Kate Carey was born Margaret Elizabeth Leonard, a first-generation daughter of Irish immigrants in Geneseo, NY. Family lore holds that she started going by Kate because it had more of a Gaelic ring to it.
She married young to Sam, a man with a temper and a drinking problem of his own. After a violent night, Sam fled the scene of his crime to Kate, turning that violence on her, beating her so badly that she had to escape to her father's house across the street. He was sent to prison.
Left to support their family alone, Kate was later prescribed opium for an infection and became dependent on it, a common and quiet tragedy for women of her era, who had few options and even fewer protections. The state took her children from her. It was a devastating blow, and one that pushed her to fight her way back. Her father and members of St. Mary Catholic Church, which still stands in Geneseo today, rallied together and helped bring the kids home.
Kate got free of the opium. The drink held on longer. Her youngest child, a daughter, was taken by the state a second time and never came home.
When Sam was released, Kate made the only choice that felt like hers to make: he and her father would care for the children, and she would leave to start over in the nearest city. She believed she had finally earned her chance.
She never got it. Not long after arriving, she was sent to the workhouse. Three days after her release, she was found dead, murdered and left in the river.
Kate's story is why this project exists, because women in situations like hers deserve somewhere to turn before it's too late.
Kate's full story is told in the book Kate by Thom Smith. Find it on Amazon. (A portion of your purchase will go toward The Kate Project.)