Katherine NILES

NILES, Katherine
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Mother of Four, Dead at Twenty-Nine

In Memory of / Mrs. Katherine Fish / Wife of / Mr. Nathan Fish / who died Jany 9th/ AD 1759 in the / 29th Year of her / Age.

Katherine was the first wife of Nathan FISH. When she died he buried her with her parents who were Nathan NILES and Mary NORTHRUP here at the Niles Cemetery in Groton, New London, CT.

Nathan FISH is buried with his second wife are buried in the Old Packer-Burrows Cemetery. His second wife, Catherine HELME was a cousin of his first wife Katherine. After working with the vital records and the gravestones I am convinced that these two women spelled their first names differently. Katherine's birth record in Rhode Island is spelled with a C but her marriage and death record agree with this gravestone. Of course, they sound the same which must have been more convenient for Nathan!

Poor Katherine. She was married at nineteen, had four children and died at twenty-nine. Her last child, Simon, died before her and is not buried with her but is buried with her husband and his second wife. I have taken photographs of other Fish graves in this selected family but I have not blogged about them as yet.

Photo by Jan Franco. Used with permission