Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small issued the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. Each week focus on one ancestor and post something about him or her.
Me - My Dad - Johnston Cumberland Paterson - Francis Paterson - Johnston Paterson (Catherine is the daughter of Johnston and sister of Francis)
My great grandaunt Catherine Paterson or Kate, as she is named in some records, is another one of my ancestors who may be forgotten as she married late in life and never had any children. She was the oldest daughter of Johnston Paterson and Catherine Muirhead. She was named after her mother and her grandmother Catherine Kennedy. Kate was born about 1844 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Shortly after her birth Catherine, her parents, and her older brother, Johnston, moved from Glasgow to Braehead Cottage, Moffat Mills near Airdrie, Scotland. Three baby boys died and were buried in Glasgow before the move. Kate grows up at Braehead Cottage watching the family grow and shrink as babies are born and children die. Her mother gives birth to four more boys and two more girls. Her little brother George Hunter dies at only two years old of a fever for 8 days. When Catherine is 24 years old, her sister Elizabeth dies at 12 years old of pneumonia. Then her brother Edward at 15 years old dies of water in head. Two years later Kate's brother William dies at 24 years old of struma (enlarged thyroid?) that he had for several years. How sad it must have been for the family to bury so many children. Only two of Kate's siblings marry and have children. Although, I'm not sure about her older brother, Johnston. (He's some what of a mystery.) Her sister, Ann marries John White, a farmer from Shotts in 1872. Her brother Francis (my great grandfather) marries Ewenina Kennedy in 1881 and after her death marries Elizabeth Danskine (my great grandmother) in 1883.
By the 1891 census it looks like Catherine will remain a spinster. Her father dies this year and she is still living at Braehead Cottage with her mother and youngest sister, Jessie. Maybe Catherine was just being a devoted daughter caring for her parents or nobody came around to her liking. But three years after her father's death, at the age of 54 (although the marriage record states 47), she marries John Greenlees, a watchmaker, from Ayr. Her brother includes the names Greenlees in his youngest daughter's name, Edith Greenlees Paterson.
Catherine's mother dies in 1897. Her sister Jessie probably moved in with Catherine and John at this time as she is listed in the 1901 census as living with them. Jessie is 17 years younger than Kate. Young enough to be her daughter.
Kate never had children of her own but she seemed to be surrounded by her own sibling, nieces, and nephews. She died in Ayr, Scotland at the age of 61 of influenza and pneumonia.
Other posts about the Patersons:
Sunday's Obituary - Johnston Paterson (her father)
Thriller Thrusday - Disappearance of Francis Paterson (her brother)
Workday Wednesday - Bank Treasurer (her father)
Sources:
New Monkland, Scotland, Statutory Deaths 1855-2013, death of George Hunter Paterson; digital image, ScotlandsPeople (http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk/: 29 August 2008); 651/02 0028.
New Monkland, Scotland, Statutory Deaths 1855-2013, death of Elizabeth Paterson; digital image, ScotlandsPeople (http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk/: 1 February 2012); 651/02 0038.
New Monkland, Scotland, Statutory Deaths 1855-2013, death of Edward Paterson; digital image, ScotlandsPeople (http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk/: 1 February 2012); 651/02 0074.
New Monkland, Scotland, Statutory Deaths 1855-2013, death of William Paterson; digital image, ScotlandsPeople (http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk/: 29 July 2014); 651/02 0115.
Glasgow, Scotland, Statutory Marriages 1855-2014, marriage of John Greenlees & Kate Paterson; digital image, ScotlandsPeople (http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk/: 28 July 2014); 651/01 0106.
Ayr, Scotland, Statutory Deaths 1855-2013, death of Catherine Greenlees; digital image, ScotlandsPeople (http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk/: 28 July 2014); 578/01 0537.
