Jeremiah Henry Murphy

Jeremiah Henry Murphy (February 19, 1835 – December 11, 1893) was a two-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa’s 2nd congressional district. He was born in Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, on February 19, 1835. In 1849 he moved with his parents to Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, part of the broader westward migration of New England families in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1852 the family relocated again, settling in Iowa County, Iowa, where Murphy spent the remainder of his youth and began the associations with the state that would define his public career.

Murphy’s early education was obtained in the Boston public schools before his family left Massachusetts. After the move west, he attended Appleton University in Appleton, Wisconsin, an institution that served the educational needs of the growing communities in the region. He later pursued higher education in Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa at Iowa City in 1857, placing him among the relatively small number of college-educated men on the midwestern frontier at that time.

Following his graduation, Murphy studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1858. He commenced the practice of law in Marengo, Iowa, the county seat of Iowa County, where he quickly became involved in local affairs. His entry into public life came soon thereafter; in 1860 he was elected an alderman, reflecting both his professional standing and his growing influence in the community. During the Civil War era he remained active in Democratic Party politics, serving as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1864 and again in 1868, participating in the party’s national deliberations during a period of intense political and sectional conflict.

In 1867 Murphy moved to Davenport, in Scott County, Iowa, a major commercial and political center on the Mississippi River, and continued the practice of law there. His prominence in Davenport led to his election as mayor in 1873, an office to which he was again elected in 1878. Concurrent with his municipal leadership, he advanced to state office, serving one term as a member of the Iowa Senate from 1874 to 1878. His legislative service in Des Moines, combined with his executive experience as mayor, established him as one of the leading Democrats in eastern Iowa. In 1876 he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to represent Iowa’s 2nd congressional district in the Forty-fifth Congress, an early indication of his congressional ambitions.

Murphy’s persistence in seeking national office was rewarded in the 1880s. In 1882 he again ran for Congress from Iowa’s 2nd congressional district, this time challenging freshman Republican incumbent Sewall S. Farwell. After winning the general election, Murphy took his seat in the Forty-eighth United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1883. He was reelected in 1884 and served in the Forty-ninth Congress, continuing in office until March 3, 1887. When he sought a third consecutive term in 1886, he was defeated not in the general election but in the Democratic district convention by Walter I. Hayes, another prominent eastern Iowa Democrat. Between the Civil War and the Great Depression, Murphy and Hayes were the only two Democratic congressmen from Iowa to serve two or more full terms, underscoring the predominantly Republican character of Iowa’s congressional delegation during that era.

After leaving Congress, Murphy did not return to elective office. He lived in retirement in Washington, D.C., maintaining his residence there during his final years. He died in Washington on December 11, 1893. His remains were returned to Iowa, and he was interred in St. Marguerite’s Cemetery, later known as Mount Calvary Cemetery, in Davenport, Iowa, reflecting his long association with that city and with the state whose interests he had represented in both state and national government.