Henry Cruse Murphy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Henry Cruse Murphy (1810-82) was an American politician and historian, born in Brooklyn, N. Y. He graduated at Columbia College in 1830, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Brooklyn, where 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, and after his return he served for six successive terms in the New York State Senate. He is perhaps best known for his researches in the early Colonial history of New York. He translated De Vries' Voyages from Holland to America 1632 to 1644 (1853). 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 (1859) and Jacob Stendam, Noch Vasater: A Memoir of the First Poet in New Netherlands, with his Poems, Descriptive of the Colony (1861). 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.

• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.