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.

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Murphy moved with his parents to Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, in 1849, and to Iowa County, Iowa, in 1852. He attended the Boston public schools and Appleton (Wisconsin) University. He was graduated from the University of Iowa at Iowa City in 1857. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1858 and commenced practice in Marengo, Iowa.

Murphy was elected alderman in 1860. He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1864 and 1868. In 1867, he moved to Davenport, Iowa and continued the practice of law.

Murphy was elected mayor of Davenport in 1873 and again in 1878. He served one term as member of the Iowa Senate from 1874 to 1878. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1876 to represent Iowa's 2nd congressional district in the Forty-fifth Congress.

In 1882, Murphy again ran for Congress, challenging a freshman incumbent Republican, Sewall S. Farwell. After Murphy won the general election, he took his seat in the 48th United States Congress. Then, after winning re-election two years later (in 1884), he served in the 49th United States Congress. However, when seeking a third term in 1886, Murphy was defeated in the Democratic district convention, by Walter I. Hayes. In all, Murphy served in Congress from March 4, 1883 to March 3, 1887. 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.

He lived in retirement in Washington, D.C., until his death in that city on December 11, 1893. He was interred in St. Marguerite's Cemetery, in Davenport.

References

• United States Congress. "Jeremiah Henry Murphy (id: M001096)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings and Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.