Conley, Kate

Died Sept. 21, 1873
Aged 19 years, 11 months

The conjectural inscription above is based upon the Treasures of the Past inventory of Hice-Pershing. The same death date is given at the Find A Grave Hice-Pershing memorial listing for Kate, but that listing apparently derives from Treasures of the Past and a date of birth, 21 October 1853, has been calculated and added.

Kate's tombstone is in the foreground here of a generic photo added to the Hice-Pershing Find A Grave site by Sue Lackey.

The stone also shows up at left, in the middle distance, of this photo, also Sue Lackey's. The tombstones of Kate's aunt, Elizabeth Myers, and uncle, George Myers, also are evident some distance to the right of her tombstone. They may be buried in the same row, perhaps separated by other unmarked Myers graves.

Kate (or Catharine) was the only child of Phoebe Myers, youngest daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Hill) Myers, and an unknown father whose surname was Conley (or Connolly). They apparently were married after 1850, since she assumed his surname, but by 1860 he had died or departed. The Myers family lived across the Conemaugh River from Hice-Pershing in what became St. Clair Township, Westmoreland County.

Kate appears first by name in the will of her grandfather, Abraham Myers, dated 23 March 1858. In that will he makes bequests to his daughter, Phoebe "Connolly," and his granddaughter, Catharine "Connolly." Catharine was to receive $100 under terms of the will.

Kate was enumerated as Catharine in the 1860 census entry for the St. Clair Township home of the Myers family, by this time headed by her uncle, George Myers. Her age was given as 6 and she had attended school within the year. The census taker apparently assumed, or was told, that both Kate and her mother were using the surname Myers.

She was enumerated, again in the household headed by her uncle, in the 1870 census, but this time as "Kate" Myers, age 16. Her mother, also enumerated as Myers, remained a resident of the family home, too.

During 1875, two years after Kate's death, her mother married George W. Osborn, some 10 years her junior. They lived for a time in Bedford County, then moved to Johnstown, Cambria County, ca. 1888, apparently just prior to the great Johnstown flood. The remainder of their lives were spent in Johnstown. Phoebe died 27 February 1910 and was buried in Johnstown's Grandview Cemetery.