Double the Pleasure!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 9: Multiples

PROMPT: Any twins in the family? What about triplets? Or maybe you have an ancestor like my 3rd-great grandmother who was married multiple times. How about an ancestor who held down multiple jobs? 

A set of twins was born into my mother’s maternal family, the Cathcarts.

My 2nd Great-Grandfather, Robert Beattie Cathcart (1820-1900) and his wife Jennie White Mathews Cathcart (1831-1915) had eight children that lived to adulthood. The five oldest children–including my Great-Grandfather–were born in Randolph County, Illinois; the three youngest children were born in Winchester, Kansas.

Seven of these children married and raised families in Kansas.

One son–James Alexander Cathcart, Sr. (1867-1948)–left Winchester, Kansas, at twenty-one years of age to attend the University of Washington in Seattle. Presumably, the farming life of his siblings and ancestors was not of interest to him. After moving to Seattle, he taught school at nearby Kent, Washington, while attending college. Shortly after that, he entered the insurance business, working as manager of a bond department.

Presumably, the farming life of his siblings and ancestors was not of interest to him.

He married Marie Corlette Johnston in 1895 in Seattle. The couple raised a family of five children in the Seattle area, the youngest children being twins. Twins Frank Johnston Cathcart, Sr., and Ruth Annetta Cathcart were born on May 22, 1910, in Seattle, Washington.

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Twins Frank Johnston Cathcart, Sr., and Ruth Annetta Cathcart were born on May 22, 1910 in Seattle, Washington.

Frank attended Garfield High School in Seattle, and then attended the University of Washington, graduating with a degree in Business Administration. At the time of his engagement to fellow University of Washington graduate Rebecca Jean Simpson, he was working in the Federal Administration office in Baltimore, Maryland.

Shortly following their marriage, the couple relocated to Stockton and later San Francisco, California. The couple had two sons who are still living: Thomas J. and Frank Johnston Jr.

Frank Johnston Cathcart, Sr., passed away in 1981 in Walnut Creek, California; his spouse Jean Simpson Cathcart passed away in 2002 in Lacey, Washington.

Frank’s twin sister Ruth also attended Garfield High School.

On May 24, 1933, Ruth married Frank Caldwell Lord, Sr., in Seattle. The couple had a son, Frank Caldwell, Jr., and two daughters–Janis Ruth and Kathleen Marie who passed away in 2005 and 2019, respectively.

Ruth passed away in 1977 in San Clemente, California. Frank Lord, Sr., passed away in 2004.

As an owner of two Westies, I couldn’t possibly write about twins and not conclude with this commercial featuring the Doublemint twins and their identical terriers!