BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Daughter of John Michael5 Lehmann & Mary Catherine Mills |
CATHERINE MARY LEHMANN, the eldest child of John Michael Lehmann & Mary Catherine Mills, was born 8 September 1892 in Madisonville, Kenton County, Kentucky. She was probably baptized in a Catholic Church in that area, but she more than likely received her first communion and was confirmed at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio where her parents had moved soon after their return from Kentucky.
Frequently, Catherine along with her brothers and sisters would go outside at night to play "Go, Sheepie, Go", a "Hide & Go Seek" game. One night, Rita, her sister, recalled, "The girls got tired of waiting for the boys to find them, so they went in and went to bed."
ca 1901
Back Row: Jennie, John, Catherine
Front Row: Albert, Heine (Henrietta) being held, and Leo
Parents Sitting: John & Mary
Children in Front: Martin, Jean, and Heine (Henrietta)
Gert recalled that her mother told her that while working at the Tecklenberg Hotel in Fort Loramie, Shelby County, Ohio for Aunt Kate (Katharine (Lehmann) Tecklenburg) that Catherine and Jennie both had gotten typhoid fever. Jennie's case was mild, while Catherine's sickness was more serious. Upon learning of the seriousness of Catherine's affliction, John, her father, rented a surrey and went to Fort Loramie to get her.
The girls worked in the hotel for their aunt and uncle during the summers.
Rita stated that in those days her family did not own a horse or buggy, for they lived within walking distance to town and church. They would rent a surrey and horse when needed and when they wanted to go any great distance.
According to the story told to Gert, Catherine was very sick. She lost her voice and could neither talk nor walk. Rita was told that she also lost her long, beautiful hair. Gert said, "Mom (Mary) would massage Catherine twice a day, until Mom would be dripping wet with perspiration, as she was trying to bring feeling back to Catherine's legs, arms, and body." Finally, after weeks, Catherine wandered out one day to the rabbits that her dad (John) was raising to sell. She had begun to walk again, but had not yet regained her speech. Mom said, 'Let her go.' One day Mom followed her and discovered she was sort of mumbling conversation with the rabbits.
Eventually her voice came back, but she could never sing again. She had sang very well. She learned to whistle instead. Rita said that Catherine was very good at whistling and would go around the house whistling instead of singing, as she helped Mom with the housework. Even in later years, she would whistle while she worked.
Rita wrote, "She stayed home for several years and helped Mom with housework, and with me when I was a baby, for Mom was sick. She then went to work at the knitting mills. I was told that I even called Catherine 'Mama' because of the months Catherine had spent caring for me."
"Catherine was meticulous about cleaning the house, and in later years, even after she was married, she was often teased about being `always with a dustpan and a broom' whenever we'd see her. Catherine would always be dressed up while doing the housework in her older dress clothes, rather than in the usual house dresses, and she always wore earrings."
[Rita]
"When she was being courted by Bernard Wilkins [originally Wilkens], he wouldn't get down from Fort Loramie and later Sidney very often, so that sometimes he'd stay overnight and sleep in the spare bedroom. On those occasions Catherine would be 'on cloud nine'."
Catherine married 22 October 1924 in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio at St. Boniface Catholic Church, Piqua, Miami County, Ohio to Bernard Henry Wilkens (aka Bernard Henry Wilkins). Bernard was born 23 April 1890 to John F. Wilkens and Mary Surman.
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Scanned by: JoAntionette (Wilkins-Sherman) Childers
"Catherine had a beautiful wedding dress that was so heavy with beads and pearls," Rita said as she wondered what happened to it. Today in 2002, we know what happened to the dress. It is now (2002) among the keepsakes of Jo Antionette (Wilkins-Sherman) Childers, granddaughter of Catherine. Karen (my sister) and I (Audrey) were privileged to see the dress that our mother spoke of. It is embossed and laden with a multitude of beads and pearls as she said and also very heavy as indicated. What intricate beaded work!
Courtesy of: Jo Antionette (Wilkins-Sherman) Childers
"I can remember one time when they (Bernard & Catherine) lived in Piqua, and she was trimming the Christmas tree. Instead of separating the icicles and hanging one at a time on the tree as we did, she just took small bunches and threw them on the tree. This was unusual to me and looked funny."
[Rita]
"Since Mom did the cooking and the baking most of the time, Catherine only learned to cook the basic meals, but not special meals."
"At cherry-picking time around the 4th of July, many of the family would get together to pick cherries. Catherine would sit with a pan of washed cherries on a chair situated on the 10 ft. square cement slab that covered the rain water cistern shaded by grape vines on the sides and overhead. Here she would pull a old-fashioned heavy hairpin from her hair, put it into each cherry, and pluck out out the seed."
[Rita]
To this union was born Mary Catherine "Kitty" Wilkens/Wilkins, fourth in a succession to carry the rotating name from Catherine Mary (Maxton) Mills (Kitty's great-grandmother) to Mary Catherine (Mills) Lehmann (Kitty's grandmother) to Catherine Mary (Lehmann) Wilkens/Wilkins (Kitty's mother) to Mary Catherine "Kitty" Wilkens/Wilkins.
Sitting: Heine; Wanda Jean [niece, dau/o Jean (Lehmann) Rittenhouse]; Mary Catherine (Mills) Lehmann (mother); & Catherine
Catherine died 25 May 1945 in Sidney, Shelby County, Ohio of melanoma cancer. According to Gert and Rita, she had a mole on her stomach that had enlarged during pregnancy. One day when at home in Sidney she went down to close the basement window after having coal delivered to their home. A big chunk of coal slipped and hit her in the stomach where the mole was located. This caused the mole to begin seeping. Catherine told her mother Mary this, and her mother said, "You go see a doctor right away." It was assumed that the doctor had gotten all of the cancer cells when surgery was followed by x-ray therapy. However, evidently that had not occurred as expected. The cancer metastisized, and she died about six years later. At her funeral it was said that many came to pay their respect and to offer their sympathies. Her sister Rita said, "Catherine was a quiet person, but made friends easily because of her friendly outgoing manner."
She left behind her husband, Bernard, and her daughter, Mary Catherine "Kitty" Wilkens/Wilkins, a young teenager at the time.
A newspaper obituary read:
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Her memorial card below calls her Catherine E. which is in error and gives these statistics:
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Catherine Mary (Mills-Lehmann) Wilkins was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio on 29 May 1945. She now lies next to her husband who was left a widower for many years.
It is believed by the LEHMANN family that Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edward C. Lehman mentioned above is related to our LEHMANN family. Rita said that Catherine had talked with him once and they compared family histories and that they were related. However, at this time this writer has been unable to prove a relationship.
It is noted here that the names of Catherine Mary and Mary Catherine have passed down for five generations, alternating between the two names in succeeding generations ending with Catherine Mary Sherman, daughter of Mary Catherine (Wilkins) Sherman, granddaughter of Catherine Mary (Lehmann) Wilkins, great-granddaughter of Mary Catherine (Mills) Lehmann, and gg-granddaughter of Catherine Mary (Maxton) Mills.
- Mary Catherine7 Wilkins married Ivo Sherman.
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Story/Photo Contributors:
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Revised: 01 September 2009
Revised: 17 July 2017