References
Katherine "Kate" Kirby (married name Morris) was born in Bruff, Co. Limerick, Ireland on 23 Jan 1870, the daughter of Joseph Gubbins Kirby (born in nearby Rathjordan) and Bridget Moloney of Tullybrackey House, Bruff. She was baptized on 24 Jan 1870 at St. Peter & St. Paul's Church in Bruff Parish.
Kate’s father Joseph ran a horse breeding farm, taking over the lease of Tullybrackey House, his wife's childhood home a few miles northwest of Bruff. When Kate was only six in 1876, her mother Bridget died of tuberculosis, leaving her father with a large family of two sons and six daughters. (They had previously buried another four infant daughters.)
Kate was sent to a boarding school in Chester, northwest England, a seminary for young ladies where certain better-off Irish Catholics sent their daughters. By age 16, she had acquired skill in art, and during the 1886 school year at Chester painted some fine paintings, “Chester on the Dee” and “The Woodlands." She seems to have benefited greatly from the independence of studying abroad.
On 31 Oct 1887, Kate at age 18 left Tullybrackey House ("our dear home," she wrote on the back of a photo), boarded the train for Queenstown (now Cobh) and arrived in New York Harbor on the SS Servia on her own. She joined her two older sisters, Nora and Elizabeth (Sr. Margaret), who already lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her oldest brother James was living in Elgin, Illinois. Kate returned to Ireland to bring her youngest sister Annie to St. Paul, arriving in New York on 21 Sep 1891 on the same ship, the SS Servia. Of the rest of her siblings who lived to adulthood, Margaret (Sr. Angela), Bridget and Patrick did not immigrate to the U.S.
Said to be a milliner, Kate worked for Tarbox Schliek and Co., a maker of boots and shoes in St. Paul. She met John James Morris from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who was working in St. Paul as a machinist for the Chicago Great Western Railway. They married 22 Sep 1897 in St. Paul, but soon moved to Milwaukee, where John, the son of successful Third Ward Irish immigrants, was raised.
With varied business interests, John started a wholesale grocery business with his half-brother Michael Morris, ran one of the first Milwaukee movie theaters until the Great Depression, and invested in properties. Over the years, John and Kate owned houses on Kinnikinnic Ave, Howell Ave, Juneau St, Chestnut St in Milwaukee and later 70th St in Wauwatosa. Kate and John had six children, Florence, John, Cecile, Gladys, Howard and James. Kate died 24 Dec 1940 and is buried at her husband's side at Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee.
She was baptized with the Latin spelling "Catherinam Mariam Francescan." She modernized Catherine to “Katherine” or "Kathryn" in America, and it was spelled "Katherine" on her headstone. Her nicknames were "Kate," "Katie," and "Kitty." Her baptismal record has been confused with two other sisters named Catherine, who died as infants.
Kate's siblings who also immigrated to the U.S.:
- James Joseph Kirby, who lived as a bachelor lawyer in Elgin, Illinois
- Nora Kirby, who married James Mead and lived in Valley and Daniels counties, Montana
- Elizabeth Kirby who became Sr. Margaret of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, and a schoolteacher in St. Paul, Minnesota
- Annie Kirby, who married Fred Bloom and lived in White Bear Lake, Minnesota
Kate's siblings who did not immigrate to the U.S. (and lived to adulthood):
- Margaret Kirby, who became Sr. Angela of the Presentation Sisters in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork
- Bridget Kirby, said to have worked as a governess in Brussels
- Patrick Alphonsus Kirby, who married Josephine Ryan, and lived in the family home of Tullybrackey House, Bruff, Co. Limerick, raising thoroughbred horses
Kate's siblings who did not live to adulthood:
- Julia, born 1858, Catherine, born 1861, Catherine, born 1867, Gertrude, born 1874
Kate's father, the widower Joseph Gubbins Kirby, became a Christian Brother (De La Salle) in the U.S. and took the name Brother Amelius. He died in 1892 at Manhattan College in New York City, buried at Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York.
- Bio by Joan Stewart Smith, her great granddaughter
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 23rd Jan 1870 | |
| Date of Death | 24th Dec 1940 | |
| Father (First Name/s and Surname) | Joseph Gubbins Kirby | |
| Mother (First Name/s and Maiden) | Bridget Moloney | |
| Townland born | Bruff | |
| Spouse (First Name/s and Maiden/Surname) | John James Morris | |
| Place & Date of Marriage | 22 Sep 1897, St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA | |
| Number of Children | 6 | |
| First Child | Florence Mary | |
| Names of Children | Florence Mary, John Kirby, Cecile Kathryn, Gladys Ann, Howard Michael, James Edward | |
| Place of Death | Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, USA | |
| Place & Date of Baptism | 24 Jan 1870, Bruff Parish, County LImerick St. Peter and Paul's Church | |
