Representative women of New England/Annie G. Murray

2340679Representative women of New England — Annie G. MurrayMary H. Graves

ANNIE GERTRUDE MURRAY, president, 1901-1902, of the New England Woman^s Press Association, is a Bostonian by birth and education. Her father, William Devine, who died in 1878, was one of Boston's pioneer dealers in North River flagging stone. Mrs. Murray resides with her mother, at the old homestead 525 East Fifth Street, South Boston. Her brothers are: John A. and James V., engaged in the real estate business in South Boston and Dorchester; and William H., who is a popular medical practitioner in South Boston; Dr. Devine, late Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Massachusetts Brigade, who served in the Spanish-American War.

In 1890 Annie G. Devine became the wife of George F. H. Murray, who bears the title of Major, won by services in the Spanish-American War.

Educated in Notre Dame Convent, Roxbury, Mass., Mrs. Murray early showed a talent for literary composition, her stories appearing in the early eighties in various magazines and papers under the nom de plume "Annetta."

In late years articles from Mrs. Murray's pen—stories, sketches, and poems, have appeared in the Boston Transcript, Herald, Traveler, Post, the Pilot, the National and Donahoe's Magazine, and many out of town papers and other magazines. Mrs. Murray has composed many songs.

In 1901 Mrs. Murray was unanimously chosen to serve as president of one of the leading associations of women in New England — namely, the New England Woman's Press Association, which was formed in 1885 and incorporated in 1890. Its object is "to promote acquaintance and good fellowship among newspaper women, and to forward by concerted action, through the press, such good objects in social, philanthropic, and reformatory lines as may from time to time present themselves." During its existence of eighteen years this association has given receptions to many distinguished people. The "gentlemen's nights," held each year in February, have been notable affairs. A journalists' fund gives aid to "distressed newspaper people, in need of temporary help, whether in or out of the association." The two years under Mrs. Murray's administration were years of added prosperity and harmony. The N. E. W. P. A. is a member of the National Federation of Women's Clubs and of the Boston Committee of Council' and Co-operation of the State Federation. Its honorary members are Julia Ward Howe, Margaret Deland, Louise Chandler Moulton, Harriet Prescott Spofford, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, Mary A. Livermore, and Ednah D. Cheney.

Mrs. Murray was appointed by Mayor Quincy and re-appointed by Mayor Hart as one of the Trustees of the Children's Institutions of Suffolk County. This position, an unpaid one, makes steady demand upon time and attention, embracing as it does the care of fourteen hundred wards in the several divisions of the Children's Department.

Mrs. Murray is a life member of the New England Women's Club, of the Boston Browning Society, the Boston Business League, and the Boston Women's Press Club.