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Note: PITTSBURGH PRESS Thursday, Sept. 8, 1960
Obituaries
Mrs. Kate Leggett
Services for Mrs. Kate Bagnall Leggett will be at 10 a. m. Saturday at H. Samson`s 537 N. Neville St. Mrs. Leggett, 96, of 314 N. Homewood Ave., died Tuesday at the Highland Nursing Home. Born in Mercer, she had been a resident of Pittsburgh for 64 years. She was a member of the Calvary Episcopal Church and the Epoch Club.
Surviving are a son, Milton; a daughter, Mrs. Helen L. Corbett; a sister, Miss Nellie N. Bagnall; three grandchildren and a great grandson.
Friends are being received at the funeral home.
Burial will be in Homewood Cemetery.
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William F. [T.] Leggett found in:
Census Microfilm Records: Pennsylvania, 1900
Lived in: 21 Ward Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Series: T623 Microfilm: 1362 Book: 2 Page: 217
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Pennsylvania 1910 Census Miracode Index
Kate B Leggett
Age: 45 State: PA Color: W Enumeration District: 0459 Birth Place: Pennsylvania Visit: 0063 County: Allegheny, Pittsburgh Relation: Head of Household Other Residents: Son Milton W 15, Pennsylvania Daughter Helen 10, Pennsylvania
1 non-relative
Kate B. Leggett found in:
Census Microfilm Records: Pennsylvania, 1910
Age: 45
Gender: F
Race: W
Birthplace: PA
State: Pennsylvania
County: ALLEGHENY
Locale: 14-WD PITTSBURGH
Series: T624
Roll: 1304
Part: 1
Page: 16A
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1920 United States Federal Census
Leggett, Kate B
Age: 55 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Pennsylvania Roll: T625_1522 Race: White Page: 14B State: Pennsylvania ED: 540 County: Allegheny Image: 690 Township: Pittsburgh :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
about Kate Leggett
Name:
Kate Leggett
Arrival Date:
11 Jan 1925
Birth Date:
3 Aug 1868
Birth Location:
Pennsylvania
Birth Location Other:
mercer county
Age:
56 Years 5 Months
Gender:
Female
Port of Departure:
New York, New York
Port of Arrival:
New York, New York
Ship Name:
Toloa (United Fruit Company 1917-1948)
Source Citation: Year: 1925; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 3593; Line: 12; Page Number: 160.
An early cruise ship! Departure on 20 Dec 1924; she has her children Milton and Helen with her. Milton would later sail on another United Fruit Company ship on his honeymoon to Jamaica with Lucile a few months later. Unclear from this record just exacly where the cruise went.
http://www.ellisisland.org/shipping/Formatship.asp?shipid=1657
Toloa
Built by Workman, Clark and Co. Ltd., Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1917. 7138 gross tons; 425 (bp) feet long; 54 feet wide. Steam triple expansion engines; twin screw. Service speed 13.5 knots. 131 passengers (131 first class,).
Built for Unifruitco Steamship Company, British flag, in 1917 and named Toloa. England-New York service. Scrapped in 1948.
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New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
about Kate Leggett
Name:
Kate Leggett
Arrival Date:
16 Oct 1928
Birth Date:
3 Aug 1864
Birth Location:
Pennsylvania
Birth Location Other:
Mercer
Age:
64
Gender:
Female
Port of Departure:
Tilbury, England
Port of Arrival:
New York, New York
Ship Name:
Minnetonka
Source Citation: Year: 1928; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 4365; Line: 6; Page Number: 38.
Departure 6 October, arriving 15 October. She has daughter Helen with her, coming home from their grand tour.
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1930 United States Federal Census
Leggett, Kate B
Age: 65 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Pennsylvania Roll: T626_1977 Race: White Page: 11B State: Pennsylvania ED: 227 County: Allegheny Image: 0884 Township: Pittsburgh Relationship: Head :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
about Kate B Leggett
Name:
Kate B Leggett
Arrival Date:
22 Nov 1935
Birth Date:
abt 1864
Birth Location:
Pennsylvania
Birth Location Other:
Mercer
Age:
71
Gender:
Female
Port of Departure:
Hamilton, Bermuda
Port of Arrival:
New York, New York
Ship Name:
Monarch of Bermuda
Source Citation: Year: 1935; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 5734; Line: 4; Page Number: 7.
