Parents: Edmund Murphy & Alice Jones

Married: Ann Montgomery Dorr, Sept 1845

Children: Charles Edmund, Luella Ann, Simon Jones, Albert Montgomery, William Herbert, Annie Dorr, Frank Emery, Kitty, Fannie Atwood, Freddie Eddy, Henry Turner, Howard.

Occupation: Industrialist

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Simon Jones Murphy, Sr., who is a native of Maine, was born in April, 1815, and reared by his uncle, George Jones, a farmer on Jones Hill, remaining under his care till he was 18 years old. At the age of eighteen he left the farm, going to Bangor, on the Penobscot river, where he became a lumberman, exploring the river and its tributaries for lumbering purposes. After making himself acquainted with all the details of the business, he embarked in the industry for his own account, and, by energy, sagacity and prudence, became a successful lumberman. He was a hard worker, but was endowed by nature with a rugged and strong constitution that carried him through many severe hardships. In all his ventures he met with success, and is to-day, in his declining years, a typical representative of a New England pioneer lumberman.

Soon after getting well started in business he married in the State of Maine, and in 1866 removed to Detroit, Mich., where he has since had his home, although for the past several winters he has lived in Los Angeles county, California. His wife, Ann Montgomery, was a daughter of Charles M. Dorr, a citizen of prominence in the East, and she was educated in Boston while living with an aunt.
Twelve children were born of this union, of whom but six lived to maturity.

Source: "Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Brown, Kewaunee and Door, Wisconsin", 1895, pages 204-206
Thank you to pMcP (#48680380)who provided this information.

Simon J. Murphy, a pioneer lumberman and one of the wealthiest capitalists of Detroit died in that city Wednesday at the age of 83 years. The new Penobscot building in Detroit, now nearing completion, is his latest building project.

When Mr. Murphy came west from Maine in the early history of Michigan, he had but $30 in his pockets. He struck the Cass River section and commenced lumbering. It was in this county [Tuscola] that he made his start, and the pine of the Cass River valley made him the bulk of his immense fortune, estimated at the time of his death at $7,000,000.

He was extensively interested in lands in the southern part of the county until ten years ago when he sold the Spring Hill farm in Watertown and the Gooden Creek farm in Millington, both noted for their blooded stock. Until that time his representative in this section was Scotty McQueen, prominent in Republican politics.

In addition to his Michigan interests, he had a share in large fruit and mineral lands in Florida.

(Tuscola County Advertiser, Caro, Michigan, Feb. 3, 1905.)
Thank you to Joann Geybels (FAG # 46986938) who provided this information.