Clara Mary (Whitten) Murphy (1873 - 1946)

Born 3 Apr 1873 in St. John's, Newfoundland

Ancestors

Died 1 Jul 1946 at age 73 in South Boston, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Clara Mary Whitten was born on April 3, 1873, in St. John's, Newfoundland.

She was the youngest known child of William Whitten and Anne Toucher, and was raised Catholic in St. John's alongside several siblings.

Clara's father died she was only ten years older, in 1883. The following year, she lost her brother George, who was only about 30 years old. Three years after that, she lost her brother Peter, who was about eighteen years old.

Following this series of losses, most of the remaining members of the Whitten family relocated to Boston by 1891, the year Clara turned eighteen. A few of Clara's older and presumably self-sufficient brothers opted to remain in St. John's, and lived there for the rest of their lives.

Clara's only surviving parent, mother Anne Toucher Whitten, died in Boston in January of 1899, when Clara was twenty-five.

About five years later, on October 2, 1904, Clara married Timothy Joseph Murphy in a Catholic ceremony in Boston. She was thirty-one years old. The couple settled in South Boston.

Just under a year later, in September 1905, the couple welcomed son Timothy Murphy, who lived only three weeks before succumbing to marasmus.

About a year later, in December 1906, Clara and Timothy welcomed another son, Frederick T. Murphy.

In October 1908, the Murphys welcomed yet another son, Joseph, but he died at the age of one year from measles-induced convulsions and heart failure.

In February 1911, the Murphys welcomed their first daughter,Gertrude A. Murphy, who was followed by another daughter, Catherine Frances Murphy, in September of 1916. Clara was forty-three when Catherine, who went by "Kay," was born, and is not known to have had any more children.

The Murphys continued to reside in South Boston, where their fifteen-year-old son Frederick T. Murphy died of unknown causes in April 1922.

Between 1927 and 1930, Clara lost four older sisters who had been living nearby in the Boston area. The last of her siblings, Joseph Whitten, who had stayed in St. John's, died in 1935. She outlived him by about eleven years, dying in South Boston on July 1, 1946, at the age of 73, almost exactly six years after the death of her husband Timothy Murphy.

Neither of Clara's surviving daughters, Catherine ("Kay") and Gertrude, ever married or had children, so she has no known descendants.

Sources

• Entry for Clara M Murphy in the 1910 United States Federal Census.
• Entry for Clara M Murphy in the 1920 United States Federal Census.
• Entry for Clara M Whitten in the Massachusetts, U.S., Death Records, 1841-1915.
• Entry for Clara Whitten in the Massachusetts, U.S., Death Records, 1841-1915.
• Entry for Clara M Whitten in the Massachusetts, U.S., Marriage Records, 1840-1915.
• Obituary of Clara N. [M.] Murphy, The Boston Globe, 2 Jul 1946, in the U.S., Newspapers.com™ Obituary Index, 1800s-current.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/228608600/clara_mary-murphy: accessed February 8, 2024), memorial page for Clara Mary Whitten Murphy (–), Find a Grave Memorial ID 228608600, citing Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum, Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by Amy (contributor 47820746).