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Marguerite Murphy Submitted by Don Holton Edited, formatted & published by Joyce M. Tice Tri-County Genealogy & History Sites Home Page How to Use This Site Warning & Disclaimer Town of Catlin Page  More Tri-County Family Histories More Tri-County Centenarians No Unauthorized Commercial Use Say Hello to Joyce  .

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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.

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.

Murphy Barn	Mary CUMMINS "Murphy," mother of Marguerite

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