our roots

George Murphy was born in County Antrim, Ireland in 1809. In the 1880’s George’s sons came to America, walked 360 miles from Portland, Oregon to homestead in Oakesdale, Washington. The sons moved the entire family over, each male receiving a plot of land via The Homestead Act. They became farmers, blacksmiths, and Tavern keepers. You can be certain, there were some beards involved immigrating and homesteading in the 19th century

Our clan hasn’t strayed too far. George’s lineage bore a railroader, a State Patrol Captain, a Judge, a Marine Master Sergeant and a teacher. All lived within 50 miles of George’s grave.

This is where we came up with “The Da”. To honor, not only our dad, but the father that started it all. The one who is responsible for our place in this world.

Fortunately, mom’s family homesteaded the next county over. We are able to visit all of our ancestors each Memorial Day Weekend.

Because of our sense of family, we decided to produce something together. And, because of our physical place in the world, we consciously try to support our community by buying locally produced products, or by producing them ourselves. We have found locally pressed oils, locally collected beeswax, and we take advantage of our local trees to produce our own resins.