Anna was born in Ballygarra in the civil parish of Carn in the far southeast of County Wexford. She married Patt Murphy in 1837 and raised seven children on their farm at Chour, the townland on the corner hill between Lady's Island Lake and the Celtic Sea. Inspired in part by the plans of her first cousin, Fr. Thomas Hore - who was preparing to lead over one thousand people to America - Patt and Anna and their seven kids left Ireland in early 1851 for New Orleans, Lousiana. From there they traveled up the Mississippi River to Dubuque, Iowa, where Anna's older sister, Mary Furlong Scallan and her family had settled the year before. Soon afterwards, a third sister, Elizabeth Furlong Lambert, and her family also arrived at Dubuque - at which time the planned rendevouz was completed. The three men traveled up to Allamakee County, Iowa to check out the new settlement that Fr. Hore had prepared, but decided they preferred the farmland they saw new the New Melleray Monastery in down in Dubuque County. That summer, the Scallan family and the Murphy family bought farms in Prairie Creek township of Dubuque County. Anna gave birth to their eighth and final child there in 1852, and then Patt died two years later. Anna died of typhoid fever in 1868. The children all moved to a new farm in Grundy County the following year.
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1st Jan 1812 (circa) | |
| Date of Death | 21st Oct 1868 | |
