James E. Murphy (1) (1910–1990)

This book is pretty much the only game in town when it comes to Charles E. Conrad and his family which is most unfortunate, as this work is severely flawed. It reads well, but it suffers from some egregious factual errors which stem from his over-reliance on a single source: Alicia Conrad, C. E. Conrad's daughter, and her not-so-reliable memories. She was but ten years old when her father died, and the majority of her memories have been colored by her childhood, and she was in her late seventies when Mr. Murphy interviewed her. By then, those childhood memories had gotten very fuzzy. The author could have spent a little time fact checking some of her tales, but he failed to do so and took her at face value, thereby continuing to promulgate the falsehoods and innuendos initially promulgated by her mother, Alicia Davenport (Stanford) Conrad, who had several axes to grind.

Before I continue, let me establish my bona-fides: I have been researching the Conrad family for several years now and have spent many hours studying the family papers in the K. Ross Toole Archives at the University of Montana, augmented by researches at the Montana Historical Society and other archives. I have already written & distributed several small publications on various topics related to the Conrads which have been sold at the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell, where I work on a part-time basis as the archivist in a volunteer capacity.

To return to my review, foremost among those axes was her attitude towards her husband's first-born, Charles Edward Conrad, Jr. She did all that she could to erase him from the family story, as he was not hers, but the child of C. E.'s first wife, the Kainai (Blood) woman, Kaiyis (not Sings-in-the-middle as is often reported, including here). To make it short, despite claims to the contrary, Edward (as he was often called) was not a drunk, did not abandon his wife and most likely did not commit suicide (although that is still being researched).

Another major problem with Murphy's book is that he has two totally different stories of how C. E. Conrad's mother-in-law, Catherine Elizabeth Alicia (Coggan) Stanford, arrived in North America, as well as some erroneous details concerning her life in England, one of which is his reporting, based on Alicia Conrad's memories) that his mother-in-law's brother died of the plague, leaving her alone when in fact, the brother mentioned, George Simmons Stanford, died in 1934. They had a falling out and rarely, if ever, corresponded with each other afterwards. Catherine's father died about ten years after she emigrated and they corresponded during that time.

The version of Catherine's arrival that is briefly recounted on pages 74-75 is fictional and is devoid of any actual dates. He has her arriving accompanied by a chaperone, Guglielmo Marconi. She arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, in June of 1848. Marconi was born in 1874. The problem is obvious and indicative. Mrs. Stanford liked to tell stories, and young Alicia loved to hear them but failed to distinguish fact from fiction and Mr. Murphy failed to fact check anything.

I have no need to go on, as the above suffices to warn the reader that this book is not to be trusted when it comes to the Conrads. I gave this book two stars entirely on the basis of the accurate information on Ft. Benton which was provided by the late Ft. Benton historian, Joel Overholser, which contribution the author does acknowledge.

A glaring omission is any kind of bibliography. You are left to find what sources were used by poring through the text.

Read it if you must, but take anything regarding the Conrads with a keg of salt.

-- Richard L. Hardesty (the "R" in J. R. Hardesty)… (plus d'informations)