1906 Oct 26, Cowgill Chief, Caldwell County, Missouri

Obituary of Mrs. Agnes Murphy

Agnes A. Murphy was born near Belfast, Ireland, May 16, 1827. Her parents were John and Mary (Brown) Austin. She was on her mother's side a descendant of General Sir John Savage, whose granddaughter, Sophia Savage, married William Brown, whose son James married Nancy Gilmore, whose daughter Mary married John Austin, the father of Agnes A. Murphy. She was the eldest of ten children, all of whom married and six of whom are now dead. In 1849 her parents came to America, landing in New York. Her father's family moved west, to near Dubuque, Ia., a little later.

She married John Murphy in 1851 and they moved to Albany, New York, living there about two years. They then moved to Dubuque, Iowa, for about two years, then to a farm in the same county. In 1868 she, together with her husband and children, moved to Benton Co., Iowa, where they farmed 6 years. She was raised a Presbyterian, but in 1871 she and her husband joined the German Baptist or Dunkard church, of which she lived a consistent member until her death. Brother Peter Forney was the minister of the Iowa church, near Vinton, when she joined the above named church.

In 1874 they again moved, this time to Caldwell County, Mo., on a farm near Polo, where she lived continuously until the death of her husband, July 27, 1905. In August following she accompanied her daughter, Mrs. Anna Mae Wilson, to her home near Kingsville, where she died, after a severe illness of a [unreadable] days' duration, Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., October 16, 1906. She was the mother of eleven children, viz., Elizabeth B. Blunt, of Cowgill; Robert James, now dead; John A. of Polo; Austin Oliver, now dead; Geo. W. of Oregon, Mo.; Anna Mae Wilson of Kingsville, Mo.; Walter Savage, now dead; Horace Greeley of Muncie, Indiana; Maud M. Pollard of Lathrop; Luther F. of Trenton, and Agnes E. Paine of Denver, Colorado. She was fairly well educated, refined and a good Christian, a faithful wife and devoted mother, who never tired doing her best for her children while they were in need of her care.

Her funeral services were conducted by Bro. Geo. Shelenberger, of the German Baptist or Dunkard church, Thursday afternoon, Oct. 18th, in the Methodist church at Polo, and her remains interred in the Cottage Grove cemetery, where her husband and two of her sons lie buried. It was hard to give up the dear old mother, but as she had suffered and was crippled with rheumatism for years, she is now at rest. God grant it is well with her soul, and that we may all meet her in Heaven. E.B.B.