Has daughter Helen with her. Departure 20 Nov, arrival 22 Nov.
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/65987.html
'Monarch of Bermuda' (1931) was, quite literally, a first-class ship, having provision for 830 first-class passengers only. She was built by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd, Newcastle, for Furness, Withy & Co, with two masts, three funnels, and four propellers and registered at Hamilton, Bermuda, and employed on the New York Bermuda service. In 1939 it was converted to a troopship and operated by the Ministry of War Transport. Among other wartime exploits, it took part in the Norway campaign, shipped Britain's gold reserves to Halifax, Canada, and was involved in the invasion of North Africa. During its re-conversion at Newcastle in 1947, it was virtually destroyed by fire and towed, a burnt-out hulk, to the Firth of Forth. It was rebuilt with one funnel and accommodation for 1,600 single-class passengers. Acquired by the Ministry of Transport as an emigrant ship and renamed New Australia` it was used on the UK Australia emigrant service. In 1958 it was sold to the Greek Line, renamed Arkadia` and re-fitted to carry 150 first- and 1,150 tourist-class passengers. In December 1966 it arrived at Valencia for scrapping.
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http://member.melbpc.org.au/~nashr/New%20Australia%20page%202.html
The SS Monarch of Bermuda
and the Queen of Bermuda
Following World War I, in 1919, the Furness Bermuda Line was awarded the New York-Bermuda contract and began the service with the Fort Victoria and the Fort Hamilton; the latter being the former Bermudian of the Quebec Steamship Line. Thus began the service which, at its peak before World War II, had the Monarch of Bermuda and the Queen of Bermuda, two of the world`s luxury liners, docking at Hamilton each week. Known as "the millionaires ships" they were both built by Vickers-Armstrong Shipbuilders Ltd, Walker-on-Tyne, England.
The Monarch of Bermuda (ship order #1) was 579 feet long with a beam of 76 feet. Completed in 1931 she was 22,424 gross tons and powered by steam turboelectric propulsion (engines by Fraser & Chalmers, Erich (turbines), and by General Electric Co Ltd, Birmingham (motors)), driving 4 screws. She was fitted with 3 funnels, had 2 masts and a cruiser stern. her service speed was 19 knots.
Monarch of Bermuda
A cigarette card showing the Monarch of Bermuda Accommodation was provided for 799 passengers in 1st class and 31 in 2nd class. She carried a crew of 456.
The Monarch of Bermuda was launched on 17 March 1931 for Furness, Withy & Co's New York-Bermuda service, and served this run from 1931 to 1939.
Her sister ship, the Queen of Bermuda, completed in 1933, was slightly larger at 22,575 gross tons and a foot longer at 580 feet. Service speed for both ships was 19 knots. She had capacity of 731 first and 31 second class passengers.
In an interesting little twist of history, while Furness-Bermuda Line awaited delivery of the Queen of Bermuda in 1933, they chartered the Duchess of Bedford from Canadian Pacific Lines
Queen of Bermuda
as a temporary running mate for the new Monarch of Bermuda. This is the same ship that had carried another member of the family, Josephine Murphy, to Canada in early 1933. Once the Queen of Bermuda was delivered to Furness, the Duchess of Bedford returned to the Canadian Pacific Lines.
The Monarch of Bermuda and the Queen of Bermuda were both used for 3 week cruises to Bermuda for Furness-Bermuda Line.
Beautifully proportioned vessels with 3 funnels, they were amongst the few ships of their day to have private facilities in their cabins.
The run between New York and Bermuda took only 40 hours in each direction and that allowed 4 days to be spent on the Island. The ships were very popular with honeymooners. A 6 day round trip could cost as little as US$62-00 per person.
Monarch of Bermuda Deck Plan
Right
A model of the Furness Bermuda Line Q.T.E.V. Queen of Bermuda. (L. Webb)
Left A luncheon menu from the Monarch of Bermuda, presented to the table on Friday, April 23, 1937.
The illustration shows a mermaid riding on the back of an albatross, while a myriad of "merbabies" hold aloft a bubble of sea and sky, which frames the airborne pair.
