YOUR SILENT NEIGHBORS, Lorinda Case Murphy, Schoolteacher   
by David K. Leff
Town Poet Laureate and Deputy Town Historian

Dying in the same home on East Hill in which she was born, Lorinda Case Murphy (1858-1916) lived in Canton her entire life except for a few years when she taught school in Red bank, New Jersey.  She also taught for several years at the one-room schoolhouse near her home on East Hill Road that is now the Scout hall for Collinsville Troop 77.  After two of her brothers died, she managed the family farm for a number of years.  

Murphy had five bothers and two sisters.  In 1914 she married Dennis Murphy, who survived her.  Murphy was a member of the Tunxis Lodge of the New England Order of Protection, a fraternal organization, and the local Cawasa Grange.  

Her life was describer by the Farmington Valley Herald as one of “usefulness and self sacrifice.”  The funeral was held on a Tuesday afternoon at her home with Reverend Dr. Herbert White, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hartford officiating.  

Lorinda Case Murphy is buried in Dyer Cemetery, Canton.  

“Your Silent Neighbors” introduces readers to people out of Canton’s past.  Readers are encouraged to visit these gravesites and pay their respects to the people who have helped make our community what it is today.