Katherine Manning Murphy (1851 - 1927)

MURPHY, MANNING, CROWE, THORNTON, MULLARKEY, GILROY, GLEASON, BRENNAN

Posted By: M. J. Fitzgerald (email)
Date: 10/11/2009 at 17:25:43

Note: Katherine Manning Murphy died December 8, 1927. Obituary is from the Allamakee Journal newspaper.

Mrs. Katherine Murphy Called to Her Reward

On Thursday last, at her home in Lafayette township, occurred the death of another of Allamakee’s pioneer mothers, after an illness of over a year with anemia. She was comforted in her last illness by the presence of all her children at her bedside and was well prepared to meet her Maker.

Deceased was the oldest daughter of the late Thomas and Katherine Manning and was born April 12th, 1851, in Essex county, New York, coming to Iowa with her parents in 1863. She was married to Patrick Murphy May 10th, 1871, at St. Joseph’s church, Paint Rock, settling at once on the farm which was ever afterwards her home. Eleven children were born to them, three preceding her in death, as well as the husband, who died March 10th, 1910. Those living are: Mesdames Thomas Crowe, Patrick Thornton, Michael Mullarkey, of Lafayette township, Mrs. James Gilroy, of Bovil, Idaho, and Thomas, Patrick and Frank, of Lafayette, and James, of Oelwein, Iowa. Two sisters, Mrs. Mary Gleason, of Los Angeles, Calif., and Mrs. Thos. Brennan of Lafayette, and two brothers, John Manning of Lafayette, and James Manning of Waukon, Iowa, also survive her.

Mrs. Murphy was a good woman in all that the name implies. “A wonderful woman,” as one neighbor who knew her well and for many years, put it to this writer. She was a devoted and faithful member of Immaculate Conception church, Wexford, and always willing to do her full share for the benefit of the church and the propagation of the faith. She not only believed in Christian charity but put it into practice in her daily life, being the first in case of sickness or distress to offer assistance. Her genial, kindly ways won for herself a host of admiring friends and acquaintances once formed soon ripened into lasting friendships.

Mrs. Murphy was a woman of wonderful executive ability and on the death of her husband she assumed, in addition to her household duties, the management of their large and well appointed farm and made a signal success of it. A devoted wife and mother, true friend and neighbor, her passing will be greatly mourned in the community in which she so long resided and was so universally and highly respected.

The funeral Saturday was from Wexford church, following a High Mass for the happy repose of her soul, celebrated by Father Laffan, who eulogized deceased in a most touching sermon, laying stress on the fact that her passing took place on the great feast of the Immaculate Conception. Interment took place in the family lot in the churchyard, the pall-bearers being Ray, Roy and Thos. Crowe, Mike Mullarkey, Roy Murphy and Wm. Manning.