- Born
- 1891-09-15
- Died
- 1983-05-23
- Spouse
- person/hugh-connaghan-1956
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- healthcarecommunityheritageirish-arranmore
- Within
- Saint James
Summary
Catherine L. “Katie” (Malloy) Connaghan (1891–1983) was born at Saint James, Beaver Island, and married Hugh Connaghan, a Beaver Island commercial fisherman descended from Arranmore Island, County Donegal. The Beaver Beacon’s December 1960 hospital notice, reporting Katie hospitalized at Charlevoix, is one of dozens of local mentions of a woman whose children and grandchildren the paper tracked continually for three decades.
History
Hugh and Katie Connaghan raised fourteen children on Beaver Island. Hugh, born and raised on the island and a lifelong commercial fisherman, died October 14, 1956, at 74, survived by his wife, thirteen living children, and 38 grandchildren. Katie’s own obituary, in June 1983, gives her birth as September 15, 1891, at Saint James, and names four surviving sons — Lester, Roy, John, and Gene — and eight surviving daughters, among them Catherine Gatliff and Vickie McDermott. By 1983 she had 57 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren; a February 1965 Beacon note, marking a great-grandson’s birth, had already counted 54 grandchildren. Katie was hospitalized at Charlevoix Hospital from November 30, 1960, the episode this record was seeded from; later Beacon notices repeatedly place her among Saint James’s winter residents through the 1960s and 1970s. She died May 23, 1983, at the Petoskey Nursing Center and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery.
The eldest of the fourteen children, Lester D. Connaghan (1922–2005), gave the family’s fuller migration history in his own 2005 obituary: his grandparents — Katie and Hugh’s parents’ generation — Hugh Connaghan (b. 1834) and Bridget O’Donnell (b. 1854), came from Arranmore Island, County Donegal, Ireland. He married Victoria A. "Vicki" Connaghan (Victoria Pociask) in Chicago and worked as a commercial fisherman and later a Great Lakes tugboat pilot.
Evidence and limits
The 1983 obituary’s list of four sons and eight daughters is a source-qualified census of Katie’s surviving children as of that date, not a complete list of all fourteen — one son and one daughter had already died by 1956, and further deaths may have occurred before 1983. Whether “John of Charlevoix,” a son named in 1983, is the “Jack Connaghan” of Rose and Jack Connaghan’s Beaver Island household documented elsewhere in this archive is probable — a 1961 Beacon note independently calls a “Catherine (Georgie)” the sister of Jack Connaghan, matching Katie’s daughter Catherine Gatliff — but is not stated outright in any source read here.
Open questions
- Is “John of Charlevoix” the same man as Jack Connaghan, husband of Rose Connaghan and father of Steve and Gerald Connaghan?
- What hospital and civil records document Katie’s 1960 admission specifically?
- What was the Connaghan family’s date and route of migration from Arranmore to Beaver Island?
See also
Kin
Sources
- Reports Katie Connaghan hospitalized at Charlevoix Hospital since November 30. Subsequent Beacon notices repeatedly list Katie Connaghan among Saint James winter residents, and a 1970 obituary names Catherine Connaghan of St. James as a sibling in the same local family network. These support the Katie/Catherine bridge to the cemetery entry; the cemetery gives only years.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-12_Beaver-Beacon
- The held five-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1960-12_Beaver-Beacon
- Lists Catherine L. “Katie” (Malloy) Connaghan (1891–1983), spouse of Hugh H. Connaghan.
- Reports Catherine L. (Malloy) Connaghan's September 15, 1891 birth at St. James; her marriage to Hugh Connaghan, who predeceased her October 14, 1956; her May 23, 1983 death at the Petoskey Nursing Center; funeral at Holy Cross Church and interment at Holy Cross Cemetery; and names four surviving sons (Lester, Roy, John, Gene) and eight surviving daughters (Malvina Harman, Anna Mae Maxwell, Catherine Gatliff, Marguerite Welsh, Lila Selfridge, Vickie McDermott, Lillian Cole, Frances LaFreniere), with 57 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren. It is a newspaper obituary and does not replace a civil death certificate, parish register, or complete family record. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1983-06_Beaver-Beacon
- The held nine-page June issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the obituary.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1983-06_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports the October 14, 1956 death of Hugh Connaghan, 74, husband of Catherine, of a cerebral hemorrhage; says he was born and raised on Beaver Island, worked at commercial fishing, and was the father of 14 children (13 then living) and 38 grandchildren. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1956-11_Beaver-Beacon
- Beaver Beacon, February 2005, "Lester D. Connaghan" (obituary).Identifies Lester D. Connaghan as the eldest of the fourteen children of Hugh and Catherine "Katie" Malloy Connaghan, and states that Hugh's own grandparents, Hugh Connaghan (b.1834) and Bridget O'Donnell (b.1854), were from Arranmore Island, County Donegal, Ireland. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2005-02_Beaver-Beacon
Added 1 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Catherine L. "Katie" Connaghan”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/catherine-l-katie-connaghan/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, December 1960, “Hospital News.” (and 6 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “Catherine L. "Katie" Connaghan”RIS for “Catherine L. "Katie" Connaghan”