Murray, Joan, 1917-1942

Florence Margaret (Peggy) Toaps Murray was born in Ottawa (date unknown). She toured Canada and England as a "diseuse" ("The Canadian [Yvette] Guilbert"), doing readings in accents, singing, etc. She took up painting at age 52, and at some point moved to Easthampton, Massachusetts. Her date of death is presently unknown. Her daughter, Joan Vincent Murray was born in London on 12 February 1917 during a World War I air raid. She spent her early childhood in England, and later attended schools in London, Paris, Ontario, and Detroit. Rheumatic fever injured her heart, and she was largely self-educated thereafter. She studied acting at several New York City schools and appeared in semi- professional plays. Her poems attracted the attention of W.H. Auden, who wrote the forward to one of her book of poems, published in 1947. She died of an infection in Saranac Lake, NY on 4 January 1942.

From the guide to the Joan and Peggy Murray Papers MS 295., 1880-1969, 1911-1969, (Sophia Smith Collection)

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