The Proeger Family · Generation 5 — the immigrants and the frontier

Gertrude Proeger Murfin

Daughter of Julius Karl Proeger · died 1956

Gertrude Proeger Murfin

Confirmed

Daughter of Julius Karl Proeger · died 1956

Born
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Died
18 March 1956
Married
Godfrey Murfin
Sources
11

Life in the order the records give it

Birth
Born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; her death certificate names her father Julius Proeger and her mother's maiden name Wilhelmina Kochendoerfer S332
Julius Karl Proeger and Minnie Kochendoerfer
Census1920
In January 1920 a daughter, 32, in her father's house at 711 N. St. Clair Street, Pittsburgh, with her husband Godfrey Murfin S179
Death1956
Died 18 March 1956, aged 71; spouse Godfrey Murfin S332. Funeral 21 March 1956; buried at Smithfield S181
Census1950
🆕 In 1950 she and Godfrey were still at 711 N. St. Clair Street, Pittsburgh, he 73 and she 65 S372; added 24 September 2026.
Census1940
🆕 In April 1940 she was 56, with Godfrey, 63, and their daughter Marjorie, 22, in the house they owned at 5805 Hayes Street, Pittsburgh Ward 11, where they had also lived in 1935 Confirmed S942. added 29 September 2026
Census1930
🆕 In April 1930 she was at 711 N. St. Clair Street with Godfrey, 53, a linen salesman, and Marjorie, 12, in the house they owned, valued at $16,000 Confirmed S946. added 29 September 2026
Death1957
🆕 Godfrey died a widower at 711 N. St. Clair Street on 17 December 1957, aged 81; his death certificate names his wife as Gertrude Proeger, his parents as Godfrey Murfin and Hanna Kirkland, and the informant as their daughter Marjorie M. Veitch of Fairfield, Connecticut Confirmed S944. H. Samson buried him at Smithfield Cemetery on 20 December 1957, as they had buried Gertrude S945. added 29 September 2026
Census1881
🆕 Godfrey's English family, probably: a Godfrey Murfin, 4, born at Wem, is in the 1881 census at Aston Street, Wem, with his parents Godfrey, a wheelwright, and Hannah, both from Leek; in 1891 he is 14, a draper's apprentice, at 45 New Street Probable confirm or correct → S947S948. Evidence: the parents' names match his 1957 death certificate and the place and year match his 1931 petition. Weak: no record yet names Wem and the Pittsburgh family together. Know more? Add to this record. added 29 September 2026

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Marriage1876
🆕 Her husband Godfrey Murfin, born at Wem, England, in 1876, petitioned for citizenship at Pittsburgh on 24 March 1931. The petition says they married at Pittsburgh on 3 April 1915 and had one daughter, Marjone Louise, born 7 June 1917, and it gives Gertrude's birth as 7 May 1883 S365; added 24 September 2026. ⚠️ That date does not fit her age in 1920 or at her death.

