The lot of the spinster

Great Aunt Kate

The term spinster was used from the 14th century to denote a woman who used a handheld spindle to spin linen or wool. By the 17th century, it had become a legal term denoting an unmarried woman and it is this legal use of the term found in property transfers of the 20th century.

Clip from Certificate of Title, SA Land register Vol 1164, folio 75

Catherine Mary Horgan, a paternal great aunt was named as "spinster of Linwood" when she acquired property in the town of Riverton, South Australia in 1941.

The Horgan siblings c. 1940 Catherine (Kate) Tom and Jack, Andrew is seated

Catherine, or Kate as she was known, was the fourth child born to John Horgan and Honora O'Leary in 1872 and the eldest surviving daughter. Older brothers Thomas and Andrew were young lads aged 6 and 3 when Kate arrived. She was followed by John (known as Jack) in 1875, Johanna in 1877, and Honora (known as Nora) in 1878.

Kate's early years on the farm would have been busy with household chores allocated to the children as they grew. The shock of her father's death when she was only 11 years old propelled the boys into taking responsibility for the farmwork so any yard work such as looking after the chickens and vegetable gardening would probably have fallen to her. As the eldest daughter, she would also have had responsibility for helping her now widowed mother with the younger ones.

It was not until Kate was 34 in 1906 that the first marriage in the family occurred. Her elder brother Andrew wed in February of that year. By then her mother was 65 and with the help of Kate and Johanna was cooking, washing, and cleaning for the men of the house. Youngest sister Nora had taken up a teaching role and by 1909 had married John McInerney.

After 1909 the household on the farm at Linwood comprised of Honora the mother, Tom and Jack, Kate and Johanna. In 1918 there is one mention in the newspapers of an accident which we can understand involved Kate. It is probable that she was staying for quite a while with her younger sister Nora (McInerney) who had just given birth to her fifth child.

 Kate was driving a sulky as detailed in this report.

1918 'SERIOUS SULKY ACCIDENT.',
The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), 30 May, p. 6. , viewed 12 Dec 2021,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60358398

It was unlikely to be the younger sister Johanna as her health was poor. She died after a long illness in 1926. Her elderly mother Honora, devasted by her daughter's death lasted only one more year and was also buried at St John's with her husband and daughter.

Ben Arnold on the binder at Horgan's Linwood farm c.1940

Kate, Tom and Jack remained on the farm until 1941 but the work was too hard for the aging brothers so the Arnold brothers had taken over the farmwork.  Tom was approaching 75 when the property transfer to Kate in Riverton occurred in August of 1941. By September he had passed on. Kate and Jack moved to Riverton to Moorhouse Terrace. I do not know if Tom lived there or if he had been moved into the hospital. Kate cared for John but unfortunately, he also died in the following year at the relatively young age of 67.

Brother Andrew moved back to the farm at Linwood with his sons Eddie and Joe. Kate's youngest sister Nora, whose husband John McInerney had died in 1948, moved into Moorhouse Tce. with Kate. Kate's McInerney nieces cared for her in later years.

Riverton house

After a lifetime of caring for others, Catherine Mary Horgan died on June 24, 1956. She was laid to rest alongside her parents and brothers in the St John's Cemetery outside Kapunda.

This post first appeared on earlieryears.blogspot.com by CRGalvin