Dr. Frank J. Murphy

DENAMY, MURPHY, STOREY

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 12/5/2015 at 17:29:35

Northwestern Iowa
Its History and Traditions
1804 – 1926

For thirty-eight years, Dr. Frank J. Murphy has been engaged in the practice of medicine in Sioux City, Iowa. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 22d of April, 1865, is a son of John T. and Louise (Denamy) Murphy, and is descended from sterling old Irish stock on the paternal side, his grandfather, James Murphy, having been a native of Ireland. From that country he went to England, where he was married to Miss Eliza Sanderson and soon afterwards they came to America, locating in Bradford, Ontario, Canada, where they reared a family. A son, John T. Murphy, came to the United States about 1858, locating in Detroit for a short time, and then went into the northern peninsula of Michigan, where he became identified with the copper industry. In 1871 he came to Iowa, locating at Sergeant Bluff, where he bought a farm, being one of the pioneer farmers of northwestern Iowa.

On that farm Doctor Murphy was reared, being but six years of age when the family came west. He attended the district school and later graduated from the Sergeant Bluff high school. He then attended there State Normal School at Cedar Falls, 1883-4, and was at Iowa State University in 1884-85. In preparation for his profession career he entered the medical school of Iowa University, completing his studies is Rush Medical College (now the medical school of the University of Chicago), where he was graduated in 1887, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Immediately following he came to Sioux City and has been engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery continuously since, being one of the oldest physicians in point of years of service in this community.

Doctor Murphy enlisted for service in the Spanish-American war and was commissioned lieutenant and assistant surgeon of the fifty-second Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of that short but decisive conflict. Following its close, he joined the Iowa National Guard and was commissioned a captain in the medical corps. In 1914 the Doctor organized Iowa Ambulance Company No. 1, being the first ambulance company organized in the state. In June, 1916, he took his company to the Mexican border, being stationed at Brownsville, Texas, where he was commissioned major and attached as surgeon to the Fourth Iowa Infantry Regiment. He was mustered out with his regiment in March, 1917, and was then appointed on the medical advisory board in Sioux City, in which capacity he served until the close of the World War.

In April, 1900, Doctor Murphy was united in marriage to Miss Mable Storey, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and they have an only daughter, Marguerite.

The Doctor is a member of the Woodbury County Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society, the Missouri Valley Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is also a member of William A. Kirk Post, Spanish War Veterans and of Sioux City Lodge, No. 112, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. For many years he has been a member of the Sioux City Rotary Club and was one of the six men who drafted the Rotary Code of Ethics, which was adopted by International Rotary, at the annual Rotary convention in San Francisco, in July 1915. He has dignified and honored the medical profession by his self-abnegating services, attaining to distinction and success and today no citizen of his home city enjoys to a greater measure than he the confidence and good will of the people generally.