This is a p.s. to my own message. There was a James Murphy, age 25, on the Dyer County census in 1850. He would have been the right age to have children Mary Elizabeth and James later in the 1850s.

I am looking for parents of my great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Murphy, b. ca. 1857 in Tennessee. I don't know her parents' names, but she had a brother James. The Murphys had a plantation with about 100 slaves. I have two stories of the end of that plantation:
1) They "lost" it all in the Civil War and Mary and brother escaped to Arkansas, or
2) The family died in a flu epidemic, Mary and James were raised by an aunt and uncle who kept the land, and Mary and James later went to Arkansas (it is definite that they went to Arkansas).
Does anyone know anything about this family? Or can you recommend a book about Dyer county that might give me some background? THANKS for any suggestions.

I have many names and dates for MURPHY. I was wondering if you could help me with my search. This is all I have so far that came out of a very old family Bible.

H.N. MURPHY b March 18, 1838 d October 27, 1910.
Susan MURPHY b May 22, 1847 and d November 8,1898.
John Randolph MURPHY b Jan. 8, 1869.
Mary Susan Elizabeth MURPHY b August 29, 1871.
S.P. Murphy b Feb. 8, 1880.
Willie Vernan MURPHY b December 24, 1881.
A.M. SIMPSON and Della MURPHY married October, 1895.
W.F. SIMPSON and Mollie MURPHY married December 9, 1896.
James Adcock married S.A.T. MURPHY married September 6, 1891 or 1896.
A.B. POMEROY and Susie MURPHY married Jan. 1, 1899.

Can you help?

You didn't say where your Murphys were. The only definite Murphy name I know is the one mentioned in my message--Mary Elizabeth Murphy, b. ca. 1857 in Tennessee, who married Joseph Miller in Arkansas in the 1870s.

Mary's brother was either James or John Murphy (his name was virtually unreadable on the 1880 census in Arkansas). He was probably born around 1853-54.

That's literally all the info I have (besides what I put in my previous message).

I also show in an old bible; Will Simpson, but no other info. This is Dyer Co, TN. Will was son of James Henry Simpson, died 1937

Contact the Tennesseee State Archives:
http://tennessee.gov/tsla/index.htm

RE: TALA..
Check for land records, wills, probate.

At Dyer Co. Historical Society, ask for same...maybe a plat with the farm/plantation location.
Good luck
Paula