Two Spanish Galleons sail below.
The illustration is illuminated with silver metallic ink.
Left
The Monarch of Bermuda and the
Queen of Bermuda at Hamilton, Bermuda
On the 8th of September 1934 the Monarch of Bermuda helped rescue the passengers and crew of the burning Morro Castle off the New Jersey coast. The Morro Castle was a luxury liner on the New York to Havana run. One hundred and thirty three lives were lost from the Morro Castle.
Postcard "Posted on the High Seas" on board the Monarch of Bermuda
From November 1939 until 1946 the Monarch of Bermuda saw service as a troop transport, while the Queen was converted to an armed merchant cruiser, loosing one of her funnels as a disguise.
On 10 December 1939 the Monarch of Bermuda sailed from Halifax, Canada and on December 17th 1939, landed the first members of The Canadian Active Service Force at Greenock, Scotland. The first Canadian soldiers to set foot in Great Britain at the start of World War II.
On April 14th, 1940 the Monarch of Bermuda participated in the landing of British forces at Narvik in Norway, carrying Scots and Irish Guards on this occasion.
In July 1940 the Monarch of Bermuda sailed in convoy from Greenock, Scotland, with an escort of British and Polish warships to Halifax, Canada, landing there on 13 July, 1940. This convoy was transporting priceless treasures from Wawel Royal Castle in Poland as well as millions of dollars in gold bullion from the Bank of England to be deposited in the Bank of Canada for safekeeping.
Between 5-7 May 1942, the Monarch of Bermuda took part in the allied landings against the Vichy French in Madagascar.
On November 27 1942, the Monarch of Bermuda embarked troops at Liverpool for the British action against the Vichy French, arriving at Oran, Algeria on December 6, 1942.
On 9 July 1943, the Monarch of Bermuda boarded troops destined to take part in Operation Husky, the allied invasion of Sicily, landing them at Pachini on 17 August 1943.
An American newspaper report of British activities in Sierra Leone at the time advised that Word reached the U.S. last week that the British, conscious of Freetown's new strategic importance, were taking steps to strengthen it. The 22,424-ton Monarch of Bermuda, late of the pleasure trade, deposited between 3,000 and 5,000 troops there, adding to the port's reputed garrison of 30,000. Freetown would never become a Singapore, but it was rapidly becoming Africa's Hong Kong base dedicated to defensive harassment and delay. On leaving Freetown, the Monarch of Bermuda sailed south to St Helena for oil and to land mail, and sailed for Cape Town.
In 1946 the Monarch of Bermuda was used to carry Canadian War Brides across the Atlantic.
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1940 United States Federal Census
about Kate B Leggat
Name:
Kate B Leggat
Respondent:
Yes
Age:
76
Estimated Birth Year:
abt 1864
Gender:
Female
Race:
White
Birthplace:
Pennsylvania
Marital status:
Widowed
Relation to Head of House:
Head
Home in 1940:
Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Map of Home in 1940:
Street:
Homewood Avenue
House Number:
314
Farm:
No
Inferred Residence in 1935:
Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Residence in 1935:
Same House
Sheet Number:
2B
Number of Household in Order of Visitation:
44
House Owned or Rented:
Owned
Value of Home or Monthly Rental if Rented:
19000
Attended School or College:
No
Highest Grade Completed:
High School, 4th year
Weeks Worked in 1939:
0
Income:
0
Income Other Sources:
No
Neighbors:
Household Members:
Name
Age
Kate B Leggat 76
Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T627_3662; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 69-359.
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HOMEWOOD CEMETERY, PITTSBURGH
http://homewoodcemetery.org/index.html
1599 South Dallas Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15217
In 1878 the Cemetery Association (as yet unnamed) purchased 178 acres of land from the estate of Judge William Wilkins. The boundaries of the cemetery extended into Point Breeze. At that time, Point Breeze was already a well-to-do neighborhood that would become home to men who made millions in the steel and other heavy industries of the 1890s.
The Judge's Land: Judge William Wilkins
William Wilkins (1779 - 1865) was a prominent Pittsburgh jurist, United States senator, and Secretary of War under President Taylor. In 1839, he constructed a stately mansion called "Homewood." From this name, the cemetery later took its name.
