An Interim Summary for her Descendants
Among my late mother Gloria's things was an old photograph labeled "Grandma Kate Burke né Beaver." I do not remember ever having seen this picture, nor even ever hearing her name. I do remember Mom speaking of some Irish heritage. As I began to assemble old family documents and census records, I was able to confirm that she was my Great-great Grandmother. Regretfully, I found a discouragingly small number of discontinuous records that did not tell much about her life. I once summarized for you what I knew as of 2007. I have something more to add now, and I have linked this letter to the actual documents and additional discussion within my website. You can also read it there.
The first and easiest documentation I found was in census reports. In 1900 she was living as a widow in Newark with her daughter Edith Agnes and son-in-law Charles Edward Ecker. In 1910, she was living as head of household in Newark with Edith, but puzzlingly, Charles Edward or children were not listed even though Edith and Edward were still having children togerher until 1914..
Later I found her name in the 1878 marriage record of my Great-grandmother Edith Agnes Beaver Ecker. Kate was the widow of William Beaver. This record provides the only known mention of the name of William.
I also found an 1870 passenger list containing the name of Kate Burke, a 17-year-old woman of the right age from Ireland. As it happens, Kate or Catharine Burke is not an unusual Irish name so this record must be only a tentative identification. Despite trips to the archives of New York City and Trenton, New Jersey, I was unable to find a marriage record for either Katherine or William. Only recently was I able to find a death record for Catharine. (I was looking in the wrong decade!)
In February, 2008, I visited the New Jersey archives in Trenton in person. There I finally found her death certificate. I learned that she died on 19 October, 1921 in the Essex County Hospital where she was said to have had a cerebral hemorrhage. Her address was given as 144 S. Orange Ave. Wonderfully, the names of her parents were given as John Burke and Bridget Ryan. The death certificate did not identify where she was buried, but the death record of her daughter led me to Kate's grave as well. They are both buried in the Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in East Orange.
In late 2009, while taking another look through the 1920 census records, I finally found Katherine Beaver. The date and name of the hospital on the death certificate helped me find the right record. The full name of the hospital was "Essex County Hospital for the Insane, in Overbrook."
When I asked my Aunt Joan and Uncle Ed what they knew about Kate, the only information that came to their minds were stories about mental illness, but it was never clear whether this referred to Catharine, her daughter or perhaps someone else. Clearly the old family rumors are correct that at the very least, Catherine had significant mental illness.
The records referred to above and more fully discussed on our family history website comprise all the objective information I have about Katherine Burke. It sheds a little perspective about what the lives of that family must have been like. There must have been some troubles. A peddler of shoestrings is an occupation that might have been possible for a mentally ill woman. It speaks to significant poverty. Why was Charles Edward Ecker not listed in the 1910 census with his family? Were he and Edith Agnes separated, or was Edith living with her disabled mother temporarily? I have not been able to find much information about Charles Edward Ecker and he was not buried with his wife. I was not to this date able to find him in the 1920 or 1930 census. I have found absolutely nothing about William Beaver anywhere.
There are still ambiguities and loose ends. When did Kate move to Newark, or did she ever live in New York City? The records are not consistent as to where either Edith Agnes or her father were born. Every new piece of information makes possible the discovery of additional facts and I hope this will continue to occur in this case. [As you will note at the end of this series of pages, that is exactly what happened!] As I write these words, the Essex County Hospital is being demolished. It's patient records were not well cared for and I do not know where they are. I have learned that the New Jersey State Archives have a collection of patient death files for the years Catherine was there and perhaps these will be helpful. [That did not pan out.]
In popular writing about the pursuit of genealogy, the phrases "skeletons in closets" or "black sheep" are occasionally used. I personally feel no shame in the discovery of Kate's final disposition, only sadness. I find it terribly ironic that my Great-great Grandmother lived and died behind the doors of the same kind of massive state mental institution in which I grew up. In the end I am more content with knowing what happened to her than I was without any information at all.
With Love,
Peter
[Addendum March 11, 2016: I was able to find an entry in an Irish Catholic Baptismal Registry that is exactly on point for the baptism of Catherine Burke. In 2014, I placed a gravestone on the graves of Kate and her daughter Edith Agnes, and on the grave of Edith's mother-in-law, Hannah Squire Ecker who is buried in nearby Fairmont Cemetery.]