Kate was born January 03, 1885, in Mt Vernon IL. To Benjamin Clark Strattan and Adelia Gregg Strattan. She was the youngest of five children and the only girl. When I first started my quest of the Strattan family it was because I saw a picture of the Family taken on a porch in December 1901. At that time I thought Kate must have been an old maid because she died May 21 ,1922, at age 37 and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in the family plot as Catherine A. Strattan. After a lot of searching on the part of my cousins and I we found that around 1906 she married William B. Edwards.

It was reported in the 1910 census that William worked as a brakeman for the L&N Rail Road. and they lived in a house two doors down from Ben and Adelia in Mt Vernon. She had given birth to a son in 1908 and named him Robert B. Edwards.

We found a news paper article that Kate had a son named Louis, in 1911 and he died in 1925 at the age of 14. That was three years after she died. It was reported that he was hit by a train in a nearby township. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in the Family Plot. I have a picture of Louis age three or four, with my mother Alice Strattan age 14. She was the daughter of Kate’s brother Fred. Between the birth of Louis and 1915 Kate gave birth to Eleanor, but we have found no dates for this event. However, Sept 16, 1916, Kate gave birth to William Edwards. The baby did not survive and was buried on the same day he was born. at West Salem Cemetery and there is no stone to mark the grave. I suppose it was because Kate was not strong as she had a bad heart. She gave birth to Leland Edwards on May 25, 1918. He survived and we found an obituary for him with information about his life, marriage and children.

We think Edward Edwards was born sometime in 1921. At that time they were living in Evansville IN. according to the 1920 census. William was signed up for the draft. The L&N had moved their offices from Mt Vernon to Evansville at some time but we don’t know when. Several of our relatives worked for the L&N on both the Ellis and Strattan sides as well as William Edwards.

Kate’s failing health found her at the Anna State Hospital and on May 21, 1922 she suffered a massive heart attack and died. Why she was buried under her maiden name is a mystery to us. Kate’s father Ben died in 1923, he was laid to rest in the family plot along with Kate and Louis. Her husband William married again as he was a young man. We found an article that he died Sept 10, 1964 at the age of 83 , at his home on Casey Ave. in Mt Vernon. He was buried beside his second wife at Mt Catherine Cemetery, Woodlawn IL.

Williams obituary told us that at the time of his death his son Robert lived in Poplar Grove IL. His daughter Eleanor had married Walter Maxwell and was living in Columbus Ohio. Leland lived in Pekin IL. and Edward was living in Belleville

Written and Submitted By: Nancy E Davis
Dec.19. 2007