Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists

Biography of Emma (Van Stay) Murray, 1850-1924

By Linda D. Wilson, Independent Historian and Nicole Fisher, Undergraduate, SUNY Oneonta

African American suffragist Emma (Van Stay) Murray was born in September 1850 in New York, the daughter of Martha and Mathias Van Stay. On June 6, 1877, Emma Van Stay married Richard Murray in Kings County, New York. They had at least two children, Estelle and Herbert. Richard Murray, a butler, passed away after a long illness on December 22, 1894. Son Herbert died at their home in Brooklyn, New York, on April 27, 1898. (1)

Emma Murray was a member of the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs. During the club's fifth annual meeting in July 1913, she provided an automobile ride for the Brooklyn delegates. Organized in Brooklyn in 1908 by Alice Wiley Seay, the club helped young African American women and also supported Harriet Tubman financially. The club's first meeting was held on July 6-7, 1908 in New York City at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. (2) At its July 1913 statewide meeting the Federation adopted a resolution endorsing woman suffrage.

Following her husband's death, Murray made her living as a piano teacher as well as taking in boarders. She provided piano solos at numerous social functions. She died on March 27, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York and is buried there in Evergreens Cemetery. (3)

Sources:

Brooklyn (NY) Daily Eagle, December 24, 27, and 30, 1894; April 29, 1898; and March 29, 1924. Brooklyn (NY) Union, May 13, 1875. Bystander (Des Moines, IA), September 3, 1909. "Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs," in Peter R. Eisenstadt and Laura-Eve Moss, eds., Encyclopedia of New York State (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005). New York Age (New York City), September 17, 1908, February 8, 1912, and July 10, 1913. New York Death Certificate for Emma Murray, dated March 28, 1924. New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948, accessed on Ancestry.com, April 10, 2019. New York, New York, Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937, accessed on Ancestry.com, April 10, 2019. New York State Censuses, 1865, 1892, 1905, and 1915, Brooklyn, Kings County. Standard Union (Brooklyn, NY), December 6, 1892. U.S. Censuses, 1880, 1900, and 1920, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.

Notes:

(1) Ancestry.com, US City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line], Brooklyn, New York, City Directory, 1880, accessed on March 9, 2019. Probate Record for Martha Van Stay, filed September 10, 1883, accessed on Ancestry.com on April 17, 2019. 1880 Federal Census, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. 1892 New York State Census, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Ancestry.com, New York, New York, Extracted Marriage Index, [database on-line] accessed March 9, 2019. Brooklyn (NY) Daily Eagle, December 24, 27, and 30, 1894 and April 29, 1898. New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948, accessed on Ancestry.com, April 10, 2019.

(2) Bystander (Des Moines, IA), September 3, 1909. "Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs," in Peter R. Eisenstadt and Laura-Eve Moss, eds., Encyclopedia of New York State (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005). New York Age, February 8, 1912 and July 10, 1913.

(3) Brooklyn (NY) Union, May 13, 1875. Standard Union, (Brooklyn, NY) December 6, 1892. New York Age (New York City), September 17, 1908. 1900 and 1920 Federal Censuses, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Ancestry.com, New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948 [database on-line], accessed April 10, 2019. Brooklyn (NY) Daily Eagle, March 29, 1924.

 

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