_____MATT FULLERTY'S____ THE PRIDE AND THE SORROW

A novel about Paul Morphy___New Orleans chess champion___prodigy, genius, tragedy

Home     The Pride and the Sorrow     The Murderess and the Hangman     Dear England     The Academic Novel     Site Map     Contact Matt     Agent      
The Morphy Family     The Chess Players     New Orleans      

The Morphy and Le Carpentier Families

These photographs show the main adults in the Morphy clan. No remaining photographs appear to survive of Paul's two sisters, Helena and Malvina. Charles Maurian remained his close friend and family associate for life.

 

Paul's heritage came from his Spanish ancestry on his father's side, bequeathing the name Morphy, and his mother's French name Le Carpentier. Paul's great-grandfather was Michael Murphy, an Irishman. The name Murphy was then changed to Morphy by his son, Paul's grandfather, Diego Morphy, in Malaga, Spain.

 

The Le Carpentier name was made notorious by Paul's maternal grandfather Joseph Le Carpentier, who not only owned slaves in the French Creole tradition, but bought and sold them as an "auctioneer" as well as trading with sometime friend, sometime enemy of the French Quarter, the pirate Jean Lafitte.


 

Burial

The Morphys are buried in an above-ground tomb at St. Louis Cemetery No.1, New Orleans. The cemetery is located near the St. Louis Cathedral, a few blocks north of the French Quarter. It is a short walk from both the house where Paul was born (1113 Chartres) and where he died (89 Royal). You can visit his tomb - a single white stone surrounded by tombs - to this day. 

 

The Morphy Family
Pause Stop Previous Next View full-sized photos

 

This page was last modified by Matt Fullerty on October 09, 2006