Catharine M. North House (1780)

The house at 901 Worthington Ridge in Berlin was built circa 1780. It was later the home of Catharine North (1840-1914), a local historian whose History of Berlin, Connecticut was published in 1916. She was the great granddaughter of Simeon North, an early American pistol manufacturer. According to an obituary, reprinted in the Forward to her posthumously published history of Berlin:

Catharine Melinda North, daughter of Deacon Alfred North and Mary Olive Wilcox, was born March 1, 1840, and, with the exception of one year in girlhood, spent her whole life in Berlin, Conn. She was educated in the Curtis School in Hartford, studied in the Boston Conservatory, and taught music for a long time in her home town. “Following the example of her father, whom she so greatly loved and reverenced, she lived his daily prayer, ‘filling up each day with duty and usefulness.'” She interested herself in every good cause, and especially in the work of the Second Congregational Church of Berlin of which she was a member. In the Sunday school, both as pupil and teacher; in the missionary work of the church; and more particularly in the church music, her cooperation was of the utmost importance. At one time she assisted the choir with her truly cultivated and musical contralto voice, and then for years, she led, as organist, the worship of the church. During the declining years of her father, Miss North assisted him in his duties as town clerk, and after his death she gave up her music and continued as agent for the fire insurance companies which he had represented. Her historical work falls in the last quarter of her life, and her notes seem to show that she was working on the history of East Berlin and Beckley Quarter, paying considerable attention to the Bowers family, when a stroke of apoplexy ended her work, July 8, 1914.

Miss North was a director in the Berlin Library Association and a member of the Emma Hart Willard chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. While organist of the Berlin church, she turned over the remuneration she received to the Library Association to be used as a fund. One of her former pupils characterized her as a “truly educated” woman, “fond of study,” and whose influence was to teach others. In her research work, she often sat up until the “dawn o’ day,” pondering on historical problems, and it is thought that this may have reduced her physical vitality enough to shorten her career. She possessed, also, a considerable knowledge of botany and had a “genuine love for a flower.” An intimate friend has paid the following tribute to the memory of Catharine North:

A long-time friend wishes to express her loving admiration of the character of Miss North, who recently entered into her heavenly rest. Her personality was strong, upright and most interesting; strong in the force of her mental gifts, and in her moral nature; upright in a most conscientious fidelity to all known duty; interesting because responsive to many interests. Her whole nature vibrated in many chords. Did one seek her for advice on any point, how quick she was with her helpfulness and spirit of service I Did one lead the talk to music, art, travel, history, genealogical research, or the deeper things of the spirit, how she brightened and enlarged the subject by her own original ways of looking at it! Who could ever tire of such a companion? When one thinks of the physical pain endured for several years past with the most heroic fortitude, one can but rejoice at the thought of the freed spirit reaching its highest development where all is light and love. We who were her friends are grateful for the companionship of these years, and are glad to believe what has been wisely said, that “Christians never meet for the last time.”