Lake-Henry County IN Archives Biographies.....Murphey, William Clinton 1842 - 1898 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 1, 2007, 7:51 pm Author: T. H. Ball (1904) BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WILLIAM CLINTON MURPHEY. CORPORAL, COMPANY B, ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-NINTH INDIANA INFANTRY IN THE CIVIL WAR, MERCHANT AND BANKER. The Murphey family in Henry county is as old as the county itself. The family came originally from North Carolina, for it was in the old North State that Miles Murphey and Dorothy Evans were united in marriage. They were the parents of sixteen children, six of whom died in North Carolina. About 1820 the family determined to emigrate to Indiana, and, coming to this state, they settled first in Wayne county, bringing their ten surviving children with them. In the spring of 1822, the same year that Henry county was organized, the family moved to what is now Henry county and settled on Flat Rock, two and one-half miles southeast of the present town of New Castle. One of the ten surviving children was a son, named Clement, born in North Carolina, December 23, 1808. In 1827, near New Castle, he married Huldah Bundy, also a native of North Carolina, and soon thereafter settled on a piece of land and started out to make a farm in Prairie township, about four miles northeast of New Castle. Clement and Huldah Murphey were the parents of fifteen children, eight boys and seven girls, viz.: Joel L., Hiram B., Francis M., Robert P., Eli C., William C, Miles E. and John F. The daughters were named Elizabeth, Sarah J., Mary, Martha, Eliza J., Huldah E. and Catherine. Clement Murphey became a prominent farmer and was one among the most successful agriculturists that ever lived in Henry county. He and his wife were upright, religious people and took great interest in church and educational matters. They were very highly respected by all who knew them, and the good name which they left behind them is a valuable legacy to their children. In i860 Mr. Murphey retired from his farm and moved to New Castle, where he and his excellent wife continued to reside until the day of their death. William Clinton Murphey, the sixth son, is the subject of this sketch. He was born on his father's farm above mentioned, January 1, 1842. He lived with his parents, working on the farm and attending the public schools, until 1860, when he accompanied his parents to New Castle. He early developed mercantile and business qualities of a high order. In the fall of 1860 he became a clerk in the hardware store of his brother, Joel L., in New Castle, and soon after obtaining his majority in 1863, he had a hardware store of his own. Later he moved to Middletown in Henry county, and engaged in the dry-goods trade, remaining there for a period of about two years, when he returned to New Castle, where he continued in the dry-goods business until the summer of 1868, when he engaged in the grocery business, which he operated until the fall of 1871. In the fall of this year came the turning point in Mr. Murphey's business career, for at this time he was induced by Mr. George Hazzard of New Castle to dispose of his grocery store and engage in the banking business. A firm was formed consisting of George Hazzard, William C. Murphey and Reuben Tobey, under the firm name of Hazzard, Murphey and Co., operating a private bank, known as the Citizens Bank of New Castle, with a combined capital of $40,000, ten thousand dollars of which was contributed by Mr. Murphey. This venture was highly successful, so much so that in the summer of 1873 these partners, with some new capital solicited in Henry county, were able to and did organize, under the laws of the state of Indiana, the Citizens State Bank of New Castle, with a capital of $130,000, of which bank Mr. Murphey was made cashier. In 1874 there was not a banking institution of any kind in Lake county, Indiana. Now there are, perhaps, twenty such organizations in the county. Neither was there a banking institution of any kind on the line of the Pennsylvania railroad, between Logansport and Chicago. This unoccupied territory was certainly an inviting field, and accordingly Mr. Murphey disposed of his interests in the Citizens State Bank of New Castle, when he together with Martin L. Bundy, George Hazzard and Augustus E. Bundy of New Castle, and John Brown, William W. Cheshire, David Turner, James Burge, James H. Luther and perhaps one other of Crown Point, the latter taking $1,000 each in the capital stock, organized the First National Bank of Crown Point, with a capital of $50,000, Mr. Murphey becoming vice president. Later the other parties from New Castle sold their stock in the bank, and Mr. Murphey became cashier, a position he held until physically disabled for further service. With this bank Mr. Murphey was continuously identified as the controlling spirit from the date of its organization until the close of his business career. Under his management the bank was highly successful. It accumulated a surplus fund equal to its capital, and so desirable was the stock as an investment that it readily sold for two hundred and fifty dollars a share. The par value of the shares was one hundred dollars each. It was in Crown Point that he made his great reputation as a prudent and sagacious business man and banker, and it was there also that he accumulated the fortune of a quarter of a million dollars which he left at the time of his death. In the Civil war Mr. Murphey was not forgetful of the patriotic duty which every citizen owes to the government, for he became a soldier in Company B, One Hundred Thirty-ninth Indiana Infantry, being mustered into the United States service as a corporal June 5, 1864, and mustered out September 29, 1864. At New Castle on the 29th day of November, 1866, he was married to Alice lone, second daughter of Joshua and Nancy Holland, old and highly respected citizens of Henry county. Mrs. Murphey was a native of New Castle where she lived all her life. She was highly esteemed by all who knew her. She died December 22, 1869, and her body now lies at rest in beautiful South Mound cemetery. From this union there was one child, a daughter, Anna Florence, born October 12, 1867. This loving child was not permitted to reach her full estate, for while at the Oxford (Ohio) Female College, she was suddenly stricken and died, February 22, 1885. Her remains were laid at the side of her mother in South Mound cemetery. Her death was a great shock to her father, who never fully recovered from the great loss then inflicted. On November 22, 1882, Mr. Murphey again married, this time to Louise M. Luther, nee Louise M. Whippo, now his surviving widow, a most estimable woman, highly educated and who was born at Dublin, Wayne county, Indiana, September 9, 1844. It was after Mr. Murphey's union with Mrs. Luther that his greatest success and prosperity came to him. She proved in every way a true wife, a good companion and a great business helpmeet. It was with the most tender solicitude that she cared for Mr. Murphey during his last years of almost total helplessness and supervised his business affairs. Mr. Murphey died July 21, 1898, at Crown Point, Indiana. On August 3, 1895, while engaged in the duties of his position at the bank, Mr. Murphey was stricken with paralysis. For days he hovered between life and death, but finally a change for the better came, and as soon as he was able to travel he was taken to southern California, where with the warm sun and genial climate he rapidly improved and in May was able to return home. But in November he returned to California, spending the winter in Los Angeles. In May he again came home, but soon left for Mt. Clemens, Michigan, where he hoped to find his health restored. He did receive some benefit, but in the fall again went to California, remaining until spring. He was failing before his departure for home, and on his return was confined to the bed for some days, but for ten weeks he was able to be out and meet his old friends, but finally the fatal disease was more than his heroic efforts could overcome and death claimed its own. For many years Mr. Murphey had been an earnest advocate of cremation, as the proper method of disposing of the dead, and, in accordance with his often expressed wish and direction, that disposition was made of his remains, and his ashes deposited by the side of his wife and only child in South Mound cemetery, New Castle. No man that ever lived in Lake county, for that matter in northwestern Indiana, left behind him a more enviable reputation for prudence, sagacity and sterling integrity than William Clinton Murphey. His judgment was the controlling factor in all disputed business affairs, throughout Lake county. He was an excellent person for one in doubt to consult, for he could take up the case and point out the uncertainties as well as the winning points. His advice was sought far and wide. He was a man of polished manners and pleasing address. His memory will long be cherished by all who knew him. Additional Comments: Extracted from: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Genealogy and Biography OF LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 1834—1904 A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. REV. T. H. BALL OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO NEW YORK THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1904 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/murphey626gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 9.8 Kb