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Murphy Family of Polk County Wisconsin

This page belongs to greg krenzelok.

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Our Murphy Family

The Murphy Family and friends in a group picture at Dan and Rose Murphy Doyle wedding reception on June 28, 1916. Picture was taken in front of Patrick and Margaret (Maggie) Rogers Murphy’s home on their farm in Milltown, Wisconsin. Those known in this picture are: Pat, Maggie, William Murphy sitting, front and center. Above Pat and Maggie are daughter Rose and Dan Doyle, Also known in this picture are: Michael Doyle, Helen Doyle Dyke, John Doyle, Margaret Murphy Sullivan, Fr. Buruski, Nonie Doyle Muckerheidl, Mayme Doyle Mosher, Neal Doyle, Arthur and wife Mary Murphy McDermott holding twins, William Murphy Sr. next to grandson Leonard Murphy, Margaret Clancy Murphy, and the rest of the Murphy clan. Note: This is from Byron's picture Collection

Welcome to the Murphy Family Website

These are the Murphys who settled in Polk County Wisconsin. First to settle in Polk County was William and his wife Mary and William's sisters: Sarah Murphy Williams, Bridget Murphy Kelly and Margaret Murphy Williams who all came from Cork County Ireland
NOTE:I WILL BE WORKING ON CONTINUEING SOME OF BYRON DOYLE’S MURPHY FAMILY RESEARCH. I WILL BE WORKING FROM HIS LARGE COLLECTION OF RESEARCH THAT HE HAS COLLECTED OVER THE YEARS. BYRON HAS COLLECTED SOME WONDERFUL THINGS AND I WILL BE SHARING THEM WITH YOU. I WILL FIRST START WITH HIS COLLECTION OF PICTURES THAT HIS DAUGTHER, MARYLEE AND THEIR FAMILY IS LETTING ME USE. A LOT OF THESE PICTURES WERE PUBLISHED IN THE “MURPHY BOOK”. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE ANYTHING WITH THE WEBSITE. – Greg Krenzelok

The intention of this website

Will be to touch on the early Murphy's who came to this country from Ireland and settled in Polk County, Wisconsin and at this time cover mainly William and Mary Murphy and their son Patrick, his wife Margaret (Maggie)Rogers Murphy and their children: Mary, Rose, Margaret, Leonard, Sylvester and Veronica.
I will be also covering William's three sisters; Sarah Murphy Williams, Bridget Murphy Kelly and Margaret Murphy Williams who lived in Polk County but I will just cover their immediate family. They all lived very close by to each other and were very connected to one another. From these four people quite a large family of Murphy descendants arose which Byron covers in his books on the families. I have try to keep it as simple as I can covering just a small part of the family line so that any of the above descendants can understand from where they came.
NOTE: Notice that in the above that Sarah and Margaret have the same last name. Remember this, Sarah married Lawrence Williams and Margaret married Lawrence's half brother Mike in New York in around 1850. It can get a little confusing so watch out! Another important note is that Lawrence and Sarah donated the property that St. Patrick Church and Cemetery was built on and where a large amount of our relatives are buried. Their home is still there and is very close to St. Patrick cemetery today and it is a must to see if you visit the area. Look at Sarah's webpage for pictures of the house in 2005. Margaret amd Mike homesteaded at the West end of Long Lake. Also sister Bridget Murphy Kelly lived a cross the field from St. Patrick's. I have not pinned down the homestead yet but it has to be one of the ones that is close by. So you can see that William and his sisters Sarah, Margaret and Bridget lived close by to each other and St. Patrick's was the heart of our family. If you are ever in the area you need to go to St. Patrick's Cemetery and visit with our family that is there, it is a wonderful place to go. The church building was moved to Balsam Lake and became the "Our Lady of the Pines" parish.
I would be interested in posting any other Murphy history on our line of Murphy's if you care to do the write-ups, please contact me for further information.

