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From Murhaun to San Francisco
An episode in From Murhaun to Potrero, adapted from the original family narrative.
People in this article
Adapted from Catriona McManus Kelly’s original family narrative; research qualifications and links added in September 2026.
“Like many Irish stories, ours is a story of emigration.” Catriona’s account follows a family from Leitrim whose lives came to span Drumshanbo and San Francisco.
Journeys still to document
The original narrative places the departure of Frank, James, William and Patrick from Murhaun around 1865. Treat that as a family-history claim to investigate: the dates of individual journeys, whether the brothers travelled together, and their reasons for leaving still need passenger, residence and other records.
The narrative describes the brothers as farmers’ sons with interests in horses. It recounts Frank’s rise in the hotel and saloon trade, James’s undertaking business in Oakland, and Patrick’s return to Drumshanbo. Each brother’s profile holds the current recorded facts and unresolved dates.
Family on both sides of the Atlantic
The original account also identifies Eliza McGreevy as a lodging-house keeper in Drumshanbo and Margaret as living in San Francisco with William Phillips. Those relationships and occupations are leads to check against the census and marriage records. Its account of Con travelling with a nephew named Terence requires similar verification; the nephew should not be confused with the older Terence in the sibling group.
Later newspaper reports name Bill Phillips as a brother-in-law and Mrs. William Philips as a sister. Those reports are useful comparisons, but do not by themselves settle the identities.
Places in the story
The claim that Frank won the hotel in a card game is preserved as a story from the original narrative, pending a traceable source. No particular motive for emigration is established here.