Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 444 - 445

HON. DANIEL MURPHY. The name of this well-known resident of Ninnescah Township has long been familiar to the people of this section as that of one of their most valued citizens, resolute, energetic and enterprising, and one who has made his mark in the building up of the township, socially and financially. A native of the Blue Grass State, he was born in Garrard County on the 26th of January, 1837, and his parents, James and Elizabeth (Hammack) Murphy, were also Kentuckians by birth.

             The parental household of our subject included eleven children. The eldest son, William, is a resident still of his native county in Kentucky; John is farming in Stevens County, this State; James is occupied similarly in this township; Sarah J. is the wife of John Kanatzer, of Madison County, Ky.; Daniel, of our sketch, is the youngest of the living children. Those deceased are George, Mary, Fanny, Emily, Francis M., and an infant who died unnamed. The mother died in early life, in January, 1843, when her son Daniel was a little lad six years of age. James Murphy survived his wife for a period of fifty years, and spent his last days in Kentucky at his old home, the only one he had ever known, where he passed away on the 4th of April, 1883, aged eighty-three years.

             Young Murphy was reared to manhood in his native county, becoming familiar with the various employments of the farm, and acquiring his education under the imperfect instruction of the school system of that time and place. When nearing manhood he engaged as a teacher. During the progress of the late Civil War he enlisted in Company G, 1st Kentucky Cavalry, as a Union soldier, and after one year's service was promoted to Second Lieutenant, being duly commissioned, and with which rank he was mustered out at the close of the war. He fought at the battles of Perryville, Knoxville, Mill Springs, Resaca and Peachtree Creek, besides meeting the enemy in numerous other engagements and skirmishes. In the meantime for nearly eighteen months he had command of the company, acting as Captain during the incarceration of the regular Captain, who had been captured and was confined in the rebel prison at Milan, S. C. The 1st Kentucky Cavalry was the first in the field, and engaged in the service before being properly drilled. They did splendid service, however, during the war, and it is estimated, captured three times their full strength of rebel troops.

             Lieut. Murphy, in the charge at Lancaster, Ky., on the 25th of March, 1863, was made prisoner by the rebels, but was in a short time paroled and exchanged, when he rejoined his regiment in time to participate in the Stoneman raid, near Macon, Ga. There he was wounded in the left hip by a pistol shot, and falling in the hands of the enemy, was confined in the Macon and Andersonville Prisons about nine months, fortunately, however, having to endure the horrors of Andersonville only about ten days. The-wound which he had received caused partial paralysis, which incapacitated him afterward for regular duty. His exchange was effected on the 29th of April, 1865, shortly after the surrender of Gen. Lee, and during the general exchange of prisoners which followed.

             After laying aside the accoutrements of war, Lieut. Murphy returned to his native county, where he engaged in farming, and about eight years later was married, on the 27th of November, 1877, to Miss Susie M. Wilson, a native of Lexington, Ky. His wife lived less than a year after their wedding day, passing away on the 7th of November, 1878. Her memory is held in tender remembrance by her husband and a large circle of friends and acquaintances, to whom she had endeared herself by her many excellent qualities and kindly disposition.

            Lieut. Murphy, in 1865, was elected to represent his native county in the Lower House of the Kentucky Legislature, at which time he served two terms and was re-elected in 1879, serving also another two years. He continued amid the scenes of his childhood and youth until the fall of 1884, then determined to seek the Western country. Coming to this county he secured the land included in his present farm, which lies not far from the limits of Clearwater, and is now the owner of a half-section which he has brought to a good state of cultivation, and where he gives much of his attention to the raising of fine stock.

             Our subject began life without means, and may properly be numbered among the self-made men of Kansas, who have attained a good position, among their fellow-citizens by the exercise of their native resolution and industry. In his labors to build up a homestead he has also kept in view the good of his community, and is one of the first men approached in the inauguration of an enterprise tending to the building up of the township and the welfare of its people. A stanch Republican politically, he keeps himself well posted in regard to current events, and is a liberal contributor to both educational and religious enterprises. He has been identified with the Christian Church since coming here, and is now one of its Elders, also a Trustee of Ninnescah Township. Socially he belongs to the G. A. R. Post, at Clearwater.

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