Katharine Martha (Houghton) Hepburn (1878 - 1951)

Born 2 Feb 1878 in Buffalo, Erie, New York, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Norval Hepburn — married 6 Jun 1904 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Descendants

Died 17 Mar 1951 at age 73 in West Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, United States

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Kit (Houghton) Hepburn was a part of the Suffragette Movement.

Biography

Kit (Houghton) Hepburn has English ancestors.

Katharine Houghton Hepburn "co-founded the Hartford Equal Franchise League in 1913, a group that eventually numbered between 20,000-30,000 members. She later became President of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association, an affiliate of the NAWSA, actively speaking as a representative of women who were mothers as well as suffragists. In September 1917, inspired by the arrests of the White House pickets, she resigned from the Connecticut organization and joined the National Woman's Party. By November 1917 she was on the NWP's National Executive Committee, where she continued to make public appearances on behalf of the cause."^[1] She was also co-founder, along with Margaret Sanger, of the American Birth Control League, which eventually evolved into Planned Parenthood.^[2]

Katharine Martha Houghton, nicknamed "Kit," was born on 2 February 1878 in Buffalo, Erie, New York, daughter of Alfred Houghton and Caroline Garlinghouse.^[3] Her father committed suicide in 1892 when Katharine was 14 years old. Two years later, her mother died.

Katharine was a graduate of Bryn Mawr College in 1899, earning an A.B. in history and political science. She earned a master's degree in chemistry and physics the follow year. She also attended Boston's Radcliffe College.^[4]

She married Thomas Norval Hepburn, who later became a physician, on June 6, 1904 in Baltimore, Maryland. The following announcement appeared in the Baltimore American the day after their marriage:^[5]

"An interesting marriage of yesterday was that of Miss Katharine M. Houghton, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Houghton, of Buffalo, New York, to Mr. Thomas Norval Hepburn, son of Rev. and Mrs. S. S. Hepburn, of Accomac county, Virginia. The bride is an M.A. and a B. A. of Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania. During the past year she has been an instructress at the Calvert School for Girls, in this city. The groom is a graduate of Randolph-Macon College, in Virginia, and is now a student in the Medical School of the Johns Hopkins University."

"The ceremony was performed at 4:30 o'clock at the Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, by Rev. S. S. Hepburn, father of the groom, assisted by Rev. Percy Wroth. The bride was given away by her guardian, Mr. Houghton, Jr. of Corning, New York [...] The maid of honor was Miss Edith Houghton, of Buffalo, a sister of the bride, and the bridesmaids were Miss Harlan Houghton, another sister, and Miss Mary Towle, of Boston. [....] Mr. Lloyd Hepburn, of Virginia, brother of the groom, was best man. [...] Mr. and Mrs. Hepburn will go abroad for their wedding trip, spending the summer in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. On their return in the fall Mr. Hepburn will resume his studies at the Johns Hopkins, where he expects to graduate next June."

Children: ^[6]

1. Thomas Houghton Hepburn (1905-1921), who committed suicide at age 16;
2. Katharine Houghton Hepburn (1907-2003), the Academy Award-winning actress;
3. Richard Houghton Hepburn (1911-2000), a playwright;
4. Robert Houghton Hepburn (1913-2007), a urologist;
5. Marion Houghton (Hepburn) Grant (1918-1986), a historian, author and social activist; and
6. Margaret Houghton (Hepburn) Perry (1920-2006), a librarian.

Katharine died on 17 March 1951 in W. Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut at the age of 73 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.^[7]

Death Notice:^[8]

Actress's Mother Dies Suddenly

Bloomfield, Connecticut, March 17--Mrs. Thomas N. Hepburn, mother of actress Katharine Hepburn, was found dead in bed Saturday, 17 years to the day after her daughter was awarded the highest honor in the motion picture industry.

Mrs. Hepburn, widely known for her crusading leadership in the birth control movement, was discovered by her husband, Dr. Thomas N. Hepburn. Earlier, it had been incorrectly reported that Mrs. Hepburn had been found by her actress-daughter.

Dr. Hepburn immediately notified Katharine, in nearby Hartford, where she had been resting following a road tour with "As You Like It."

It was just 17 years ago ---March 17, 1934, that Miss Hepburn was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as the best actress for the preceding year.

Sources

1. ↑ Katharine Houghton Hepburn's mini-biography at Bryn Mawr NAWSA: Suffragists.
2. ↑ Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn on Wikipedia.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZZR-WMZ : 9 September 2017), Katherine Houghton in household of Alfred Houghton, Hamburgh, Erie, New York, United States; citing enumeration District ED 94, sheet 390C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,827.
4. ↑ Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn on Wikipedia.
5. ↑ Baltimore American, Tuesday, June 7, 1904, Baltimore, MD, page 12.
6. ↑ Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn on Wikipedia.
7. ↑ Find a Grave Memorial for Katharine Houghton Hepburn.
8. ↑ San Antonio Express, Sunday, March 18, 1951, San Antonio, Texas, page 14.

• Ball, Rosalie Noland. The Family Tree of Col. Leven Powell’s Line of the Powells of Virginia. Manchester, Virginia: Privately Published, 1938, page 45.