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Clarissa Starr Murphy


Other Name:
Clarissa Starr; Clarissa Taft
Gender:
Female
Born:
August 17, 1794
Died:
Unknown
Home Town:
Cooperstown, NY
Marriage(s):
Paul Taft (1816)
Marcus Murphy (unknown)
Biographical Notes:
Clarissa Starr Murphy, daughter of Thomas and Polly Fuller Starr of Cooperstown, New York, was born August 17, 1794. In 1811 Clarissa may have studied at Sarah Pierce's Female Academy in Litchfield, Connecticut. During her life Clarissa married twice. Her first marriage took place in 1816 when she wed Paul Taft of Worcester, Massachusetts. The couple had five children together. After Paul's death Clarissa married Marcus Mursphy, a farmer, and the couple had two children.
Additional Notes:
Clarissa Starr Murphy of Cooperstown, New York is listed as a subscriber to Sarah Pierce's text "Universal History" in 1811. It is known that not all subscribers necessarily attended the school. Until a solid citation of attendance can be found Eliza will be considered a possible student.

-1811 List of Subscribers in Ist Vol. "Universal History" (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 To 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
[We are currently working to update and confirm citations of attendance.]

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