MITCHELL, Anderson, a Representative from North Carolina; born on a farm near Milton, Caswell County, N.C., June 13, 1800; attended Bingham’s School, Orange County, N.C., and was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1821; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Morganton, Burke County, N.C., in 1830; moved to Jefferson, Ashe County, N.C., in 1831; clerk of the superior court of Ashe County; moved to Wilkesboro, Wilkes County, N.C., in 1835, and resumed the practice of law; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Lewis Williams and served from April 27, 1842, to March 3, 1843; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1842 to the Twenty-eighth Congress; member of the State house of commons 1852-1854; elected to the State senate in 1860; delegate to the State convention of May 20, 1861, that passed the ordinance of secession, and voted against secession; was appointed judge of the superior court by Provisional Governor Holden in September 1865, subsequently elected and reelected, and served until June 30, 1875, when he resigned; died in Statesville, N.C., December 24, 1876; interment in the Presbyterian Cemetery.
(Source: Biographical Directory of the United States 1774-present.)

MURPHEY, ARCHIBALD DEBOW, lawyer, jurist, author, was born in 1777 in Caswell County, N. C. He was the author of numerous law works, and a history of his state. He died Feb. 3, 1832, in Hillsborough, N. C.
[Herringshaw's encyclopedia of American biography of the nineteenth century; Edited by Thomas William Herringshaw; Publ. 1901; Donated and Transcribed by Andrea Stawski Pack]

MURPHY, Archibald De Bow, statesman, was born near Milton, Caswell county, N.C., in 1777; son of Col. Archibald Murphy.  He entered the second class in the University of North Carolina, Jan. 15, 1795; was graduated with the highest distinction in 1799, and remained there as professor of ancient languages, 1800-01.  At this time he owned only three books and none on law.  He was admitted to the bar in 1802, through the friendship of one of the examining judges, and after admission studied under William Duffy of Hillsborough, and soon took a prominent place at the bar.  He was a senator in the general assembly, 1812-18; was chairman of the board of internal improvements, 1818-23, and his annual reports on the public policy of the state of transportation by canals to join together the great sounds on the seaboard were said to have been equaled only by the papers of De Witt Clinton on state canals and of John C. Calhoun on national roads and waterways.  On the subject of public education he recommended a system of support for public schools and academies and a state appropriation for the better equipment of the university.  In 1818 he was elected by the general assembly a judge of the superior courts and presided in the supreme court in several causes under appointment by the governor.  He resigned his seat on the bench in 1820 and resumed practice in Hillsborough.  He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1892-32.  He planned an exhaustive history of the soil, climate, legislation, civil institutions, literature etc. of North Carolina in 1821, and collected a vast mass of material in the state and from the state paper office in London, and in 1826 received authority from the general assembly to raise by lottery a sum sufficient for its publication; but beyond one or two chapters on the Indian tribes he accomplished but little, ruined health and a fortune dissipated by speculation putting an end to his enterprises.  He is the author of: A Memoir of Improvements Contemplated and the Resources and Finances of the State (1819); An Oration before the University of North Carolina (1827); Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1804-19 (1826).  See Peele’s “Lives of Distinguished North Carolinians” (1898).  He died in Hillsborough, N.C., Feb. 3, 1832.
(Source: The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Vol 3, Publ. 1904. Transcribed by Richard Ramos)