Sacramento County
Biographies
RICHARD J.
MURPHY
RICHARD J. MURPHY.--A well-known and valued citizen of Sacramento is found in Richard J. Murphy, the capable superintendent of the County Hospital located in the capital city, a position he has ably filled for the past eight years. He was born in San Francisco, Cal., September 4, 1854, a son of James and Catherine (O’Connor) Murphy. James Murphy came to California in 1854 via Panama and engaged in mining and farming in Eldorado County and it was in the schools of that county that Richard J., the son, obtained his education. James Murphy passed away in Placer County in 1913, the mother having preceded him. Of their five children, Richard J. is the eldest.
The boyhood days of Richard J. Murphy were spent on his father’s farm and there he learned the practical lessons of life; he was educated in the public schools and early left the parental home. Coming to Sacramento in 1878, he went to work in the Southern Pacific Railroad shops in the boiler department and was there for five years. In 1881 he removed to Folsom and for three years was guard at the state penitentiary under Warden Thomas Parkman and for three years was lieutenant of the guard; and then for seventeen years he was captain of the guards, under McComb, Aull, Wildeson and Yell. He spent one year at San Quentin prison as turnkey; then for eight years and a half Captain Murphy was postmaster at Folsom under Roosevelt, being re-appointed by Taft. In 1915 he was appointed steward of the County Hospital at Sacramento and two years later was appointed business superintendent of the hospital.
The marriage of Captain Murphy united him with Miss Mary Farmer and they are the parents of one daughter, Isabel, now Mrs. Rudolph Draesemer and there is one grandchild, Isabelle. Captain Murphy is a stanch Republican and has been a member of the county central committee. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen, and is a charter member of the Granite Parlor, N. S. G. W., of Folsom.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 918.
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.