Kate Pottgen Harris was a sister to my 3rd great-grandmother, Louisa Pottgen Thornton. Her obituary was published in the Alton Evening Telegraph on 23 Feb 1882.
This is such a sad story. She was only sick for a few hours before she died. They sent a telegraph to her husband, but he didn’t make it in time to see her again.
DEATH OF MRS. LOUIS HARRIS – Mrs. Kate Poettgen Harris, a native of this city, wife of Mr. Louis Harris, died shortly after 12 o’clock yesterday, at the family residence on Tenth street, after an illness lasting but a few hours, at the age of thirty-five years and six months. Her husband, who was working at the break on the Jacksonville division of the C. & A. railway, near Riverdale, was notified by telegraph, but failed to get home in time to see his wife alive, although kindly furnished an engine for the trip by Roadmaster Huskinson. Mrs. Harris, besides her husband, left three small children, with many relatives and friends to mourn her sudden death. The funeral will take place from the Cumberland Presbyterian church at 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon.
