Catherine Uhlmyer Connelly (April 4, 1893 – October 17, 2002) was the second-to-last, and the longest-lived survivor of the ''
General Slocum'' fire of June 15, 1904.
Biography
She was born as Catherine Uhlmyer in
Manhattan, New York
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
on April 4, 1893. Her father died before she was a year old, and her mother, Veronica, married John Gallagher.
On June 15, 1904 when she was 11 years old, she was one of the passengers aboard the ''General Slocum'' when it caught fire on the
East River
The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. She remembered a boy shouting "fire" while a brass band was playing on the deck of the ship to entertain the travelers. She recounted the images of mothers and children with their clothing on fire drowning in the rough waters of
Hell Gate
Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River in New York City. It separates Astoria, Queens, from Randall's and Wards Islands.
Etymology
The name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Dutch phrase ''Hellegat'' (it first appeared on ...
. Others were killed as they were drawn into the blades of the paddlewheel. The total death count was 1,021 of the 1,331 passengers who were on a Sunday school outing, and among the victims were her mother, her nine-year-old brother Walter, and her 9-month-old sister Agnes. "Sometimes he is very cruel, the man upstairs," she said in her interview with ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' on May 24, 1989, when she was already 96. This remained the largest single disaster in New York until the
September 11, 2001 attacks.
[
In 1913, she married Thomas Connelly, a truck driver. She had 11 children. Ten of them were born at home. Only two were alive at the time of her death, Jeanette Connelly Meehan, who lived in ]Goshen, New York
Goshen is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 13,687 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Biblical Land of Goshen. It contains a village also called Goshen, which is the county seat of Orange Count ...
, and Elizabeth Gallagher Reilly, who lived in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...
. She was also survived by 27 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren and 7 great-great-grandchildren.
She lived in a Manhattan apartment by herself until she was 102. She then moved to a nursing home in Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
to be closer to her daughter Elizabeth. She died on October 17, 2002 aged 109.
See also
* Adella Wotherspoon, the last survivor
References
External links
General Slocum WebsiteFindagrave: Catherine Uhlmyer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uhlmyer, Catherine
1893 births
2002 deaths
American centenarians
PS General Slocum
People from Wilton, Connecticut
People from Manhattan
Women centenarians