A Short Life Remembered

 

The sisters Catherine and Mary Ann King lie buried together in a double grave in Arkell Cemetery.

Catherine was 5 years old when she died in December 1870. Her little sister Mary, aged 14 months, followed her in death 4 days later.

Their mother Mary Ann Kemble, died in childbirth in 1869 when little Mary was born. When Mary died, her husband Thomas King a 28 year old  widower with two young children. I don't think we can imagine how challenging and difficult the next year was for him.

One year almost to the day after little Catherine and Mary Ann were buried, Thomas remarried - another Mary - and their son Joseph was born in December 1872. Sadly baby Joseph died when he was only 9 months old. Another grave was dug in the Arkell cemetery.

Arkell Pioneer Cemetery Gravestones

Next came baby Mary born in October 1876, but this child too was fated to have only a short time on earth. 7 month old baby Mary died and she too joined her brother and half-sisters in the Arkell cemetery.

Thomas and his second wife Mary Ann did go on to have 3 more children, one of whom lived to adulthood. The only reminder of the little King children is their graves in Arkell.