The "The Mystery Of The Real Kate Hewitt" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Attempting to tie together a story I wrote on Friday, June 14, 2017 and one I just read a few Sunday's ago.  Latest story was written by "The Scribbler" Jack Brubaker, and was titled "Researchers locate Civil War general's fiancee."  The story that I wrote in 2017 told of a pretty lady named Kate Hewitt who fell in love with a Civil

Gen. John Fulton Reynolds

War Major General by the name of John Fulton Reynolds.  John was a distant relative of a friend of mine from high school and St. James Church, Josh Reynolds.  Seems that Kate and John fell in love and became engaged before John Reynolds  left for war in 1863, but kept the engagement a secret, since he was Protestant and she was Catholic.  But, before John went off to war, she gave her beau a Catholic medal and gold ring in the form of clasped hands which he wore around his neck.  Inside the ring was inscribed the words "Dear Kate."  This ring and medal were found on Gen. John Fulton Reynold's body after he died on the first day of the battle of Gettysburg when a rifle ball penetrated behind his right ear and killed him within minutes.  Kate had told John that if he died in battle, she would join a convent.  She soon joined the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  My story dated June 16, 2017 told of Kate's visit to the home of her sweetheart's family immediately after he died.  The family welcomed her and wanted to know about John and their love for each other.  

Catherine "Kate" Hewitt?

They supported her choice to join the convent and welcomed her to visit when she wished.  Kate found out that John and his First Corps had passed the convent only a few hours before he was killed.  Kate wanted to know everything about John and asked the other nuns to bring the General's orderly, Sergeant Charles Henry Veil, to visit her at the convent.  Veil met with her and told her of John's death and in return, Kate gave Mr. Veil a little token of her thanks in the form of an embroidered handkerchief with the Coat-of-Arms of the United States on it.  Then in September of 1868 she left the convent and disappeared.  She was still in mourning for the love of her life and couldn't find peace in the convent.  She never married and died of pneumonia in 1895 in Stillwater, New York.  On her headstone was the word "Mizpah" which in Hebrew was "May God watch over you until we are together again."  She had returned to the love of her life!  At the time, that was the end of my story on June 14, 2017.  But in this past Sunday's Scribbler's column, I found out more about Kate Hewitt.  Seems a researcher in Stillwater discovered a Kate Hewitt who was buried in 1902, seven years after she allegedly was buried.  Something was wrong here!  Everyone just assumed that this Kate Hewitt was the one engaged to the General.  But, Jeff Harding of the Civil War Times didn't buy it.  Working with genealogist Mary Pitkin, they found that Kate Hewitt married Joseph B. Pfordt, an Albany-area florist, and taught school in Albany.  Seems there were two Kate Hewitts who lived within a few miles of each other.  Harding and Pfordt found through state census data for that time that there were two women named Catherine Mary Hewitt who both lived in the Albany area in the 1860s and 1870s.  They also discovered passenger lists of the SS Golden Age and the SS North Star, commercial ships that made their way through the Panama Canal from San Francisco to New York in the summer of 1860, which showed one Hewitt was a passenger.  John Reynolds and Kate Hewitt sailed together on that voyage and fell in love. The ship they were on left San Francisco for New York on July 20 and arrived in New York on August 13.  Seems the 1860 census showed a Cate Hewitt living in Stillwater at that time so it couldn't be the same person.  So, the Kate Hewitt who fell in love with John Reynolds has to be buried in the Pfordt family plot in St. Agnes Cathoic Cemetery in Nenands, Albany County, New York and died in 1876.  It was noted that she had health problems and suffered from consumption.  They assumed she wouldn't  have lived until 1902 as did the Catherine Hewitt of Stillwater.  But, can they be sure?  "The Scribbler" ended his story with:  There's more to this story.  Harding and Potkin are writing a book.  Should be interesting!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.