Family History Tour: PA

Towards the end of my summer, my Dad and I took a trip up;to the Pottsville area to check out some family history. He is very passionate and knowledgeable about several generations before mine, so it was interesting to hear about their lives and how things came to be. I've been a history teacher, but haven't thought much about the personal confluences that shape who I am - Ireland (and a little bit of Italy and Wales), Philadelphia, and coal country in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Here is the house in Pottsville where my grandfather, Francis J. Murphy, grew up.

It is a few blocks away from the original Yuengling Factory! The author John O'Hara (Appointment in Samara) grew up on the same street, and wrote many books with a Pottsville-like town called "Gibbsville." Also, according to my Dad, "Also on Mahantango St directly across from 215 was Reading Anthracite, a major coal company in the 1800’s. The president of that company pursued the Molly Maguires, hiring a detective to infiltrate the group, which resulted in several Mollies being hanged.  The Molly Maguires were a secret group of Irish coal miners who took revenge on mine owners for intolerable working conditions."

Later that day in Tremont, we visited the house where my grandfather's grandfather, TJ Murphy lived. He owned the general store in the town.