Catherine Peters

Miss Catherine "Katie" Peters was born in Ballydrehid near Clonmel in Co Tipperary, Ireland on 18 July 1884.

She was the daughter of William Peters (b. circa 1842), a farmer, and Mary Crowley (b. circa 1851), Tipperary natives who had married in Bansha, Co Tipperary on 18 February 1871.

One of a dozen children born to her parents, Katie's known siblings were: William (b. 4 January 1872), Edmund (b. 2 October 1874), Mary (b. 20 November 1876), Thomas (b. 29 March 1882), James (b. 4 September 1886), Bridget (b. 10 June 1889), Margaret (b. 22 February 1892), Helena (b. 12 May 1894) and Johanna (b. 8 June 1899).

Katie appears with her family on the 1901 census living at house 42 in Ballydrehid. She emigrated in 1906 aboard the Oceanic to New York, arriving stateside on 3 October that year when immigration records described her as a servant standing at 5' 1" and with grey eyes, auburn hair and a fair complexion. She was destined to her sister Mrs John (Mary) Egan in Manhattan who had been living in New York since before 1901.¹

Katie returned to Ireland to visit her family around late 1911 or early 1912; on her return voyage to New York on Titanic, which she boarded at Queenstown as a third class passenger (ticket number 330935, £8, 2s, 9d), she was travelling, reportedly, with her sweetheart Roger Tobin, and aboard she roomed with two other Tipperary girls, Kate Connolly and Kate McCarthy. Her destined address was 243 East 45th Street, Manhattan, the home address of her sister Mrs Mary Egan.

On the night of the sinking Katie McCarthy, the only surviving member of their group, recalled that Roger Tobin called by their cabin and told them to get up and dressed and to bring lifebelts but simultaneously assured them there was no danger. McCarthy said that only she sensed any urgency and whilst she implored the other two girls to follow her, she ended up leaving alone and never saw the other two Kates again.

Katie Peters died in the sinking and her body, if recovered, was never identified.

Her estate, valued at a meagre £64, was administered to her father on 15 October 1912.

Her devastated family back in Ireland was to face heartache in the next few years when Katie's parents died only a year apart; her mother Mary died 13 January 1914 whilst her father William, afflicted with senility, died 24 February 1915.