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Families & Individuals of the County
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Marguerite Murphy
Submitted by Don Holton
Edited, formatted & published by Joyce M. Tice
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Photo caption:
THE OLD HOMESTEAD CAKE –Marguerite Murphy, who retired from the Horseheads
school District after 55 years of teaching Sunday and also celebrated a
birthday, show off the cake one of the ladies of the area made for the
affair. It shows the home Miss Murphy lives in in Catlin, which was the
same home she was born in and has been a Murphy family residence for a
century
Marguerite Murphy of Town of Catlin
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55-year teaching career ends in Catlin by Charlie Trentelman (Elmira
Star-Gazette 05 JAN 1975)
It was a happy birthday and goodbye Sunday for Miss Marguerite Murphy
in Tompkin s Corners. Miss Murphy isn't really going anywhere, and Sunday
wasn’t really her birthday. Nevertheless, a couple of hundred Catlin and
Horseheads residents turned out to do her honor. Today is really her birthday
and she’s retiring from her job with the Horseheads School District, ending
a career of 55 years of teaching. Miss Murphy, who would admit to being
over 65, began teaching when it was still a job of the first order.
Firewood to be stoked, eight grades and kindergarten to be handled
all by one teacher and the hefty sum of $7 a week to be lived on This is
not to mention the lack of paved roads to go to school on. "I look back
at that now and I don’t know how I ever did it," she said.
The average class was 35 students scattered over eight grades with
each grade needing its own amount of attention.
"The teacher took care of that along with the rest of the chores,"
she said. "The wood was stacked up in the hall and the teacher had to keep
the home fires burning."
Despite all the adversity, she said teaching then was not only satisfying,
but in some ways more successful than it is today. "They really did learn,"
she said. "A great many of the boys and girls that went to school with
me became doctors and nurses and good businessmen. They got down to earth
and really enjoyed working. There wasn’t much money then and they weren’t
papered."
Miss Murphy taught in the little one roomers of Catlin for 35 years
before she quit temporarily to take care of her mother. Then she was asked
to become a substitute teacher for the Horseheads School District, eventually
teaching in all the schools of the district. AS she stayed with it longer,
the pay got better, she said "I started out at $7 a week teaching," she
said, "and when I finished up substituting I got more in one day then I
got in a month and a half of teaching when I started out," she said.
Maggie coming home from school in her 1917 Maxwell - mentioned in obituary below. |
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MURPHY, Marguerite T.
Age 101 of 4660 Murphy Hill Rd., Horseheads. NY, Thursday, Mrch 19,
1992. Miss Murphy was born on January 5, 1891 in the Town of Catlin, the
youngest daughter of Patrick Henry and Mary Cummins Murphy, Marguerite
was predeceased by four brothers and two sisters. She was graduated from
Cortland Normal School in 1914. She was a very active Leader with the 4-H
Clubs for several years before she began her teaching career. Marguerite
received the distinction of being one of only four persons in New York
State who had more that 25 years as a 4-H Club Leader. She and three others
held this honor among 6,000 4-H workers in New York State as of 1946. She
taught school in One-Room School Houses at Big Flats, Tompkins Corners
and at Murphy Hill School #11 in Catlin. When Horseheads consolidated,
Marguerite continued as a Substitute Teacher until she retired on December
31, 1971, ending a teaching career which spanned 55 years. At age 10 or
12 she and her sister Anna were the two Tap & Clog Dancers for the
Father Matthew Minstrels. They would perform at the Lyceum Theater in Elmira
and at Rorick’s Glen. In 1917 her two brothers, John and James purchased
a new 1917 Maxwell automobile for her. This was used not only for family
pleasure but it helped many neighbors with their emergencies and was the
first automobile on the Murphy Hill Road. Marguerite was a member of the
Retired Teachers Association, the Catlin Historical Society and in 1976,
she was crowned the First Catlin Queen. Marguerite was a life member of
St Mary Our Mother Church and a former member of the Alter & Rosary
Society. She is survived by nieces and nephews, Kathleen Kimball and Donald
L. Holton Sr. of Elmira, NY and Eileen (Aileyne) D. Murphy Smith of Ca;
grand-nephews & grand-nieces, Katherine A. Holton and Donald L Holton
II both of Elmira, NY. Friends are invited to call at the VanBuskirk-Lynch
Funeral Home, Mill St & Grand Central Ave., Horseheads, Sunday, 2 to
4 and 7 to 8:30 PM. Funeral and Committal Services will be held at the
conclusion of Calling Hours with the Rev. Patrick Conner officiating. Interment
in St. Mary Our Mother Cemetery at the convenience of the family. There
will be a Memorial Mass for Marguerite which will be celebrated April 5,
1992 at 9:00AM in St. Mary Our Mother Church, Horseheads, NY.
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Murphy Barn |
Mary CUMMINS "Murphy," mother of Marguerite |
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Published On Site 26 OCT 2005
By Joyce M. Tice
You are our welcome visitor since 26 OCT 2005
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