'Found' tombstone in Canby has its roots in St. Paul

A tombstone found in Canby would appear to have a relationship to a grave site in St. Paul.

The St. Paul Mission Historical Society recently received an email from a woman about a “found” tombstone.

The woman explained that she and her husband had recently purchased a property in Canby that had been owned by the same family for more than 100 years.

Upon exploring the property, they discovered a large, very old gravestone with the name Daniel Murphy, born 1800 and died in 1866, engraved on it.

Well, a trip to the internet for a search revealed that there is a Daniel Murphy buried in St. Paul Catholic Cemetery in St. Paul and dates on marker are the same.

She explained that the previous property owner did not volunteer information about how the gravestone came to be here.

The hope is to have the gravestone in the right place and the Canby couple have asked the St. Paul Mission Historical Society to help get the gravestone to where it needed to be.

Daniel Murphy was the father of Matthew O. C. Murphy whose house is on the SPMHS grounds (across from the St. Paul Firehall). Both Daniel and Matthew were surveyors for the General Land Office.

Daniel Murphy died on January 21, 1864, and was buried two days later in the St. Paul Cemetery where his wife, Catherine, was buried. Both burials were in the “old” cemetery, the one that was near the church on Main Street. The new (current) cemetery was opened in 1875.

Matthew O. C. Murphy (1830 – 1906) purchased plots in the new cemetery, and small markers were placed for Daniel and Catherine Murphy.