Daniel MacMurphy
Daniel MacMurphy was born in County Antrim, Ireland in 1737. He came toGeorgia in 1756 under the auspices of the celebrated Indian Agent, GeorgeGalphin. Daniel was associated in business with Galphin and their tradewas very extensive, extending as far south as Mobile, Alabama and carriedon both overland and from the sea with ships rounding the peninsula of
Florida and skirting the coast to the mouth of the Savannah River andthence coming up the river to FortGalphin a few miles below Augusta on theSouth Carolina side of the river. A trading post was established on theEastern Boundary of Augusta near where the Kirkpatrick Plantation oncestood.
On June 18th, 1776 Daniel MacMurphy qualified as Justice of the Peacefor the Queensborough Distinct and on July 30th, 1776 MacMurphy wascommissioned Lieutenant Colonel, Battalion of Foot Militia, QueensboroughDistrict of Georgia. He married Susannah Crossley, a niece of GeorgeGalphin, in 1778 and later that year was appointed Magistrate for BurkeCounty.
He was a member of the Legislature that met in Augusta in 1780 and waselected to the Governor's Executive Council in January of that year. Hewas appointed to a commission to grant land to refugees from the coastwhose lands and houses had been seized by the British, also to straightenthe streets of Augusta, to lay out roads and to build a Court House andJail. Additionally, the commission was to select desirable lots for aChurch and an Academy and to direct the building of houses at a properdistance from the street and of a proper size.
The British seized Augusta later in 1780. The Governor, members of theLegislature, officers of the Continental Army and Militia, when they foundit impossible to withstand the enemy, evacuated the city and journeyedNorth eventually joining the army of Nathaniel Greene on its way to relievethe South. Daniel accepted a commission as a Captain and fought his way
South with Greene's army.
Susannah MacMurphy, with her sister, traveled on foot as far North asFredericksburg, Virginia where her first child, George Galphin A. Y.MacMurphy was born. Susannah rejoined her husband with the army on its waySouth and tended the wounded at the battles of Guilford Court House andEutaw Springs.
On returning to Augusta, Daniel continued to serve his nation and community. In January 1782 he was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the State of Georgia and was recommended to the U. S. Congress as a Commissioner of Indian Affairs by the General Assembly. On January 31, 1783 Daniel was elected Registrar of Probates for BurkeCounty. He was returned to the General Assembly by BurkeCounty in January of 1784 and served as a Commissioner at the Indian Treaty of 1786 at Shoulder Bone.
Daniel died on October 27, 1819 and was buried in Augusta with his beloved Susannah who had passed away some ten months earlier. In his obituary published in the Augusta Chronicle it was said that while he served in a number of elected and appointed offices, he would be most remembered for hisservices as a partisan officer during the hard fight for Independence.