My Genealogy Hound

Edward P. Murphey, music-dealer, McKeesport, was born in Connellsville, Pa., February 17, 1859, a son of Ross M. and Margaret A. (McCormick) Murphey, natives of Fayette county, and of Irish descent. He came with his mother to McKeesport in 1860, and was there reared and educated. At the age of fourteen he entered the office of the McKeesport Times (when Bartley Campbell was editor), where he was employed two and a half years. At eighteen years of age he entered the employ of the National Tube-works, being one of the first clerks employed by that company, and remained until 1883. He then embarked in the music business, his tastes having led him in that direction, and his leisure hours from early youth having been devoted to the study and practice of music. It was, therefore, natural to expect that he would become the manager of the largest music-house in the city, doing an immense business, and that he would be at the head of all musical events of merit. He was the director of the choral union for three years, giving fine musical festivals of mammoth proportions, and in each case every detail was considered with such care and executed with such consummate ability that the quality of the performance was in every respect equal to the quantity, three hundred well-trained voices composing the chorus. Mr. Murphey is an accomplished organist, and is the possessor of a bass voice of wonderful depth and power. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and is the financial secretary of this immense congregation. His prominence and activity in business circles have made him a member of the McKeesport Board of Trade, of which he is the present efficient secretary. He is a member of the Royal Templars of Temperance, Royal Arcanum and I. O. O. F.; in politics he is a republican. Six years ago Mr. Murphey married one of McKeesport’s popular society ladies, Anna M. Fehr, and two children were the result of their marriage relation, one having died, the other, a promising boy, Edward P., Jr., still living. Mr. Murphey resides in a beautiful suburban residence, on the banks of the Monongahela river, one mile above McKeesport.