March 17th, 1887 - September 29th, 1957

She is a Pisces.

Margaret (Maggie) Murphy was born in Fostragh, Killoe, Co Longford, Ireland to Michael Murphy (born 1841), a farmer, and Maria Lyons (born 1845), who had married in the Ballinalee Roman Catholic Church in Granard, Co Longford on October 24th, 1872. One of 12 children born to her parents with 7 surviving into adulthood, Maggie's known siblings were: John (June 8th, 1874), Anna Maria (May 24th, 1875), Patrick (October 10th, 1880), Bridget (born 1881), Rose Ellen (March 16th, 1884), Michael (July 22nd, 1889), Mary (March 11th, 1892), and Kate (October 6th, 1893). Her brother Michael died from quinsy at the age of 11 months on June 24th, 1890 whist sister Mary died from whooping cough at the age of 2 months on December 12th, 1892. Another unidentified child was also lost in infancy.  

Maggie and her family appear on the 1901 and 1911 Irish census living at Frostragh. By the time of the latter record she and her sister Kate were still at home and without any states profession. Her father would die from heart disease later that year on July 28th, 1911. Maggie had previously spent several years in the USA, perhaps from around 1905. She returned home sometime prior to 1911, perhaps to help nurse her father during his final illness, whilst back in Ireland, made the acquaintance of of Matthew O'Reilly (October 27th, 1881) from nearby Cortober, Co Cavan and who had also emigrated around 1905 before returning home. Both their homes in Ireland were close by, but it's unclear if they had never met before their respective returns from the USA.

They fell in love, and a proposal was made on the shores of nearby Lough Gowna. They planned to marry and and resettle together in the USA, but Matthew was forced to return to New York, he set up home with a sister and worked as a undertaker. He was also a sexton at St Andrew's Church in the city.

Aboard Titanic/April 14th-15th, 1912:
Around 1911, an old neighbour from Fostragh returned to the village to pay a visit from his new home in Jersey City, New Jersey, John Kiernan. When the time came for Kiernan to leave, Maggie decided to accompany him and his younger brother Philip to America. The thought of a much longer separation from Matthew was overwhelming, but Maggie had promised her mother to remain in Ireland until such times as her fiancé was settled and finically sound, with her brother John forbidding her from going to the USA. Along with her younger sister Kate, she made clandestine plans to slip away at the same time as the Kiernan brothers, and for weeks the sisters built up their luggage in secretary in their barn.

They would join other siblings already in the USA: sister Annie lived in Brooklyn, and brother Patrick is believed to have lived in Philadelphia. It was to the latter city that Maggie and Kate were stated to be headed when they boarded the RMS Titanic at Queenstown on April 11th, 1912 as 3rd class passengers. They slipped away without knowledge of their friends and family. An interview, widely syndicated, incorrectly stated that Maggie and Kiernan were sweethearts, a myth that continues to be perpetuated. Whilst aboard, the sisters shared a cabin on E-deck with 2 other Longford girls, Kate Gilnagh and Kate Mullin, and they were also acquainted with others from Longford, besides John and Philip Kiernan, including James Farrell and Thomas McCormick, the latter reportedly being a relative, possibly a 2nd cousin. They possibly also associated with the McCoy siblings (Agnes, Alice, and Bernard)   and Ellen Corr, also from Longford, whilst aboard.

On the night of the sinking, Maggie later recalled crewmen blocking their way up to the upper decks and recalled seeing lifeboats leaving the ship only partially full. She also reported scuffles breaking between some 3rd class men and crewmen determined to keep the 3rd class passengers in their place whilst she saw women and children deep in prayer nearby. Lore has it that it was the intervention of James Farrell, who threatened to punch a crewmen, if he didn't let the women past to the boats, who became the women's savior. Maggie, her sister, and the 2 other Kates from Longford were rescued in lifeboat 16, alongside an interloper, Thomas McCormick (he claimed to have been picked up from the water and helped into the boat by the 2 sisters).

The Kiernan brothers and James Farrell were lost in the sinking. Years later Maggie stated that she spent her time in the lifeboat praying to St Anthony, asking that if she were saved she would donate $20 in his name to the poor fund in the church.

After The Sinking/Later Life/Death:
Upon landing in New York Maggie was described as a 21-year-old domestic and the sisters have their next of kin as their brother John back in Ireland whilst their destination was given as the home of their sister Bridget Toomey in Manhattan. Greeted by their siblings at the Cunard Pier, another face in the crowd awaiting her was Matthew. He was unaware of Maggie's intentions to back to the USA and was only alerted to the fact when he saw Maggie and Kate's names in a list of survivors. Following recuperation in St Vincent's Hospital Maggie and Kate accompanied Matthew and his sister to their home at City Hall Place, New York and whilst there a portrait of the pair was taken and later printed in The Advocate, an Irish-American newspaper, on April 27th, 1912. In the following months, Maggie was forced upon to take to the newspapers to set the record straight regarding the relationship between herself and John Kiernan.

In July of 1913 Maggie and Matthew were married and the nuptials were reported in the New York media. On their honeymoon, Maggie and Matthew used the opportunity to build bridges with her mother and other family, from who she had slipped away during the night just a year before. Far from being angry, it's an understatement to say that her family were just very pleased that was alive and well. Maria Murphy rallied for years to come and passed away in the Fostragh on April 29th, 1929. Maggie and Matthew settled in Manhattan and 3 children: Margret (1917 - 1959; later Mrs John Edward Leniston), Anna Marie (1919 - 2004; later Mrs. Peter McCabe), and Matthew (1921 - 1998).

The family appear on the 1920 and 1930 censuses as residents of Third Avenue, New York where Matthew still earned a living as an undertaker. True to her word from years earlier, when she and her family were financially comfortable, she donated $20 to the poor fund whilst church one day. Maggie and Matthew enjoyed a happy marriage; their time together was cut short though when Matthew was diagnosed with cancer and he passed away, coincidentally, on April 15th, 1939. Maggie never remarried, and over her life, only seldom spoke of the Titanic. Maggie died whilst visiting her daughter Anna Marie in State Hill Orange, New York on September 29th, 1957 and was buried in the Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York. 

Sources:
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

Rest In Peace Margaret Murphy.