Memorable Manitobans: Gabriel B. Murphy (1856-1910)

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Gabriel B. Murphy
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Grain and cattle merchant.

Born at Mitchell, Ontario on 18 May 1856, son of Gabriel Murphy and Marian Allcock, brother of William George Murphy and brother-in-law of James Duncan McGregor, he worked for the Great Western Railway after leaving school. In March 1879 he came to Manitoba, arriving on the first train to St. Boniface. He took up a homestead near Pine Creek, North West Territories [now Alberta] on the future site of the town of De Winton. He farmed for four years.

In 1886 he moved to Carberry and became a grain buyer for the Ogilvie Milling Company. He entered the cattle business in 1890 and had a ranch near Medicine Hat, Alberta. He formed the G. B. Murphy Company in 1903. After acquiring several smaller grain-buying operations, the company was renamed the Province Elevators Company. By 1922 this company owned 48 country elevators. In 1923, Province purchased the Reliance Grain Company, a subsidiary of the Peavey Company of Minneapolis.

On 1 January 1884, he married Martha Armstrong (1863-1947) of London, Ontario. They had six children: William Arthur Murphy, Clarence Gabriel Murphy, Bertie Armstrong Murphy (1890-1965), Hilda Isobel Murphy (1893-1972, wife of Charles Watson Taylor), Aileen E. Murphy (1894-?), and Ross Lyall Murphy (1903-1904). He was a member of the Canadian Order of Foresters and Ancient Order of United Workmen.

He died at Carberry on 22 August 1910 and was buried in the Carberry Plains Cemetery.

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Murphy Block (29 Main Street, Carberry)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Inglis Grain Elevators (Inglis, RM of Shellmouth-Boulton)

Sources:

Birth registration [Hilda Isabel Murphy], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.

The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.

Marriage registration [Hilda Isobel Murphy, Charles Watson Taylor], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Death registration [Gabriel B. Murphy], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

The Carberry Plains: 75 Years of Progress. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.C36 Car]

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 9 April 2024

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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