Week 10: Strong Woman
There are a lot of women on my trees that I would love to have met. They all accomplished so much. Many where strong willed, who persevered many struggles.
Going back on my tree I find women who stood up against their family to wed someone who fought for the other side during the “War of Northern Aggression”.
My 4 times great grandmother moved her family from “civilization” into the wilderness of Tennesses. Just a few generations before that I had a grandmother loose her husband to an Indian raid. And a few generations before that she left her home country and traveled on the Mayflower to help settle the new land.
One that stands out is Katherine Dugan Zimmerman 1881 – 1969. She was married to Charles Henry Zimmerman 1874 – 1921. I truly believe that any death is a great loss but Charles Henry died at the age of 47.
They were married in 1899 in Hiattville KS. It seems that after serving in the Spanish American War he had a unidentified PTSD from the war.
In 1921 Charles when out to the cornfield and committed suicide. I cannot imagine how Katherine coped with this loss or raised their 8 children on her own.
48 years a widow, I could not fathom being without my husband a day let alone decades. There 15 year old son found his father. The burden to help her child through such a traumatic experience. This experience affected their entire family and it would take one strong matriarch to see them through.