Once situated on 650 acres, the home stood slightly north of the cemetery on what is today Reynolds Street at South Murtland Avenue. The house was constructed in the middle a virgin forest when Pittsburgh was a town of 21,500. Its long entrance drive began on Penn Avenue, then known as The Great Road to the West (Wilkins Avenue was at one time a private road leading from Judge Wilkins' home to Oakland). For sixty years, the estate had the reputation of being the most fashionable and aristocratic countryseat in Western Pennsylvania. A place of entertainment for all notables traveling west, its visitors included Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John Calhoun, and Generals Jackson and Taylor.
In the spring of 1878, several years after the Judge's death, a portion of the estate was offered for sale for use as a burial ground to a newly-formed cemetery corporation chaired by William Rea. On March 26, 1878, the board accepted the offer of a 175-acre tract of land for $175,000 at 6% annual interest over a 20-year period. The Homewood Cemetery was dedicated on August 17, 1878.
At his death in 1865, Judge Wilkins was interred at Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville. His remains were returned to Homewood in January 1881, and entombed in a private family mausoleum.
History of the Grounds
Landscape History
The Homewood Cemetery is part of the American Cemetery Movement of the 1800s. To understand the history of Homewood, a little background is necessary.
Cemeteries are not graveyards. They are a reaction against them.
Graveyards, churchyards, and family burial grounds were the first types of burial sites created by European settlers in America. Family graveyards were usually areas of family property put aside for burial of one or more connected families. Graveyards and churchyards contained larger groups of people and were located in the center of early towns. These burial grounds were administered either by the village church or government. As extensions of other larger institutions, such burial grounds did not create or maintain their own records. Neither were there codified rules or regulations concerning burial sites and monuments. Money that exchanged hands was not for the lot but for services such as burial or products such as the casket. The family graveyard, town graveyard and churchyard of early America were thus places and not independent institutions.
By the 1820s, American towns were turning into cities. People were leaving farm life for the opportunity to work at the first factories of the industrial revolution. Inner-city graveyards felt the pressure of this migration in two interrelated ways. First, the living needed space within the city. Second, lack of sanitation within the crowded conditions of the cities resulted in deadly outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and other infectious diseases. Demands for both living and burial space became acute. Urban graveyards quickly filled with no room on their borders for expansion.
Of these interrelated problems, it was the threat of epidemic that was most influential in creation of the cemetery as we know it. Medical theory at the time held that unpleasant smells emanating from overcrowded graveyards were gases that caused epidemics. Creating a solution to these burial problems was thus a civic mission.
Cemeteries Prior To Homewood
The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts addressed these concerns by establishing Mount Auburn Cemetery in 1831. Mount Auburn is considered the first American cemetery and it is from their plan that all other 19th-Century cemeteries were created. Mount Auburn was outside the city limits on a dramatically beautiful stretch of land that overlooked Boston and the Charles River. The landscape of the cemetery was designed to resemble the Romantic, rambling gardens of an English estatethis is to say that much of the wild beauty of the land was left intact for its picturesque effect. Mount Auburn divided these grounds into family lots, thus ensuring that family members would be reunited in death. Most importantly, Mount Auburn was a non-denominational, non-profit business institution that would create and maintain its own records in an effort to manage the cemetery in the most effective manner. The placement of burials outside the city in a beautiful, landscaped green space proved to be a successful formula. Prominent citizens in cities across the nation organized corporations to found non-profit cemeteries of their own. From 1831 thru the late 1850s, these Rural Cemeteries (so called for their Romantic design as opposed to their physical location) remained the answer to America's burial problems.
Homewood and the Lawn Park Style
The success of such Rural Cemeteries contributed to their decline. Maintaining wild spaces as part of the landscape design proved costly and time consuming, requiring large forces of workers to keep the overgrowth at bay. Lot owners in Rural cemeteries were considered landowners with full rights to design and plant their lots as they saw fit. The lack of uniformity between both upkeep of various lots and styles of monuments created a visual clutter that was impossible to maintain. What had started out as showplaces of nature`s grandeur were looking more like congested cities.
