Mumblings - Katherine Skeffington Dewey

Katherine Skeffington

Katherine (Catherine) Skeffington (also spelled Skiffington, Skivington) was born in Lowell, MA on June 13, 1871 and died on February 25, 1963 in a nursing home in Tewksbury, MA.  Katherine married Francis Osman Dewey of Reading, MA on July 10, 1901.  I believe that Katherine was the only child of Patrick and Bridget (Daley) Skeffington.  It is thought by some family members that Katherine worked in the Lowell mills before meeting and marrying Francis.  Katherine and Francis are buried in the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Reading, MA.

Katherine and Francis Osman had five children

Elizabeth Winifred (1903 – 2001) - grandmother was "Winifred" Daley

George Franklin (1905 – 1909) – named after Admiral "George" Dewey

Marion Katherine (1907 – 2003) - aunt was "Marion" Kemp Dewey

Robert Francis (1910 – 1980)

Donald Lester (1912 – 1980)

George and Elizabeth (about 1906)

Francis Osman Dewey was institutionalized from around 1918 until his death in 1925.  So from 1918 on, Katherine had to raise four children ages 15, 11, 8, and 6 on her own.  (Son George had died in 1909.)  Her parents were not alive by 1918.  Her father died in 1905 and mother died in 1911.  So she had no assistance from her side of the family.  I wondered if the Dewey family assisted Katherine and her family or was her family shunned because Francis, a Protestant, married Katherine, a Catholic mill girl?  Similarly, I asked in a previous post how Katherine's mother-in-law Elizabeth Kemp Dewey survived until her death in 1926 after her husband died in 1890.  

A common solution for providing for widows/widowers with our first ancestors was remarriage.  Many of my earliest ancestors were married two or three times.  However, I have researched city street directories and found that Katherine and Elizabeth's solution was to live in an extended family after their husbands deaths.  It was also a common practice to take in boarders for extra income. Ancestry.com has recently added a U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta) version that helps answer where and with whom did these families live (search results are available for a monthly subscription fee).  By looking at town directories and US Census records in the Ancestry database, I have found that for much of the time, Elizabeth and Katherine lived in the same house.

Extended Families: Residences of Elizabet Kemp Dewey, Francis Osman and wife Katherine Dewey

1866: Elizabeth Kemp married Edgar Osman Dewey and they lived with her parents Robert and Elizabeth Kemp at 243 Northampton St., Boston.  

1867 to 1892: Elizabeth Kemp Dewey lives on Summer Avenue in Reading, MA.  During this time, husband Edgar Osman dies in 1890. Several of their children including grandfather Francis Osman Dewey live in the Summer Avenue home.  (Great-great grandfather Francis Osman (Sr) and his son Francis Henry Dewey were living at 176 Summer Ave.)

1892 to 1895: Elizabeth, shown in the records as Lizzie D. Dewey, is boarding at 1 Hancock St., Reading.  Boarding with Lizzie are adult children Francis Osman, presumably with Katherine, Edgar, and Marion.  (Daughter Minnie Evelyn Dewey married in 1891 and moved away, possibly to Lynn with her husband Phillip Emerson.)

1896 to 1904:  Lizzie and family live at 109 Summer Ave., Reading.  Francis Osman
moves out in 1902 after marrying Katherine Skeffington.  The 1903 Lowell, MA Street Directory shows Francis Osman boarding at 263 Fayette Street, presumably with wife Katherine.  She had been living with her parents Patrick and Bridget Daley Skeffington on Willie Street in Lowell, MA prior to there marriage.  In 1903, Elizabeth Winifred Dewey is born in Lowell.

1905 to 1906:  Elizabeth is living at 20 Prescott Street, Reading.  Daughter Marion lives with her mother until she marries Charles Terrill in 1906 and moves out of Prescott Street.

1905 to 1914:  Francis Osman and Katherine are living at 5 Morgan Park, Reading.  In 1907, Elizabeth moves into the 5 Morgan Park home with her son and daughter-in-law.  Children George (1905-1909), Marion (1907), Robert (1910), and Donald (1912) are born while the family lived on Morgan Park.

1915 to 1920:  Francis Osman and Katherine are living at 14 Hancock Street, Reading.  Around 1916-1917 life is beginning to unravel for Francis Osman.  After many years of working at F.O. Dewey & Sons - RR lanterns (Reading Directories 1898 to 1915), he is no longer working at F.O. Dewey & Sons but as a rubber worker at Reading Rubber Manufacturing Co., Ash St. (1917 Directory).  (Reading Rubber Mfg. later became Goodall Sanford Mills.)  Also, the 1917 Reading Directory shows that Elizabeth moved from Hancock Street to 3 Parker Street, Reading.  By 1918, we know that Francis Osman has been committed to Danvers State Hospital.  Katherine and her four living children continue to live at 14 Hancock Street until 1920.
1921 - 1930: Katherine lives at 38 Mineral Street, Reading. Daughter Elizabeth marries and moves to Pennsylvania (children Dorothy and Berry are born in Pennsylvania per 1930 US Census).  Francis Osman dies on March 10, 1925.
1925 - 1926: Elizabeth lived at 15 Sanborn Street probably until her death on Oct. 23, 1916. 
1930 - 1931: Katherine and son Robert are living with her daughter Elizabeth at Mt. Vernon St., Reading.
1932 - 1937: Katherine is living with son Robert and wife Margaret at 48 Village Street, Reading.
1937 - after 194x: Katherine is living with daughter Elizabeth and family at 146 Village Street, Reading.  This was a two family house and the Tompkins lived next door.  Katherine's son Donald married Vera Tompkins after returning from WWII.
194x - 1960s: Katherine lived with her daughter Elizabeth.
1963: Katherine was living in a nursing home in Tewksbury, MA when she died on February 25, 1963.

Anecdotes

Katherine was a short woman but was known to be a fast walker.  How many of her descendants have inherited this trait from her?  Some of Elizabeth’s children probably know her best having grown up with her in the household.  I have heard that she may not have been easy to live with.  She is said to have a liking for thread and may have walked out of stores with some without paying for it.  I do not remember much about her as she was 79 by the time I was born and then spent time in a nursing home before her death.  I do remember her once farting at my parents dinner table and saying that someone must be shooting off fireworks in the neighborhood.  

Back: Donald, Elizabeth, and Robert; Front Marion and Katherine