Twins Kate and Mary Duff
- Born
- 1892-07-25 12:00:00
- Died
- 1959-09-01 12:00:00
- Gender
- Female
- Place of migration
- Migrated to/Born in USA
Twins Kate and Mary Duff
Twin sisters Kate and Mary Duff were born 25 July 1892 in County Laois, Parish of Raheen, to Michael and Anne Grant Duff. Other addresses for the family listed: Coolnacart, Mountrath, Clonkeen, Ballynamuddagh. Eleven of Michael and Anne’s thirteen children lived into adulthood. Their parents were married in the Parish of Raheen February, 1880, and departed for the USA almost immediately following their wedding. Michael and Anne settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Michael, a farmer could only obtain laborer employment, and by 1885, they had returned home to Ireland with two of their three children born in the USA. One child, also named Mary, died in infancy, and is buried in Philadelphia.
Eight adult Duff children emigrated to the USA; four - Ellen, Edward, Anne, and Fintan remained in Ireland. Anne died in childhood.
The eight children who emigrated to the USA: Mary, Kate, William, James, Lawrence, Patrick, Joseph, and Michael. William and Michael served in the US Armed Forces during WW I. Michael died and is buried in France. William returned home to Philadelphia.
Kate arrived at the Port of New York on The S.S. Mauretania 9 June 1911, accompanied by two brothers. Mary followed a year later, accompanied by a brother. Family lore tells that Mary was scheduled to depart on the Titanic, but was denied boarding. Apparently, her paperwork was not in order, so she sailed to the USA on the S.S Baltic, arriving at the Port of New York 6 April 1912.
Kate married Bernard Johnson, a widower with three small daughters, in 1920. They settled in Ardmore, Pennsylvania and had five more children. Bernard died in 1931; a resourceful Kate continued raising their eight children.
Mary married John O’Donnell, a native of Donegal, also a widower with two sons in 1923. Mary and John had seven more children, settled in Philadelphia, and later, in Havertown, Pennsylvania.
Kate and Mary remained very close throughout their lives. Their children and grandchildren had difficulty telling them apart. Kate died in 1959 at age 68; Mary was 93 when she died in 1985.
Numerous grandchildren great-grandchildren and beyond survive them throughout the United States and Ireland.
