Catherine McCormack : Short Biography

Catherine "Kate" McCormack was born on 8 Feb 1895 at house 5 in Carrowkeel. She was one of seven siblings, including Thomas, Julia, John, James, Edward and Annie Jane. Her godparents were her uncle in law Edward Donaghy and father's cousin Catherine Lynch. She probably barely remembered her mother, Mary Jane, who died when she was just two. She began attending Drummulin National School from the age of six. Tragically, her father John died on 13 July 1902, when she was only seven. She was raised mainly by her elder siblings, Julia and Thomas. 

While Kate remained at home with Thomas, Julia and James (Jim), three of her other siblings left, Edward (Ned) and John for apprenticeships and little Annie (Nan) to the nuns in Roscommon  who cared for her. The children were all under the age of fourteen and with no will left by their father, many decisions were made for them by adults of the time. 

On 1 May 1914, Kate immigrated on the Baltic to New York, to meet her siblings Julia and James who had left shortly before. They were living at 157 East 31st Street, and Julia was in the School of Nursing in New York City Hospital nearby. Her sister Nan (later known as Anna) also came out a few years after her.

In New York, she met Timothy Gannon from Galway, and they were married on 16 November 1920. They had two sons John Joseph (b. 7 Aug 1921) and Timothy James (b. 9 April 1924). Timothy, like her brother Jim, was a fireman in the New York City Fire Department. During the era of the Great Depression, they were living in the same building as Anna and her family at 172 W. 109th Street in upper West Manhattan. In 1940, they lived in Assembly District 11 in Manhattan.

Kate and Timothy moved out to California later in life.