Catherine was born in 1871 in Jamestown New York to Irish immigrant parents.  Her family was not wealthy and she dropped out of her senior year of high school to work as a salesgirl.  In 1897 she met Milton Hershey (yes of Hershey Chocolate fame) and they married May 25th, 1898.

 

She was a great philanthropist and after her marriage to Mr Hershey, she quickly got involved in charity work in her community.  Mr Hershey also greatly respected and adored her and quickly allowed her great influence over his decisions.  Among many causes, they donated large amounts of money to the Franklin & Marshal College and for the construction of the cathedral for the Diocese of Harrisburg.  Catherine made sure they received a sizable gift and they are listed on the wall located just inside the front entrance on their “Founders” wall.

 

In 1903 they moved to Derry Church, Pennsylvania, which was later renamed Hershey, and began the construction of the now famous Hershey chocolate factory there.  Mr Hershey Due to her influence, they later founded a school and home for orphan children, the Milton Hershey School, which is still run today.  The Deed of Trust to set up the school shows her signature alongside that of her husband which suggests that she was directly involved in all aspects of it’s creation.  It was highly uncommon for women to do so at this time however, Mr Hershey highly credited Catherine for the school often saying it was “Kitty’s idea”.  It is still funded by the Hershey endowment and only admits low income children.  So everytime you buy a Hershey chocolate you are helping continue their legacy.

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Link to the Titanic

 

The Hershey’s loved to travel and spent much of their time in Europe.  They had been wintering in France in December of 1911.  Originally they were scheduled to come back to the States aboard the Titanic.  The Hershey Community Archives has the canceled check that was written to the White Star Line on December 18, 1911 and a copy of it is on display at the Hershey Museum.  This would have been for the 10% deposit to reserve a first class stateroom for their return. 

However, in early 1912 an urgent issue came up at the chocolate factory and Mr Hershey was needed back home sooner.  Catherine decided to stay a bit longer with their friends in France.  You could say that they were literally “Saved by Chocolate”.  If not for the emergency at the chocolate factory they would have both been on the Titanic.

Instead, Mr Hershey came back a few days earlier on the Amerika.  Ironically the Amerika was one of the vessels that sent ice warnings to the Titanic that morning.  On April 14 at 11:45a Captain Knuth sent the following message…. “Amerika passed two large icebergs….”.  Unfortunately it appears that this message was never passed on to the bridge of the Titanic.  about 12 hours later…the Titanic hit one of the icebergs.

 

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Description of Outfit

 

Catherine Hershey is being portrayed by Selina.  Her outfit is inspired by a design which appeared in a January 1912 French Fashion magazine for a dressy daytime visiting outfit or town ensemble.  This would have been the height of fashion in April and is something that Catherine might have been wearing when she heard of the fate of the Titanic. 

 

She is wearing;

• White cotton split drawers with ribbon and lace trim at the bottom of each leg

• Leather Victorian shoes

• White cotton chemist with drawstring ribbon at neck and lace around the bottom hem

• 1912 style white cotton twill corset trimmed with lace at top and bound in pink cotton

• White cotton combination slip with 3 lace insertion bands in the top, a lace waistband, and 2 insertion lace bands towards the bottom of the skirt

• Medium weight linen blue linen floor length skirt with a columnar front, high Empire waist, with a rounded tunic style black velvet trim lined with black braid.  With a beaded embroidery flower in each side braid loop, framed by black embroidery leaves.

• Medium weight blue linen semi-fitted “Directoire” or cutaway style jacket.  The lined jacket is above waist length in the front, with a long tailcoat back, long sleeves with black velvet cuffs, wide front black velvet lapels, and a wide shawl collar with cotton fringe overlaid with black jet handing beads

• Black satin gloves with pear button accents at the wrist

• Topped off with an ostrich decorated large brim hat