Biography - Sylvester Murphy
Sylvester MURPHY was born in Macoupin County, Ill., June 10, 1845; is the only living child of Hiram and Sarah (HUFF) MURPHY. Hiram MURPHY, born in Clermont County, Ohio, December 8, 1816, came West with his parents in 1828 and settled near Carrollton, in Greene County, Ill., where he lived four years, then moved to Macoupin County, Ill., with his parents, where he has lived for half a century; he has been a successful farmer; beginning with nothing, he now owns 600 acres of improved land. His wife, whom he married about 1843, was of German descent. Sylvester received his primary education in the district schools of Macoupin County, and finished at the high school in Carlinville. He came to Montgomery County about the year 1868; lived on the farm there two years, then moved to the city of Litchfield, and carried on farming in North Litchfield Township, raising good crops of corn and wheat; he served as Town Clerk of South Litchfield in 1880. The great-grandfather of our subject was a native of Ireland; his wife was a native of Germany, named HESS, and bore him seven sons; he started to return to the old country, but was never afterward heard of, and is supposed to have been lost at sea. John MURPHY, subject's grandfather, was born in Jefferson County, Ky., January 26, 1791; he served in the war of 1812, and afterward located in Ohio; he engaged in flat-boating to New Orleans on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; was married three times, and had eleven children by the first two marriages; he was the youngest of seven sons, all of whom were in the war of 1812, after which they became scattered.
Extracted 19 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, pages 156-157.
