Murphy Ranch

Murphy Ranch. . , Mexican Empresario Don Martin de León received permission in 1824 from Mexican authorities to establish a colony bearing his name between the Lavaca and Lower Guadalupe Rivers and Coleto Creek, on the former lands of the Spanish mission, Nuestra Senõra del Espíritu Santo. Juan Nepomuceno Escalera and José María Escalera were among de Leon’s original colonists. They were granted land on the west side of the Guadalupe River, in what is now known as Mission Valley. Their combined land holdings totaled 9,964 acres. , In 1850, Green Berry Clay purchased 1,107 acres of the original Escalera lands. Upon his death (ca. 1852), this land passed to his children, including his daughter, Nancy Clay, who was the wife of John Jefferson Murphy. Although Murphy was killed during the Civil War's Red River campaign, Nancy remained on the family's land in Victoria County, where she raised her children. The Murphy homestead later became the property of their son, William Maston Murphy, Sr. William built a simple dog run home that has been in continuous use by the family since its construction although additions to the structure have been made through the years. William Maston Murphy, Jr., was born in the house in 1884, and his daughter, Salome Jane Murphy, was born in the house in 1914. Through inheritance and purchase, Jane Murphy Welder became sole owner of the Murphy Ranch in 1975, and the ranch passed on to her daughters upon her death in 1991. From 1726 to the present lands comprising the Murphy Ranch have been used continuously in cattle ranching, at the site of the Mission Espíritu Santo Ranch, one of the first great cattle ranches of Texas.