This website is dedicated to my cousin Byron Doyle

Who for love of our family and his research of the families has inspired me to continue his work. Byron and his dear wife Mary spent countless hours and traveling to write books on the Murphy, Rogers and Doyle families. Most of the information on this website will come from the MURPHY BOOK. When I look through the Murphy Book I am always amazed at how much information Byron and Mary collected. We would not have a history of our Murphy family if it wasn't for Byron and all the hard work he did in collecting the information at a time when there were still enough relatives alive that could tell us about the families. If we tried today to write a Murphy Book there would not be much in it and it would be very thin. But because of Byron and Mary's work we have a book packed with our Murphy History. Byron and Mary should always be in our thought's as we look into our Murphy, Rogers and Doyle history.
YOU CAN NOW LISTEN TO BYRON DOYLE WHO PUBLISHED THE “MURPHY BOOK” TALK ABOUT GOING TO THE FARM FOR CHRISTMAS AT HIS GRANDPARENT’S, PAT AND MAGGIE MURPHY AT MIILTOWN, POLK COUNTY WI AROUND 1925.
Double Click on the below arrow that is pointing to the right on the below player. This is a must to listen to if you are interested. The recording is about 30 minutes. This was recorded in 2002 when I had just started to do my research on my Murphy relatives. This is the first and only time the Byron was recorded on tape talking about our Murphy History and we never had a chance to sit down and do that recording on “Going to the Farm for the Summers” Byron died on March 28 2003. I was “Green as Grass but the Cows were not eating me” about our Murphy Family History at the time – GREG K
YOU WILL NEED TO TURN UP YOUR VOLUME
Update April 25 2008: The sound problem is that the new version of Adobe Flash Player is causing skip and squeak and pops in the Audio. I have installed the old version of Adobe Flash Player 8.0.42.0 and this has fixed the problem on my computers. Adobe seems to be unavailable for help at this time creating a patch for the problem and is causing a lot of problem with many of their uses. Because the problem is in Adobe Flash Player there is not much I can do at this time.

The First Murphys to come to Polk County Wisconsin 1860's

Were William Murphy, Sarah Murphy Williams, Bridget Murphy Kelly and Margaret Murphy Williams

Note: So this was William and his Three sisters, Sarah Murphy, Bridget Murphy and Margaret Murphy who came over from Ireland and ended up in Polk County Wisconsin. William and his sisters all married and had families

Click on the below links:
William and Mary Murphy - Sarah Murphy Williams - Bridget Murphy Kelly - Margaret Murphy Williams

The above is a postcard dated October 16 1910 and it shows Pat and Maggie Murphy's home and farm located at the lower southend of Rice Lake just out of Milltown, Polk County, Wisconsin. The people from left to right are Mrs Charles (Louise) Rogers holding the baby, Mary Murphy McDermott holding Evelyn, Leonard Murphy, Sylvester Murphy, sitting down William Murphy SR, standing above maybe, Pat Carney, Ed Murphy. Pat Murphy, Not sure about the next two children or the women, then Maggie Murphy, Willie Murphy and wife and unknown women. We will try to get a better ID of the people in the picture. If you can help please let us know.
YOU CAN NOW LISTEN TO LEONARD’S DAUGHTER GERALDINE MURPHY KRENZELOK TALK ABOUT HER GRANDPARENT’S FARM HOUSE (ABOVE) AND GOING TO THE FARM.
Double Click on the below arrow that is pointing to the right on the below player. This is a must to listen to if you are interested. The recording is about 30 minutes. This was recorded in December 9 2006.
YOU WILL NEED TO TURN UP YOUR VOLUME
Update April 25 2008: The sound problem is that the new version of Adobe Flash Player is causing skip and squeak and pops in the Audio. I have installed the old version of Adobe Flash Player 8.0.42.0 and this has fixed the problem on my computers. Adobe seems to be unavailable for help at this time creating a patch for the problem and is causing a lot of problem with many of their uses. Because the problem is in Adobe Flash Player there is not much I can do at this time.

William Murphy's son Patrick and his family

Note: Here I am focusing on William Murphy (above) who came over from Ireland and one of his son Patrick and his wife Margaret Rogers Murphy because this is where my line of the family comes from - GREG KRENZELOK
Click on the below links for Pat and Margaret(Maggie) Rogers Murphy and their children:
Patrick and Margaret - Mary - Rose - Margaret - Leonard - Sylvester - Veronica
If you do not have copies of Byron and Mary Doyle's wonderful books they are available to view at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at their library in Salt Lake City and also available on Microfilm copies of the MURPHY AND ROGERS books are available by contacting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) at their research centers in your area or at their library in Salt Lake City

Byron and Mary Doyle's the MURPHY BOOK. I have given a copy of the Murphy Book to Rosalie Kittleson at the Polk County Museum at Balsam Lake, Wisconsin. If you do not have a copy of the Murphy book you can now get your hands on a copy of the book at the Polk County Museum to do research.
Click on the below link to go to the LDS website:
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
To confirm that they do have the books: Go to the FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY SYSTEM and click on SEARCH THE FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY CATALOG FOR RECORD AND RESOURCES. Now click on AUTHOR SEARCH put in DOYLE in the surname box and BYRON in the first name box. Click on search and click on DOYLE, BYRON, DANIEL, 1917 and you will find the listing for the Murphy Book and the Rogers book. Byron's mother Rose Murphy Doyle was my grandfather Leonard Murphy's sister. Byron and his wife Mary worked very hard and did a wonderful job on tracing our Murphy family history in the Murphy Book. Many of the families did buy this book at the time of publishing in 1981 but now copies are very rare. It is good to know that if the family did want to research this book it is available at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. I will be donating a copy of the Murphy Book to the Polk County Historical Museum at Balsam Lake Wisconsin in January of 2006. Ask for Rosalie Kittleson at the museum for information.

