Katherine, The Other Wright Trivia Quiz

Answer: Katharine's childhood was very unhappy.

Katharine had a very happy childhood, growing up with her four older brothers. She was born on Aug. 19, 1874, Orville's third birthday, at her parents' house on Hawthorn Street, in Dayton, Ohio. Wilbur was seven at the time. Lorin was twelve, and Reuchlin was thirteen when Katherine was born. Twins, Otis and Ida, had been born to the Wrights in 1870, but died in infancy.

Answer: False

Katherine's parents were both college graduates. Her father was a minister, a Bishop of the Church of the United Brethern. He was also a strict, but loving father to his children. Bishop Wright was forty-five when his youngest child, Katherine, was born and his wife, Susan, was forty-three. Susan Wright was very well educated for a woman of her day.

Not only did she study classical subjects, Greek and Latin, in college, but she also studied science and mathematics. Mrs. Wright was very handy with tools and could fix or build anything she took a notion to. Wilbur and Orville's love of making things came from their mother.

Answer: Tuberculosis

Susan Wright was largely the reason that Katherine's childhood was such a happy one. She was a loving woman who played with her children and encouraged them in their interests. Katherine was only seven when her mother first became sick and was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. Because their father travelled so much for the church, the boys and Katherine took care of their mother, kept the household running, and looked after one another. Susan's illness worsened and by the time that Katherine was twelve, she was an invalid. Susan Wright passed away two years later, shortly before Katherine's fifteenth birthday.

Answer: True

Since the death of her mother, Katherine's father had made it plain that he expected Katherine to remain unmarried and to care for him as long as he lived. Bishop Wright also wanted Katherine to be able to support herself after his death, so he sent her to Oberlin College near Cleveland, Ohio.

Her years at college were happy ones, and Katherine made many friendships that lasted for the rest of her life. She graduated from Oberlin on June 22, 1898, specializing in Greek and Latin. She was the only one of the five Wright children to receive a college degree.

Answer: No

After graduating from Oberlin College, Katherine began teaching Latin at Steele High School in Dayton. She also hired a housekeeper, Carrie Kayler, to help her run the house. Katherine was teaching school on Dec. 17, 1903, when Orville and Wilbur became the first people to successfully fly an engine-powered, heavier-than-air machine.

When she returned home from school that day, her father was standing at the front door with Wilbur's telegram from Kitty Hawk in his hand.

Answer: Orville was seriously injured in an airplane crash.

On Sept. 17, 1908, Orville Wright was seriously injured when the airplane he was testing for the United States Army suddenly fell from the sky. Orville's passenger, Lt. Thomas Selfridge, died on impact. Orville had several broken ribs, serious scalp injuries, and a broken leg. Katherine went to Ft. Meyers and cared for Orville until he was released to go home some six weeks later.

Answer: She had a brief romance with a French army lieutenant.

In 1909, while Orville was in Ft. Meyers, Virginia, demonstrating one of their airplanes for the United States Army, Wilbur was in Pau, France, giving demonstrations to the French government. As soon as Orville was able to travel, after his plane crash, her famous brothers hired Katherine to accompany Orville to France and to act as their social secretary. Orville and Katherine left on a passenger liner on Jan. 5, 1909. Katherine's job was to deal with invitations, the press, and requests on her brothers' time and money. Katherine and Orville were involved in a train wreck in France, on their way to Pau, though neither of them were injured.

While in Europe, Katherine meet King Edward VII of England, King Alfonso XIII of Spain, and King Emmanuel III of Italy.

She and Orville also went for a hot-air balloon flight while in Pau.

Answer: False

Katherine thoroughly enjoyed flying. She first went up with Wilbur on Feb. 15, 1909, while in Pau, France. Ladies wore long skirts back then, so Katherine's skirt was tied so that it would not flap during the flight.

Answer: 81 years old

Bishop Wright was eighty-one when Orville finally persuaded him to go up with him. Bishop Wright had declined to go with Orville and Katherine to join Wilbur in France, but he was very interested in his sons' work. When the brothers left for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903, Bishop Wright gave Wilbur $1.00 and told him to send him a telegram if he had anything important to tell.

Answer: Wilbur died of typhoid fever.

Wilbur Wright fell ill in May, 1912, shortly after returning home from a business trip to Boston, Massachusetts. It was thought that the oysters he had eaten at the hotel came from polluted waters. He died on May 30, 1912, after about a three-week illness. Wilbur left Katherine $50,000.00 in his will to ensure she would have financial independence.

Answer: Women's right to vote

When Katherine went with Orville to Germany in 1910 to again act as his social secretary, she lost her job teaching Latin at Steele High School. She then began spending much of her time doing volunteer work. She was a staunch supporter of a woman's right to vote, as was both Bishop Wright and Orville. She also supported equal pay for men and women.

Answer: She married one of her old college friends.

Orville Wright never married, but on Nov. 20, 1926, Katherine married Henry J. Haskell, a Kansas City newspaper editor. Haskell and his wife, Isabel, had been Katherine's friends since their days at Oberlin College. When Isabel died, Katherine and Henry fell in love and decided to marry. Orville would not have anything to do with Katherine after her marriage. Katherine, for her part, never had any ill feelings for her brother.

It was with both joy and sadness that she left her old life and began her new one.

She was in her early 50s. Their father, Bishop Wright, died in 1917, and had never remarried.

Answer: Kansas City, Missouri

Until Katherine married Henry Haskell, she had always lived with her family, first in her father's house and then, in 1914, she moved into Orville's mansion, called Hawthorn Hills. After her marriage, Katherine and Henry moved into a house in Kansas City, Missouri. Katherine enjoyed having her own home, and they were very happy together.

Henry and Katherine were planning a trip to Europe at the time of her death.

Answer: 1929

Katherine died of pneumonia on March 3, 1929. Orville finally came to Kansas City and was reconciled with Katherine. She died the following day. Orville Wright died in 1948, outliving his sister by nearly twenty years.

Answer: False

We may never know exactly what part, if any, Katherine Wight played in developing her famous brothers' flying machine. In any case, she did not personally work out the math for them as her education had been a classical one. Wilbur and Orville financed their experiments with the money they made from their bicycle shop, and Wilbur sewed the wing covers for the brothers' early flying machines. Orville came out with a statement, after Katherine's marriage, that she had no role in developing the airplane.

The rumors that Katherine was actually the brains behind her brothers' flying machine seem to have started during her trip to France in 1908, because Katherine was the one who gave interviews for her press-shy brothers. That Katherine was also highly educated for a woman of her times fueled the rumors. Katherine herself always vigorously denied these rumors and said that while she was always interested in her brothers' work, she never played any part in the developement of the airplane. That she offered her brothers encouragement, put their work above her own career, and was their best friend, can not be disputed. I hope you have enjoyed my quiz on Katherine, the other Wright.