Joseph Lewis MORPHIS, Congress, MS (1831-1913)

MORPHIS, Joseph Lewis, a Representative from Mississippi; born near Pocahontas, McNairy County, Tenn., April 17, 1831; pursued elementary studies; engaged in planting; member of the State house of representatives in 1859; entered the Confederate Army as captain in August 1861 and served until the close of the Civil War; moved with his family to Pontotoc, Miss., in 1863; member of the State constitutional convention in 1865; member of the State house of representatives 1866-1868; upon the readmission of the State of Mississippi to representation was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses and served from February 23, 1870, to March 3, 1873; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1872; appointed by President Hayes as United States marshal of the northern district of Mississippi and served from 1877 to 1885; licensed as an Indian trader on the Osage Reservation in 1890 and engaged in that occupation until 1901; lived in retirement until his death in Cleveland, Pawnee County, Okla., July 29, 1913; interment in Woodland Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present