In the record Generation 5 — the immigrants and the frontier

Gertrude Proeger Murfin · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

11 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

  1. S1791920 U.S. Federal Census — Julius Proeger, 711 N. St. Clair Street, Pittsburgh Ward 11. Ancestry collection 6061, record 99550057, image 4385023_00859; SD 24, ED 471, sheet 5A, enumerated January 1920. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Julius Proeger, head, 75, widowed, owns the house free, immigrated 1865, naturalized 1874, born Germany (Württemberg) as were both his parents, speaks English, no occupation; daughter Gertrude P. Murfin, 32; son-in-law Godfrey Murfin, 43, born England, commercial traveller in linen; and a granddaughter. 🔑 He was naturalized in 1874 — the year the index drops. His son's sworn 1919 statement gives the same year [S180]; the certificate itself is still unlocated. 🔑 Immigrated 1865, in his own household's answer, agreeing with the Saxonia crossing. ⚠ Gertrude is marked alien: under the 1907 Expatriation Act a US-born woman took her English husband's nationality.
  2. S181H. Samson funeral home ledger — funeral of Gertrude (Proeger) Murfin, Pittsburgh, 21 March 1956. Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S., Samson Funeral Home Records, 1866–1982, Ancestry collection 63100, record 105004976, image 63100_c8afcfcb_0102-00683. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Funeral of Gertrude "Croeger" Murfin (the clerk's C for P), charged to the estate of Gertrude C. Murfin c/o Mr. Godfrey Murfin, 711 N. St. Clair St., Pittsburgh; services 21 March 1956, 2 P.M., Smithfield Cem.; total $1,194.95, paid 6 April. 🔑 Julius's daughter, still in his house 36 years after the 1920 census [S179], and buried in the cemetery where her parents lie. ⚠ The personal-details face of the sheet (age, parents, informant) was not fetched; Ancestry's Julius and Wilhelmina come from that face and are not read here.
  3. S332Pennsylvania death certificate no. 20068 — Gertrude Proeger Murfin, 1956. Ancestry collection 5164, record 5704357. Read from the image. Aged 71, born Pittsburgh; died 18 March 1956; father Julius Proeger; mother's maiden name Wilhelmina Kochendoerfer; spouse Godfrey Murfin.
  4. S365U.S. District Court, Pittsburgh — petition for citizenship no. 91799, Godfrey Murfin, 24 March 1931. Ancestry record 685005. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Godfrey Murfin, travelling salesman of 711 N. St. Clair St., born Wem, England, 20 April 1876; arrived New York 5 June 1905 on the Parisian from Queenstown; married Gertrude at Pittsburgh 3 April 1915; wife born Pittsburgh 7 May 1883; one daughter, Marjone Louise, born Pittsburgh 7 June 1917. The petition's 1883 birth date for Gertrude does not agree with her age of 32 in 1920 or 71 at her 1956 death. Both are kept.
  5. S3721950 U.S. Federal Census — Godfrey Murfin household, 711 N. St. Clair St., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (ED 77-337, sheet 14, lines 12–13). Ancestry record 244825954. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Godfrey Murfin, 73, born England, naturalized; wife Gertrude P., 65, born Pennsylvania; both unable to work. The same house the couple shared with her father in 1920. Her age, 65, agrees with her death at 71 in 1956 against the 32 of the 1920 census.
  6. S9421940 United States Federal Census — Pittsburgh Ward 11, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, ED 69-266, sheet 4A, lines 32–34 (10 April 1940). Ancestry record 22190050. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Confirmed House 5805 Hayes Street, owned, valued $8,000: Murfin, Godfrey, head, 63, married, born England, naturalized; Gertrude, wife, 56, born Pennsylvania; Marjorie, daughter, 22, single. All three were in the same house in 1935. The same couple as the 1920 census in her father Julius Proeger's house (S179) and Godfrey's 1931 petition (S365), which names their one daughter Marjone Louise, born 1917; the index spells her Marjarie. Gertrude's 56 fits the petition's May 1883 birth. In 1920 and 1950 they were at 711 N. St. Clair Street. Collection: 1940 United States Federal Census.
  7. S944Pennsylvania coroner's certificate of death — Godfrey Murfin, Pittsburgh, 17 December 1957 (file no. 107996, registered no. 9252). Ancestry record 5522000. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Confirmed Godfrey Murfin, male, white, widowed, died 17 December 1957 at 11:00 a.m. at his home, 711 N. St. Clair Street, Pittsburgh; born England, 20 April 1876, aged 81 years 7 months 27 days; retired. Spouse Gertrude Proeger; father Godfrey Murfin; mother's maiden name Hanna Kirkland. Cause: coronary occlusion. Informant Marjorie M. Veitch (daughter), Fairfield, Connecticut. Burial 20 December 1957, Smithfield Cemetery; funeral director H. Samson, Inc. The index reads the spouse as "Gertrude Praeger"; the image has Proeger. The address is Julius Proeger's house of 1920 (S179) and the couple's house in 1950 (S372). Collection: Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906–1972.
  8. S945H. Samson funeral home ledger — funeral of Godfrey Murfin, Pittsburgh, 20 December 1957. Ancestry record 11434. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Confirmed Sheet 30, headed "Repeat": funeral of Godfrey Murfin, 20 December 1957, Smithfield Cemetery, 2 p.m.; charged to the estate of Godfrey Murfin, c/o M. Austin George, Park Building, Pittsburgh; total $1,833.71, paid 10 January 1958. The same firm and cemetery as Gertrude's funeral in 1956 (S181). The facing page with the vital statistics shows only as bleed-through and was not read. Collection: Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S., Samson Funeral Home Records, 1866–1982.
  9. S9461930 United States Federal Census — Pittsburgh Ward 11, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, ED 2-172, sheet 13A, lines 35–37 (7 April 1930). Ancestry record 48469282. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Confirmed 711 N. St. Clair Street, owned, valued $16,000, radio: Murfin, Godfrey, head, 53, married (first at 37), born England, immigrated 1905, first papers, salesman of linens; Gertrude P., wife, 40, born Pennsylvania to German-born parents; Marjorie, daughter, 12, at school. Gertrude's 40 is the outlier against her other records (born about 1884); the site keeps about 1884. Collection: 1930 United States Federal Census.
  10. S9471881 England Census — Wem, Shropshire, RG 11/2667, page 6, schedule 43, Aston Street. Ancestry record 18351847. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Probable Godfrey Murfin, head, 47, wheelwright, born Leek, Staffordshire; Hannah, wife, 41, born Leek; Mary E., 20, dressmaker; Maria, 8; and Godfrey, son, 4, scholar, born Wem. Why Probable: nothing American names Godfrey's parents except his 1957 death certificate (father Godfrey, mother Hanna, S944), and his citizenship petition gives Wem and 1876 (S365). A boy of 4 at Wem with parents Godfrey and Hannah fits both, but no record yet ties this household to Pittsburgh directly. Collection: 1881 England Census.
  11. S9481891 England Census — Wem, Shropshire, RG 12/2123, page 12, schedule 68, 45 New Street. Ancestry record 13393916. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Probable Godfrey Murfin, head, 57, wheelwright, born Leek; Hannah, wife, 51, born Leek; Godfrey, son, 14, draper's apprentice, born Wem. Why Probable: the same household as 1881 (S947). The drapery trade fits the linen salesman of 1920 and 1930 (S179, S946), but the tie to Pittsburgh still runs only through the parents' names and Wem. Collection: 1891 England Census.

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Compiled for the Proeger family

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