“When in the course of human events…” Thomas Jefferson wrote this phrase in the first line of the Declaration of Independence, in 1776.
What was the course of human events charted by our family? Who came before us, and how did we get here? For a lot of people, history is viewed as boring names and dates of events and individuals, long dead and better off forgotten.
However, there is a good reason to look at history from a very different perspective, and that is, to put it simply, we will all be part of history someday, so to turn our back on our ancestors is really turning our back on ourselves. Our ancestors are who we were, and made us what we are. Our descendents are what we are, and what we will be.
I have been accused of being obsessed with the family tree. I agree with my accusers to a certain extent. I have always been obsessed with history, and a family tree is after all the history of a family, so it seems to me to be a perfectly natural progression. The newspaper clippings, letters, and all other documents, which are included in the text, have been quoted verbatim, including the original spelling. Source document references are included throughout the text.
My love and gratitude to my wife, Margo, my sister, Ellen Collins and my mother, Janet Murphy, for their assistance, love and support.
I would also like to express my sincerest appreciation to my fellow researchers: David Avery, David Botting, Marcia Brockway, Ken Ettie, Nadine Gulit, Blair Liddle, June Preston, Della Shafer, Sheryl Sheaffer, Sandra Way, the staff at the Eva Brook Donly Museum, Irene Hopper and the members of the board of the Norfolk County branch of the OGS, and the owners of and contributors to various web sites on the world wide web, including; Nan Cole, Rick Loughborough, Cliff McCarthy and Sherri Lynn Pettit, for so kindly sharing their many years of research, information and experience with me.
Thank you all.
Bradley Evan Murphy, U. E.
Kitchener, Ontario
[email protected]