St Patrick Church and St Patrick Cemetery Long Lake , Polk County, WI

Sometimes referred to as the "Long Lake Cemetery"
"THE HEART OF THE OUR FAMILY"

Above picture: St Patrick and the rectory on the right side of the picture taken around 1915 with some of our relatives in the picture. Posted by Byron's daughter Marylee and family. Taken when St Patrick was located on it's original location at the cemetery and before the church itself was physically moved to Balsam Lake.
Below are some links to things that I feel are very important to future family researchers. In the summer of 2005 I traveled with my mom Geraldine Murphy Krenzelok and my sister Suzanne to Wisconsin for family research. When looking into finding the locations of where our relatives farms where located I was surprised that this was a much more difficult task than I had expected. Once we were in the area we were already lost. Even finding something as easy as St Patrick's Cemetery was not so simple. It is important to know that St Pat's is under the care of OUR LADY OF THE LAKES Catholic Church in Balsam Lake. We were very fortunate to have made contact with our cousin Bob Murphy who still lives in the area with his family and kindly showed us the locations of the old farms. I will attempt to give you the locations on this website. It is very important if you plan on going to the area that you do your homework. There are many vacation resorts on Balsam Lake and we found this to be a very good place to stay when doing our research. Staying here puts you close by to your research. You need to get reservations early because this is a summer vacation area.

St Patrick's Cemetery Long Lake in June of 2005. Polk County, Wisconsin. The final resting place of so many of our relatives who farmed close by the church that they built. The Church has been moved many years ago to Balsam lake and is no longer. Many of our families became related from the marriages of their children so there are many different names in the cemetery that are our relatives. I have taken pictures of the graves of all the names in the MURPHY BOOK that Byron has listed.

Directions to St Patrick's Cemetery

If you are going to visit St Patrick's Cemetery please check out the links to the maps that I have provided and confirm the directions yourself. I made these direction from memory of my visit and they need to be confirmed. For years as I was doing my Murphy research I had heard from my cousin Byron all about St. Patricks cemetery, and I always wondered what it looked like and it was wonderful finally seeing St. Patricks cemetery. And if you can't make it out to Polk County you can now see St.Patrick's cemetery right here.
From St Croix Falls go east on Hwy #8 to the #46 turn off on your left side which takes you to Balsam Lake. Carefully watch for this turn off.
Take #46 (Balsam Lake) left hand side and go north
When you come into the town of Balsam Lake go to the end of town and the road curves to the left I believe it is: #160
Take #175
Take #173 (right turn)
At the Y take 180 to your right
St Patrick's will be on your right a little ways down 180 or 170
The School house in at the corner of 170 and 180 we believe Pat and Maggie's family went to school here.
It is a little north of Long Lake
One way to get to Long Lake is to take Patterson Lane to Patterson Court
Click on the below links:
Polk County Map
St Patrick's Cemetery Pictures
Milltown 1900 Plat Map
Balsam Lake Plat Map 1900
Leonard Patrick Murphy in WW1
Polk County Wisconsin in WW1
The Murphy Family Tree

The above Family Tree from the MURPHY BOOK show Three Generations of Murphys starting in Ireland with Sarah, Bridget and Margaret going to America and finally ended up in Polk County, Wisconsin. I will be dealing mainly on this website with the last 4 of James and Mary Ann O'Donnell Murphy's children, Sarah, Bridget, Margaret and William who went to Polk County, WI USA.
I will be using Byron’s system of numbering each of the family members on this website. Those with a MURPHY BOOK will be able to easily find who they are looking for. James and Mary Ann O’Donnell Murphy have no number of M.0 because this is where our family tree starts; they had 8 children numbered M.1 to M.8. The next step would be the siblings of each of the 8 children and the numbering will be for example William M.8 who had 6 children their numbers would start with the first child M.8.1 to M.8.6 for the last child. William’s son Patrick who would be my line would be M.8.4 being the 4th child of William and Mary Clancy Murphy. Now Patrick and Maggie had 6 children and would be numbered like this: M.8.4.1 for their first child Mary and ending up with M.8.4.6 for Veronica for their last child. M.8 because Patrick’s father was the 8th child of his parents and M.8.4 because Patrick was the 4th child of his father and the last number would be for each of Pat and Maggie’s children.

Click on the Krenzelok Family Website. Note: Just so you understand how the Krenzelok are connected, My mother Geraldine Murphy married my dad Robert Krenzelok. My mom Geraldine was the daughter of Leonard and Esther Murphy
Krenzelok Family Website Homepage