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Catherine was the fourth of seven children of John and Cecily Gallaghan McCormick, and the first one born in North America. She was likely born in Tecumseth Township, Simcoe County where her younger siblings were born.
Her birth year is best calculated using the 1851 census (which was conducted in January 1852)[1] where she was listed as age 14 on her next birthday, suggesting she was born about 1838. Her next oldest sibling, her sister Rose, was born in Ireland, suggesting the family came to Canada some time between 1832 and 1837. The McCormicks moved to Peel Township in Wellington County between 1843 and 1845. (Catherine was listed as age 21 on the 1861 Census.[2]
Life was very rough. Kate's daughter Cecilia reported much later that the family “had to follow a trail, on horse back, through hardwood bushes for twenty miles to get a sack of flour and some groceries."[3]
The Nolan family lived on the farm next to the McCormicks in adjacent Wellesley Township, Waterloo County. Both families were part of the community of Irish families that grew up around the small hamlet of Macton. St. Joseph's Catholic Church was built in Macton in 1858. Kate McCormick and James Nolan were married in the church on February 1, 1869.[4] They settled on the farm adjacent to James parents, James and Catherine McNertny Nolan.[5]
They had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. The first child, a daughter named Mary Ellen, was born March 2, 1870 and died less than three months later. A second daughter, Celia, no doubt named for her grandmother, was born about two years later. The third child, was also named Mary E(llen), was born in October 1873 and lived nearly two years before she died. Both little girls are buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery.[6]
A birth record exists for the youngest child, Martin Edward, born May 2, 1880, but he did not live to be recorded on the 1881 census,[7] nor is there a record for him in St. Joseph's Cemetery.
The family moved to Berlin, Ontario some time after they lost their farm in a mortgage sale in 1885. The family remained in Berlin until October 1891[8] when Kate and her children joined James in Brainerd, Minnesota[9] where he had found a job. The family lived at 208 First Avenue East for most of their life in Brainerd.[10] Their son John made his home with Kate and James.[11][12] John continued to live with his mother after she was widowed.[13]
Kate was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.[14]
Kate died a few days after suffering a stroke[15] about three years after her husband had died. She was likely about 81 years old at the time of her death. Both Kate and James are buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Brainerd.[16]
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M > McCormick | N > Nolan > Catherine (McCormick) Nolan
Categories: Wellesley Township, Ontario | Peel Township, Canada West | Minnesota, Immigrants from Canada | Brainerd, Minnesota | Evergreen Cemetery, Brainerd, Minnesota