John Murphy (Alabama)

John Murphy
4th Governor of Alabama
In office November 25, 1825 – November 25, 1829
Preceded by	Israel Pickens
Succeeded by	Gabriel Moore
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 5th district
In office March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835
Preceded by	District created
Succeeded by	Francis Strother Lyon
Member of the Alabama House of Representatives
In office 1820
Member of the Alabama Senate
In office 1822
Personal details
Born	1786 Columbia, North Carolina
Died	September 21, 1841 (aged 54–55) Clarke County, Alabama
Political party	Democratic

John Murphy (1786 – September 21, 1841) was the fourth Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama, serving two terms from 1825 to 1829.

Biography

Early life

John Murphy was born in 1786 in Robeson County, North Carolina. He attended South Carolina College, now the University of South Carolina, where he was a member of the Clariosophic Society.^[1] Among his classmates at South Carolina College were John Gayle and James Dellet. Gayle also became Governor of Alabama while Dellet became a U.S. Congressman from Alabama.^[2] Murphy graduated in 1808.

Career

He became a clerk at the South Carolina Senate. He served as trustee for the University of South Carolina from 1808 to 1818.^[3]

In 1818, he moved to Alabama and was elected to the Alabama House in 1820 and the Alabama Senate in 1822. He was elected Governor of Alabama in 1824, and in 1827 he was elected a second term. He represented Alabama in the United States House of Representatives from 1833 to 1835.

Personal life

Under date of April 2, 1834, John Quincy Adams records in his diary that Congressman James Blair "shot himself last evening at his lodgings ... after reading part of an affectionate letter from his wife, to Governor Murphy, of Alabama, who was alone in the chamber with him, and a fellow-lodger at the same house." Diary (New York: Longmans, Green, 1929) p. 434.

Death

He died in 1841 in Clarke County, Alabama.

References

1. South Carolina College: Clariosophic Society, Catalogue of Members in 1842, Lanham Digital Library of Hill Country History at Logan Library at Schreiner University
2. John Murphy (1825-29) in the encyclopedia of Alabama
3. "Alabama Governors: John Murphy". Alabama Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 2012-06-27.

External links

• United States Congress. "John Murphy (id: M001097)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.