Henry C. Murphy

Who was Henry C. Murphy?

Henry Cruse Murphy was an American lawyer, politician and historian.

Murphy was born in Brooklyn. He graduated from Columbia College in 1830, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Brooklyn. There he became city attorney and, in 1842, mayor. The next year he became a member of Congress. At the expiration of his term he was elected a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1846. In 1847 he was again sent to Congress, and in 1852 was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President. From 1857 to 1861 he was Minister to Holland. After his return, he was a member of the New York State Senate from 1862 to 1873, sitting in the 85th, 86th, 87th, 88th, 89th, 90th, 91st, 92nd, 93rd, 94th, 95th and 96th New York State Legislatures.

He is perhaps best known for his researches in the early Colonial history of New York. He translated David Pietersz. de Vries' Voyages from Holland to America 1632 to 1644. and Jasper Danckaerts' Journal Of A Voyage To New York In 1679-80. During his residence at The Hague as American Minister he printed for private distribution two monographs, Henry Hudson in Holland: Origin and Objects of the Voyage which Led to the Discovery of the Hudson River and Jacob Steendam, Noch Vaster: A Memoir of the First Poet in New Netherlands, with his Poems, Descriptive of the Colony. The latter of these was reprinted in his Anthology of New Netherland: or, Translations from the Early Dutch Poets of New York, with Memoirs of their Lives, issued by the Bradford Club in 1875.