Kate “Katie” Gleeson was born in Tooreen, Doneraile, County Cork, Ireland, on the 1st May 1889, the daughter of David and Ellen Gleeson (née Roche). Her father was a farmer who died in June 1890.
Nothing is known of her life except that her older sister, Mary, had immigrated to Chicago, Illinois, in the United States of America in 1888, and had married Daniel Bartley in Chicago in June 1904. In 1913, Mary had returned home for a holiday, and when she returned to Chicago in September 1913, Katie, and their nephew, Thomas Magner, aged 10 years, had accompanied her.
The Bartley’s resided at 6427. Champlain Avenue, Chicago, and Katie resided with them. It is likely she found work in the city, perhaps as a dressmaker, which was her occupation in Ireland.
In the spring 1915, she decided to return home, possibly for a holiday, or because she was homesick.
Consequently, she booked third class passage for herself on the May sailing of the
Lusitania which was scheduled to leave New York for Liverpool, at 10.00 a.m. on 1st May 1915. Having boarded the vessel in time for this departure, she then had to wait until 12.27 p.m., before the liner actually sailed. This was because the
Lusitania had to load cargo and take on board passengers and crew from fellow Anchor Lines vessel the S.S.
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April.
The voyage across the Atlantic was fairly uneventful until the afternoon of 7th May 1915 when the
‘Greyhound of the Seas’ was about 250 miles away from her destination, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, which Catherine Gleason would have undoubtedly seen that morning. At just after 2.09 p.m., the liner was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20 and went down within 18 minutes!
Catherine Gleason was one of over 240 third class passengers who were killed as a result of this action and as her body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, she has no known grave. She was aged 26 years at the time of her death, although her age given on the passenger manifest was 23 years. Also on the passenger manifest, Katie’s family name is spelt
Gleason, whereas the correct spelling in Gleeson.
A report in the Chicago Tribune newspaper on the 11th May 1915 stated that her sister, Mary, was married to a
William Bartley, but this was an error as his forename was Daniel. Also, in the same report, Katie is named as
Ellen, but this was probably meant as a reference to her mother, to whom she was returning.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, Cunard Records, Chicago Tribune, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.