Born
February 10, 1838
Baden, Germany

Died
December 11, 1906
Brooklyn, New York

Parents
Jacob Fried
Margaretta (Unknown)
Mother's name may have been Margaretha or Marguerite Kennerer

Siblings
Juliana Fried

Spouse
Phillip Jacob Knittel
Married December 6, 1860 in Mannheim, Germany

(Possible second husband)
Joseph Burkhardt
Married September 27, 1886 in St. Nicholas Church, New York, New York

Children
Julia Knittel
Ludwig Knittel
Catherina Knittel
Susanna Catherine Knittel
Anton Knittel
Alexander M. J. Knittel

Life Story

Catharine Fried, named Katharina at birth, was born to Margaretha (unknown surname) and Jacob Fried on February 10, 1938. Catharine's exact place of birth is not certain; census records indicate her father was from Darnstadt, (about 65 km north of Ketsch where Catherine married and had her first four children) and her mother was from Baden. It is assumed she was either born in or moved to Ketsch as a child as that is where she and her husband married.

Catharine married a man 20 years or more her senior. The only marriage record that matched their names and location was December 6, 1860 but there appears to have been several Jacob Knittels and possibly more than one Katharina Fried. If this record is hers, then she married while in her 9th month of pregnancy with Julia, who was born on Jan 2, 1861.

Catharine and Jacob had three more children while living in Ketsch. In April 1867 she and her four young children sailed to New York to join Jacob, who had immigrated in October of 1865 and secured a job as a cook in a hotel. Catharine's passport describes her as 29 years of age and medium height with brown hair, green eyes and an oval face. Once in New York she had two more children: a son, Anton, born in March 1869 and died before the 1870 census and Alexander, who was born in March 1872. Her third child, Catherine Susan also died after arriving in NY but before 1870.

Catharine and Jacob lived in an apartment at 44 First Avenue at least between 1872 and 1874 and possibly since her arrival. In 1874 or 1875 Jacob died, leaving Catharine a widow at age 36 and sole provider of her four children. She and her children moved in 1876 to 134 Third Avenue, an apartment building where 18 other families lived; there she worked as a "washer" until at least 1886. Her son Louis was the first to marry in late 1884, and she became a grandmother in October of 1885 when their first child was born. In 1890, her daughter Susan married, and 10 months later Susan's first child (and Catherine's fifth grandchild) was born. Two weeks after Susan gave birth, her son Alex married Sarah (Dollie) Boyle. Julia was the last of her children to marry in June of 1894. By the time of Julia's marriage, Catharine's family had expanded from her four children to also include a daughter-in-law, three son-in laws and 8 grandchildren with a ninth on the way.

It is possible, perhaps probable, that Catharine remarried after Jacob died. A record found by an employee at Holy Redeemer Church, which holds the records of the former St. Nicholas Church where Susan was married, shows a marriage between a Catharina Fried Knittel, widow, and Joseph Burkhardt, widower, on September 27, 1886. The entry lists Catharina's parents as Anthonii Fried and Marguerite Kennerer. City directories list Catherine Knittel as widow of Jacob in 1876, 1879, 1883 and 1884 but continued to list her as Jacob's widow in 1886 and 1889, leading one to believe that it was not she who remarried. However a search of New York city directories found one of the six Joseph Burkhardts listed as living at 134 Third Street in Brooklyn in 1889--the same address as Catharine's apartment. Since virtually all 1890 census records were destroyed, there is no additional record that shows them living as husband and wife. A search of Catharine (with surname Knittel or Burkhardt) did not yield a record from the 1900 Census, and the only two Joseph Burkhardts listed were not a match as one was widowed and the other had been married for 30 years to another woman.

By 1902 the city directory indicated she had moved to 71 Bleecker Street in Brooklyn where both of her daughter's families lived; the presumption is that her second husband if she did remarry may have died before then. The 1905 NY Census lists her as a her as a member of Julia and Ferdinand's household. Catharine lived there until she died on December 11, 1906 at the age of 67 and 10 months. She had been under the care of a physician since August 15th until her death. The cause of death listed on the death certificate was "general debility" with the added notation that she had bedsores. She was buried on December 13, 1906 in Grave 15 in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside on Laurel Hill Boulevard. Also buried nearby are her son Alex's mother-in-law, Sarah Boyle, Alex's infant daughter, Grace Anna Knittel, and four members of the Stolzenberg family.

Seeking Information

None

Facts

Photo Gallery

Note that she's wearing the same dress in both picttures, but with different accessories!

Updated 9/20/14