BIOGRAPHY: Robert S. MURPHY, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 159-60
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ROBERT S. MURPHY, third son of Francis Murphy, whose fame in the field of 
temperance is world-wide, and Elizabeth Jane Ginn, is the present district 
attorney for Cambria county. He was born on October 18, 1861, in Louisville, St. 
Lawrence county New York, and first attended school in Portland, Maine, where, 
at an early period of life his mother died. Subsequently, he removed to 
Fryeburg, in the same state, for the purpose of enjoying an academic course at 
Potts academy, a well-known educational institution; after which he successively 
attended schools at Freeport, Sterling, and Abingdon, Illinois, at the latter 
place being a student at Hedding college; his education was completed in 
Pennington, New Jersey. In March, of 1880, accompanied by his brother, T. Edwin, 
whose fame as a speaker in his chosen sphere, is hardly second to that of his 
father, he came to Johnstown, and together they entered the office of Hon. W. 
Horace Rose as students of law, the subject of this sketch remaining the 
prescribed period of three years; the brother, T. Edwin, being compelled to 
relinquish his studies and assume the place of secretary and assistant to his 
father, who was then just embarking on an evangelistic tour, which eventually 
covered all of Great Britain proper. One of the very keenest regrets of Mr. 
Murphy's is that his brother never completed his legal education and became a 
member of the profession in the technical sense. It was the failure of a plan 
conceived by the father and most warmly adopted by the sons, that they should 
not only read law together, but should, at the proper time, be joined in its 
practice.
     Having completed his studies in the office of Mr. Rose, Mr. Murphy was 
admitted to practice in the several courts of Cambria county on t he 7th day of 
June, 1883, and in October of 1885 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania admitted 
him to membership.
     In politics Mr. Murphy has always been a republican of the active, zealous 
type, and in 1892 he was unanimously selected by his party in convention as a 
candidate for the office of district-attorney for Cambria county. The contest 
that followed is a memorable one in the history of local politics, for despite 
an adverse majority and a candidate of marked popularity, the Republican party 
was successful, and Mr. Murphy was elected. In the discharge of the duties of 
the office, Mr. Murphy proved acceptable to the people and to his party, and in 
1895 he was, without dissent, re-nominated, and his election followed by a 
decisive majority, largely in excess of that received in the previous campaign. 
In addition to his position as district-attorney, Mr. Murphy's talents have won 
for him an excellent civil practice, he being the legal representative of 
numerous important interests in his city and county.
     These evidences clearly indicate Mr. Murphy's high standing as a lawyer and 
his influence with court and jury. The future for him seems fraught with 
promise, and distinction apparently awaits him in the ranks of the profession so 
much admired and respected by himself.