John Morrissey (February 12, 1831 – May 1, 1878), also known as Old Smoke, was an Irish American politician, bare-knuckle boxing champion, and criminal. He was born in 1831 in Ireland. His parents moved to New York State when he was a young child. In the early 1850s he went to San Francisco at the time of the California Gold Rush. In California he became a bare-knuckle boxer and on his return to New York, he challenged and defeated "Yankee Sullivan", who was then recognized as the American boxing champion. He became a professional gambler, owning gambling houses in New York City in the 1850s and 1860s. He emerged as a powerful politician and a U.S. Congressman from New York, between 1867 and 1871, backed by Tammany Hall. However, he later fell out with the Tammany Hall political machine and became Democratic State Senator for New York between 1876 and 1878, running as an anti-Tammany candidate. Early life Morrissey was born in Templemore, County Tipperary, Ireland on February 12, 1831. Around 1833 his parents emigrated to the United States and settled in or near Troy, New York. According to a newspaper obituary, Morrissey's father, Timothy, worked as a laborer to support his large family, having 7 daughters to support in addition to his only son, John. The same source states that after little formal education, Morrissey started work at the age of 12 in a wall-paper factory. He subsequently worked at an iron-works and a stove foundry. By 1848, Morrissey was taking a leading part in factional fighting in Troy between the "Down-Town" and "Up-Town" gangs. Morrissey reportedly became the "king-pin" of the faction "hailing from the lower part of the city" and was involved in fighting the rival group's leader, Jack O'Rourke as well as "most of the up-town" people. Morrissey moved to New York City in 1848, becoming a deck-hand on a steamer running between Albany and New York. He married the daughter of a ship's captain, Sarah Smith, around 1849. It was during his time in New York that he is said to acquired his nickname, "Old Smoke" as a result of a fight. According to one story, during a fight with Thomas McCann, a noted rough-and-tumble fighter, Morrissey was said to have been pinned on his back atop burning coals from a stove that had been overturned. Morrissey endured the pain as his flesh burned, fought