers

Murphy family papers · private family correspondence · 1967-04-09

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Summary

Patrick and Ellen's daughter Terese answers family-history questions from "young Dan": Dan Murphy (born 1954), then twelve or thirteen, who had a school family-history project (Luke Murphy, 4 Oct 2026). The family has always known it as her letter to him. As written, the letter speaks to one Dan and of another. It opens "Dear Dan" and thanks him for his letter "with young Dan's letter inclosed"; it speaks of young Dan as "he"; and it says "Our Grandmother" and "our Mother" to the man addressed. So the Dan of the salutation reads as her brother Daniel L. Murphy, who sent the boy's questions on, and the answers were for the boy. She gives her mother's death (23 Aug 1935, aged 76) and emigration (1889, from Ardgroom, "I believe"); her father's birth, "in Balykrewan (spelling not correct) about the year 1854", five years older than her mother, she thinks; that he came to Butte before Jim was born; and that he "was a skillful shoemaker in Ireland". On her mother's side: Ellen's father was Myles Lyne, of the Lynes who "produced many doctors" for the south of Ireland. "Our Grandmother married twice", first to a young man who left her a widow in her earliest twenties, then to "aging Myles Lyne", whose family disowned him for it; he died before Ellen was grown. Balykrewan is Ballycrovane, the townland of the baptism of 7 April 1850. Her year, 1854, falls between that baptism and the 1858 her father gave in America, and she marks it as a guess. One sentence about a living person is left out of the published transcription.

People

Also mentioned

  • a young Dr Lyne in Castletown · met_on_1938_trip
  • Cele Farrell · friend_of_the_writer

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Transcription
transcription: complete · confidence high
# Terese Murphy to Dan, 9 April 1967 *Handwritten letter, four small pages. Transcribed from the scan on 4 October 2026. Line breaks are not kept. Square brackets hold the editor's marks. One sentence about a living person is omitted.* **[page 1]** Sunday 4-9-67 Dear Dan: I received your letter yesterday with young Dan's letter inclosed. Would have answered yesterday but was out for the day with Cele Farrell & her friends (Cele was touring Europe when you were here) Mother died Aug. 23, 1935. She was 76 [the first digit is written over]. She migrated to the U.S. in the year 1889, from a little village near Castletown in the southern-most part of Ireland – Ardgroom, (I believe). Dad was born in Balykrewan (spelling not correct) about the year 1854 – He was, I think 5 years older than Mother. He came to Butte in 1884 [the third digit is written over], before Jim was born. He was a skillful shoemaker in Ireland. Mother's father was **[page 2]** Myles Lyne who belonged to the "family of Lynes" who produced many doctors for S. Ireland. I located a young Dr Lyne in Castletown on my trip to the British Isles in 1938. Our Grandmother married twice – first to a young man who left her a widow in her earliest twenties. She was a simple peasant girl with a "sparkling eye" who later captivated the heart of aging Myles Lyne. All members of his family disowned him when he married our Grandmother. He died before our Mother was a young adult. She [written above: Mother] was, as the Psychologist would say, a victim of her crossed parental genes – a peasant mother & an aristocratic father. As you know she [written above: Mother] was a most unhappy & poorly adjusted individual all her life. **[page 3]** I trust the inclosed information answers all of young Dan's questions. [one sentence about a living person omitted] It would be a great joy for us were he to follow the tradition of the "Lynes of Castletown" and become a member of the Medical Profession – the grandchild of an idealistic pair – Agnes R. and James J. Murphy, and the great- **[page 4]** grandchild of Ellen Lyne and Patrick Murphy I will write you next week Dan, in answer to your earlier letter Love & Best Wishes [no signature in the scan]

Dotted underlines mark key terms on first mention — hover or tab to one for a reference note. The wording is the source’s own.

Open questions

  • Whether her brother Daniel L. Murphy is the "Dan" of the salutation, as the wording suggests, or the letter went straight to the boy.
  • The year she gives for her father's coming to Butte has an overwritten digit and reads 1884, which is after Jim's birth in 1883.

Source ID: 1967-04-09_terese-murphy_to-dan-murphy

Reference: Handwritten letter of four small pages, headed 'Sunday 4-9-67' and addressed 'Dear Dan'. Unsigned in the scan; the family's file name and the content (her parents, her 1938 trip, Seattle) make the writer Terese Murphy, daughter of Patrick Murphy and Ellen Lyne. Written for a school family-history project of Dan Murphy (born 1954), per Luke Murphy, 4 Oct 2026.

Accessed by lukedmurphy on 2026-10-04.