Just as Rural Cemeteries were a response to overcrowded graveyard, Lawn Park cemeteries were a response to the problems inherent in the Rural Cemetery system. Started in 1855 by Prussian landscape artist Adolphe Strauch, the Lawn Park style of cemetery was a merger of landscape design and a system of rules and regulations. The design stressed clearing the dramatic natural landscapes of yesteryear and manipulating the grounds into a natural looking greensward. Trees, shrubs, and other plantings were kept to a minimum to allow the play of sunlight over green lawn. The effect was to one of restraint, both in the landscape and in monuments. Under Strauch`s plan, lot owners lost the ability to fence their lots, send in their own gardeners, or add any plantings to their property. The cemetery was to provide service and care to the grounds as a whole, thus maintaining a unified landscape.
Strauch applied his system to Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio starting in 1855. Spring Grove was 15 years old by this point and was already collapsing under the weight of its Rural design. By comparison, The Homewood Cemetery was established in 1878 and Strauch`s theories were implemented from the very beginning.
The Homewood Cemetery was founded in 1878 to provide a cemetery for residents of Pittsburgh's East End. By this time, the extensive estate of Judge William Wilkins had became available for purchase. The Cemetery Association purchased 178 acres of this land with the intent of implementing a Lawn Park style Cemetery. At the time of the Cemetery's foundation, the East End was already home to some of Pittsburgh's most wealthy and influencial families--as well as the many people who worked for these families. The non-profit, non-denominational mission of the cemetery ensured both populations were to be served by the new burial ground.
The simplicity of landscape Strauch advocated can be seen in the layout of the Cemetery grounds. A map of Section 2 of The Homewood Cemetery shows a very linear system of lot division. That the map does not indicate the presence of trees or plantings is evidence of how the landscape was forced into the design and opposed to the Rural subjugation of design to natural features. An early map of the cemetery's roadways shows how Lawn Park design tenets kept roads to a minimum while eliminating the clutter of path systems.
An early map of Section 3 shows how the lots in each section were numbered for the purpose of record keeping by the cemetery and its staff. Such a system was imperative as lot owners in The Homewood Cemetery were never allowed to put fences or curbs around their lots. Lot owners could only demarcate their property placing small stone markers at the corners of their lots. These markers would be flush with the ground and numbered to match the system listed on the map.
To avoid a Rural cacophony of monuments and plantings, The Homewood Cemetery established guidelines by which lot owners were encouraged to lay out their lots. Such guidelines remained basically unchanged in the Rules and Regulations of Homewood from 1878 until the present day. These guidelines can be referred to in the 1905 Rules and Regulations of The Homewood Cemetery as provided on this website. Photographs from the 1905 book illustrate the desired layout proposed by the cemetery: one large family marker accompanied by small, matching headstones. This arrangement was supposed to eliminate the Rural tendencies to both overplant and to mix and match monument styles within family lots
From 1878 . . .
Just as Rural cemeteries suffered design flaws, so to did Homewood and her Lawn Park sisters. The large ground crews needed by Lawn Park Cemeteries to maintain the lawns and grounds were siphoned first by World War I and, more finally, by World War II. More significantly, American attitudes and involvement with death changed drastically in the twentieth century. The professionalism that allowed Lawn Park cemeteries to take over the care of family lots helped break the bond many families had established with their lots and cemeteries. Memorial Parks such as Forest Lawn responded to these changes with drastically simplified landscapes (most notably, no above-ground markers may be used). Memorial Parks were very successful and supplanted Lawn Park cemeteries as the modern standard for tasteful burial practices and place..
. . . to Today
The Homewood Cemetery is currently undertaking a major restoration effort to maintain the Lawn Park intention of the cemetery's design. Based on a master plan by Landmarks Design Inc. of Pittsburgh, Homewood is repaving seven miles of roads and plans to both dredge the overgrown pond and start a replanting schedule for the cemetery's trees. Restoration will also include the 1924 office building, three public mausoleum, and the wrought iron gate that girds three-quarters of the cemetery's 200 acres. Information found in the cemetery's collection of maps, photos, and records will be consulted in an effort to regain the restrained elegance of the original landscape design.
The Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund, © 2000.
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