In this modern utilitarian age, so efficient in yielding the necessary comforts of man, both physical and mental, the men who lead in establishing institutions for these purposes deserve more honor than any other class. We take pleasure in mentioning in this connection the founders of the original settlement from which Covington, Ohio, ultimately grew. They were a company of soldiers left by General Wayne in 1793 to guard the country from the encroachments of hostile Indians. Their blockhouse stood on the site now occupied by the Pennsylvania railroad station. These men were simply soldiers, having no experience in the founding of towns or communities. The mind of George W. Smith was the leading factor in the establishment of Covington. In every sense he was a public spirited man, who set in motion those elements which are to-day illustrated by the younger business men of our enterprising towns. Prominent among the latter is Joseph Murphy, who is now engaged in the lumber business and also trades in building materials, doing both a wholesale and retail business.

Mr. Murphy was born in Newton township, Miami county, Ohio, August 6, 1860, the youngest of thirteen children. His father, William Murphy, was born in Montgomery county, this state, September 6, 1818, and received the usual education of lads of that day. He was but a boy when he was left without a father's care. At the age of thirteen he began to wage the battles of practical life alone, working at whatever he could find to do until he was seventeen years old, when he apprenticed himself to learn the carpenter's trade, which he followed for eight years, and then purchased a farm near Yellow Springs, in Greene county, this state.

For a number of years thereafter he bought and sold farms for profit. In 1852 he bought what is known as the A. F. Mikesell farm near Covington. In 1862 he engaged in the grocery business in Covington, in which he continued a year. In 1865 he removed to Darke county, Ohio, where he purchased a farm within what is now the corporate limits of Versailles, and here he established a hardware business, which he conducted in connection with his farm for six years. At length he sold both the farm and the hardware business and engaged in banking and the lumber trade. His business abilities and probity of character made him a most esteemed and valued citizen.

In politics he was a stanch Democrat, and in religion a consistent and loyal member of the Christian church. He was deeply interested in Freemasonry and was for years the Worshipful Master of Versailles Lodge.

On the 7th of January, 1838, he married Mary Sipe, who was born January 11, 1818, in Pennsylvania, of German parents, who had emigrated to this country in an early day in our history. Mrs. Murphy died at Covington, September 30, 1862, having borne to her husband the following named children: Catherine, Leander, Sarah, Simon, Angeline, John, William H., Mary M., Ellen, Esther, Elizabeth, Susan and Joseph. She was a good, sensible woman and died in the Christian hope of an immortal life. William H. Murphy, her husband, died at Versailles, June 26, 1893, and his remains rest beside his wife in Green Lawn cemetery, Covington, Ohio.

Joseph Murphy, the subject of this sketch, was five years old when his father and family located in Versailles, where he attended the public schools. After completing his education he began teaching in the schools of that town, in 1879, and followed that occupation for five years, spending his vacations at work in his father's lumber yard, where he acquired a knowledge of that business, which has been invaluable to him. Being anxious to follow a business career, he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits and in company with his brother-in-law, G. H. Worch, ran a general store in Versailles for a year. Selling then his interest there, he came to Covington, in the spring of 1887, and opened a lumber-yard and here he has steadily prospered. In 1894 he opened a branch yard in West Milton, Miami county, and one at New Carlisle, in Clark county, Ohio, in 1895.

In all his business affairs Mr. Murphy is an upright, reliable and energetic man, carrying forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes. He is an ardent Democrat and a devout and faithful member of the Covington Christian church, of which he is a trustee and the leader of the choir. Though he leads a very busy life, he is keenly alive to all the great problems of the day and gives the weight of his influence to all questions of moral reform. Temperate in habits, speech and life, keenly alive to all the interests of his adopted city, he is held in high esteem by all who know him. In fact he possesses all the elements of a successful business man and model citizen.

In 1884 he married Miss Emma L. Worth, of Versailles. Their children are five in number, namely: Opal Marie, born September 15, 1886; Charmer Worth, July 16, 1888; Hazel June, June 19, 1890; Joseph Van, April 11, 1892, and Charles Hubert, August 7, 1899. Mrs. Emma (Worch) Murphy was born at New Madison, Ohio, January 14, 1861, being the second daughter of Sebastian Worch, of Versailles, Ohio. She was educated in the public schools of New Madison and is in every way fitted to preside over the beautiful home she and her husband have built on Piqua avenue and filled with choice books and whatever makes home attractive and helpful to children. In singleness purpose, in devotion to the spiritual and intellectual development of her children, in cheerful patience, in simplicity and dignity of life, Mrs. Murphy is an exceptional woman.

Her father, Sebastian Worch, was born in Bishausen, Germany, May 17, 1833, where he received a German education and learned the trade of baker. He emigrated to America in 1853 and located in Dayton, Ohio, but there he was almost immediately taken very ill. He had neither money nor old-time acquaintances, and in a strange land it is not singular if he pined sorely for his native land. On his recovery he worked for three years on a farm in Montgomery county. On the 24th of December, 1857, be was married to Mary Thomas, who was born at Schlearbach, Germany. Her father was a large land owner and an official under the crown of Prussia. On the death of her father and mother the estate fell to her elder brother and she emigrated to America and made her home with her brother in Dayton, ,and while there she married Sebastian Worch. After their marriage they went to live in New Madison, Darke county, where Mr. Worch engaged in the mercantile and hotel business. In 1877 he sold out and removed to Greenville, this state, and in 1879 to Versailles, his present residence, where he is an honored and highly respected citizen.