There Was More to Kate Than We Knew

Taking a little break from the bicentennial markers to do some cleanup, but they’ll be back soon.

Years back now, we wrote a post about the incredible embroidery of Catherine Hewitt Pfordt. At Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition in 1876, her embroidery was recognized “for great taste in design and workmanship, displaying extraordinary skill.” Catherine Pfordt was born in 1836, and married florist Joseph Pfordt in 1874. She died Oct. 6, 1876, and was buried in St. Agnes Cemetery. Other than some more details on her work, we didn’t dig up much more on Catherine – and that’s likely because we were looking for her under her final married name. Had we done a search for Kate Hewitt, we’d have found much more.

Then a reader by the name of Jeffrey Harding (who also provided the detailed dates used here) reached out to me with some questions, because he, too, was curious about Catherine (Kate) and was wondering if there were any indications of what might have happened to her amazing handiwork. He was particularly interested in figuring out where she had taught, because we knew she taught classes (probably at least sewing and embroidery, possibly music as well) through the Hewitt and Ryan Select School at 81 N. Pearl, which we were trying to position relative to the Pemberton grocery store and Fasoldt’s watchmaking shop. I had my suspicions she was located in or above Fasoldt’s shop, based on a reflection in his window that appeared to an advertisement for Butterick patterns – a better fit for Catherine Pfordt than for Otto Fasoldt.

I wasn’t sure what drove Mr. Harding’s intense interest in Catherine until he told me he was writing a book about her – and specifically her secret engagement to Union General John Reynolds. That book is now available through Arcadia Publishing: “Gettysburg’s Lost Love Story: The Ill-Fated Romance of General John Reynolds and Kate Hewitt.“

The book’s summary reads as follows:

Union general John Reynolds was one of the most beloved and respected military leaders of the Civil War, yet beyond the battlefield, the captivating true story of his secret romance with Catherine “Kate” Mary Hewitt remains etched into his legacy. Clandestinely engaged before John marched off to war, the couple’s love remained a secret. Kate made a poignant “last promise,” a commitment to enter into a religious life if her beloved were to be killed. Tragically, Reynolds lost his life leading troops into action during the opening phases of the Battle of Gettysburg. Within days Kate was embraced by the Reynolds family and soon began to honor her promise of a religious life. Yet a few years later she seemed to disappear. Author Jeffrey J. Harding unveils new findings on Kate’s life before and after John’s death as he recounts Gettysburg’s saga of star-crossed love.

Gen. Reynolds died at the Battle of Gettysburg. After his death, Kate, who met Reynolds on a ship coming from San Francisco back to the East Coast, went to live with the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and spent some time there, but then moved to serve a mission in Albany, and left the community in 1868.

I should add that, although it was recorded that Catherine was buried in St. Agnes, Jeffrey found that in fact she was in an unmarked grave; a GoFundMe was organized to get her a new market at St. Agnes that was put in place last year.