Her Stories

- Documenting the Role of Women in Local History -

Catherine Wister Miles, the wife of Centre Furnace co-owner Samuel Miles, was born into a prominent Philadelphia area family in 1742. In 1761 she married Colonel Miles. He was a military officer and political figure who served as mayor of Philadelphia in 1790. While Jane Patton left the city in 1791 to live in a log house on the frontier, Catherine Miles remained in Philadelphia. Miles also was the mother of a large family. Nine of the fifteen Miles children reached adulthood.

Two of the Miles daughters married prominent Pennsylvanians. Abigail married Thomas Potts of Pottstown; Hannah married Joseph McKean, son of Governor Thomas McKean. Three sons – John, Joseph, and William Wister – moved to Centre County, married into local families, and continued in the ironmaking business.