Family Friday: Aunt Katie - my namesake (maybe)

Yup, it's time to talk about another of my family members.  Really, I just want to show you all one of the COOLEST pictures I found while digging through the old family photos.  It's a picture of my great-grand-aunt Katie aka Catherine.  Now, I spell my name a bit differently and there are a number of Catherines/Kathryns in my family tree - me, my Mom's sister, my grandmother's sister, my great-grandfather's sister (who I'm featuring today), my great-great grandmother's sister, my great-great-great grandmother, you get the idea - but this Catherine seems like a pretty cool gal.  Do I know all that much about her?  No, but what I do know and what I've seen and the fact that we share a name, leads me to believe she's cool.  I mean, just look at this photo:



Here she is dressed as Lady Liberty and holding a SWORD!  I don't have official confirmation of this, but it appears that she was a member of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians (LAOH).  I just love this photo.  It's going to be part of the gallery wall I'm putting together for our living room.

Aunt Katie (like so many of my ancestors) was born in Pennsylvania to a coal miner and his wife.  She was born in 1885 and was one of 8 children.  I only know who 7 of those 8 children were.  I think Katie may have had an older sister and her name may have been Ann/Anna, but I haven't been able to confirm this yet.  I just know that in the 1900 census my great-great grandmother said she gave birth to 8 children and 7 of them were currently alive.  If the 1890 census hasn't been lost in a fire, maybe I would know for sure.

Aunt Katie married a gentleman names John and they moved to Pottsville, PA.  Eventually, my great-grand-aunt Agnes (who was legally blind) moved in with them.  John died in 1945, but Agnes lived with Katie until she passed away in 1953.  That's Katie on the left and Agnes on the right:

I don't know much else, but I think I would have liked her.  We have the same name, she's proud of her Irish heritage, and she loves her family.  What more can you ask for?