About Me
My name is Phillip D. Murphy and I was born in 1976 in Pulaski County, Kentucky. I resided most of my life in Casey County, Kentucky. I am a United States Air Force Veteran and proud freemason. I have been married for over eleven years and have two children, both under the age of twelve. I enjoy the outdoors and don't mind doing physically hard work. I started out farming at age 14 and did that until my enlistment in the military at age 17. When my time in the military was over, I went to work with my father doing highway construction. It was during this time that I became highly interested in Family Research. During the years of 1998 and 1999 I started researching my own family tree. Let me say that I learned many valuable lessons the hard way. I started working with a local researcher in the county I lived mainly as a hobby in late 1999. The things I learned about researching from this man are too lengthy to be told here, but other than what I learned by trial and error, I owe him many thanks for properly educating me into the many different realms of research methods. After the death of who I consider my mentor, I abandoned researching almost completely. I dealt mainly with my own family tree.
In 2004, after the death of my father, I started working as a manager at Lowe's and picked up doing family research again, and this time it consumed me. I went on a mission to learn everything I could about researching and genealogy to fulfill a promise I made to my father before he died, and that was to discover the story behind his Great Grandfather, who nobody had any information on prior to his arrival in Casey County in the early 1890's. I read every book I could find, reviewed every genealogical publication I could find, read every genealogical report I could find, took every online genealogical course I could find, and enrolled in every online genealogical seminar I could find. I basically took everything I had previously learned from my mentor, everything I had learned from trial and error, everything I learned from reading, everything I learned from my online study, and developed my own specific method of researching and reporting. To fulfill the promise I made to my father, I would have to do what nobody in the family had ever done, and would have to accomplish what my own mentor was unable to complete. For years my family had been researching my Great Great Grandfather as had my mentor, with no success. I started deeply researching in 2004 and hit many brick walls along the way. As the research went on, I would tweak methods I found that needed to be corrected to better myself. Once again, I learned many things the hard way. I was completely consumed with not just researching my family, but with researching period. Along the way, I encountered many people who would end up sending research requests my way. I found it aggrevating at the time as I was wanting so badly to accomplish my own research. This type of thing went on for two years.
In 2006, when I was just about ready to give up researching my family tree, I was requested to do another line of research in my family from my Great Aunt who I greatly adored. I took the project on and like I had always done, allowed it to completely consume me. This is when I learned perhaps the most valuable lesson I have ever learned in doing any type of genealogical research which is to not just look at the person of interest, but look at everyone associated with the person. Once again, while encountering another one of my Great Great Grandfathers, specifically in the line of my family that my Great Aunt wanted researched, I made a startling discovery. He too had came to Casey County around the same time my other Great Great Grandfather had and not just that, but also lived within a half mile from him. I went full force and found him coming from Clay County, Kentucky. Much to my surprise, within houses away in Clay County was my other Great Great Grandfather with his family. I absolutely went through the ceiling with excitement. Since discovering the truth about him, I have been able to go all the way back to immigration on both sides I was researching. I now look back at all the research I did for others that I once viewed as aggrevating, and thank the persons for the opportunity to gain experience.
Geneaology is not just an occupation for me. It is a passion. I love it and take it very personal. When I research, I try to become the person I am researching. I want my clients to know the truth when all is said and done. I want them to know not just the dates, names, and places, but also the story behind their ancestor. My philosophy on family research is that even if we didn't know our ancestor's personally, we owe our own existence partly to them. Without them, we would never have been, and the best way to thank them is to honor them by telling their story to others.