Fermine Baird Catchings
Fermine Baird Catchings | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 20, 1858 Winchester, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | January 16, 1944 (aged 85) Hempstead, New York, U.S. |
Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, U.S. |
| Occupations | Historian, genealogist |
| Spouse | William Benjamin Catchings (m. 1879–1907; his death) |
Fermine Baird "Fanny" Catchings (December 20, 1858 – January 16, 1944) was an American historian and genealogist. Her eight-volume, 230-page publication Baird and Beard Families: A Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Collection of Data (1918)[1] was described as "an excellent compilation comprising chapters on [the] ancient history of the [Baird and Beard] family" and was "heartily recommended to all genealogical libraries."[2] A copy of the book is in the possession of the Library of Congress.[3]
Life and career
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Fermine Baird was born in 1858 in Winchester, Tennessee,[4] to Reverend Alexander Jackson Baird and Nellie Hibbets Britton. She was the youngest of their three children, following Susan and William, the latter of whom preceded her by three years.[5] The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1865, when Baird's father took charge at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church.[6] She attended Ward's Seminary (later Ward-Belmont College) in Nashville.[4]
In 1879, Baird married William Benjamin Catchings,[4] of Vicksburg, Mississippi,[4] with whom she had seven children: Benjamin, Nellie (died in infancy), twins Baird and Silas (who died in infancy), Marjorie, Thomas and William.[5]
In 1918, Catchings published her life's work, titled Baird and Beard Families: A Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Collection of Data.[7] It traces the family back to 1066, when a member of the family traveled from France to England with William the Conqueror.[8] In the book's preface, she states that much of its historical and geographical information was taken from the book A Chronicle of the Bards by George Oberkirsh Seilhamer.[9]
When her book was published, Baird, by now a widow, was living at 507 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York.[2]
Death
Catchings died in 1944, aged 85, in Hempstead, New York. She had survived her husband by 37 years,[5] and was interred beside him in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. Her brother, William, was killed in 1933, aged 78, after being struck by a car in Miami while crossing the street.[6]
References
- ↑ Library, New York Public (1918). Bulletin of the New York Public Library. New York Public Library. p. 712.
- 1 2 Greene, Richard Henry (1919). The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. p. 91.
- ↑ Kaminkow, Marion J. (2012). Genealogies in the Library of Congress: A Bibliography. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-8063-1664-2.
- 1 2 3 4 The Handbook of American Genealogy. Institute of American Genealogy. 1934. p. 150.
- 1 2 3 Baird and Beard Families: A Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Collection of Data (Fermine Baird Catchings; Baird-Ward Publishers; 1918), p. 108
- 1 2 Nasvhille Banner, December 6, 1933
- ↑ Magazine of American Genealogy. Institute of American Genealogy. 1929. p. 18.
- ↑ The Biard Family. Peerless Print. Company. 1929. p. 5.
- ↑ Baird and Beard Families: A Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Collection of Data (Fermine Baird Catchings; Baird-Ward Publishers; 1918), preface