I use the Family Tree app and Ancestry.com for research/accessing records. Anything that I include in italics are just my thoughts, they are in no way verified, they are purely conjecture.
March 7, 1756
Catherine’s father, Samuel Read, is born in Westford, Massachusetts to Eleazer & Joanna. He is the second oldest of seven children.
October 22, 1758
Some sources have this as the birthday for Catherine’s mother, Elizabeth Raymond, who was born to Daniel and Lucy. Other sources say that she was baptized Westford on that date at the First Congregation Church.
1776
Samuel enlists as a soldier for the Revolutionary War. He served as a private in Captain Nathaniel Wade’s company.
August 1, 1778
Samuel and Elizabeth are married in Westford, MA. Family trees range from them having eleven to sixteen children, born from 1778-1803. Their names were: Thomas, Jesse*, Lucy, Patty*, Lydia, Polly*, Eliza, Hannah, Catherine, Mary*, Samuel, Eleazer*, Nancy*, Sally, AJ*, Walter* & Hiram.
*These names only appear on one family tree. The other names appear in two sources. Seventeen names were found between two trees, one with eleven children and one with sixteen.
November 1793
Catherine is born in Westford, MA. She was the seventh of their children.
October 6, 1804
Elizabeth Read dies at age 46. She is buried with two of their children that died in infancy, Sally (5 months old in 1800) and Hiram (2 months old in 1804).
1805
Samuel remarries widow Lois Brooks. They had one child in 1808, a son named Rufus. Lois did not have children from her first marriage.
November 8, 1820
Catherine marries William Newman in Chatham County, GA. They do not appear to have had any children. Information on William is not available at the time of posting and he doesn’t even appear on some family trees. There also isn’t a William Newman listed in the interments for Colonial Park Cemetery.
I can’t say how Catherine came to Savannah from Westford. It seems most likely to me that William was from Massachusetts as well and they came to Savannah together with the intent to marry since her family all stayed in MA. With no information about William though, this cannot be verified.
October 12, 1824
Catherine dies from fever in Savannah, GA at 30 years old. She was listed as a resident and being treated by Dr. Daniel before dying on Congress Street.
It seems likely that Catherine lived at Congress Street and died at home; the hospital at that time was down by Forsyth Park.
October 7, 1834
Catherine was survived by her father, who sadly outlived seven of his children. He is buried with his daughter, Hannah, who died in 1814.
Where to find Catherine
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