Catharine (Boucher) McDonald (1831 - 1882)

Born 3 May 1831 in Grantham Township, Drummond, Lower Canada

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 5 Oct 1882 at age 51 in Wyandotte, Kansas, United States

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Biography

Catharine Boucher was born the youngest of five children to François-Firmin Boucher and his German-English wife Catharine Miner (or Meyne); she was a sixth-great granddaughter of famous French-Canadian pioneer Zacharie Cloutier. She married Joseph Rock, a wagon maker, about 1849 in Vermont.

Joseph and Catharine had three children in Vermont, returned to Québec and had five more before moving back to the United States around 1863. They had four more children (for a total of twelve) and settled near Humboldt, Kansas. Eight of their children lived to adulthood, four had families of their own.

They homesteaded 80 acres in Woodson County, Kansas in 1871, gaining clear title to it in '76. Catharine bought the adjacent 80 acres as well, and then sold the combined properties at substantial profit, at which time she, Joseph, and their children moved into town.

Catharine's husband, Joseph, accepted a contract job to repair Army wagons in Fort Garland, Colorado, but died there of pneumonia in 1880, and she moved with her younger children to the Kansas City area. She married Alexander McDonald in July 1882, but died in October 1882. She is buried under her first married name.

Sources

• PRDH: Certificate 3408991, baptism of Catharine Boucher of Montréal, daughter of François-Firmin Boucher and Catharine Miner (both residents of Grantham Township)
• Canadian Census 1831, page 2113 (François Boucher; counted, but not listed)
• Canadian Census, 1861, Drummond County, Durham Township, page 64
• U.S. Census, 1870, Woodson County, KS; 1880, Allen County, KS
• Marriage records, Wyandotte County, KS (Alexander E. McDonald & Catharine Rock)
• Burial records, Oak Grove Cemetery, Kansas City, KS: "McDonald, Catharine, d. 10/05/1882, buried Section 142, Grave 2, Outside Division, Original Cemetery"