Born in Milwaukee, Katherine Putnam married in 1869 John Daggett Hooker, who had moved from New England to San Francisco eight years before. Her two children, Laurence Whitney and Marian Osgood were born in San Francisco, before Hooker moved his family to Los Angeles in 1886. About 1891 he built a large Colonial Revival house at 325 South Adams Street, Los Angeles. A Memoir of her life published in 1935 records that "the house became the center of a delightful and gracious hospitality. All that was interesting and worthwhile of Los Angeles Society was to be met there..." [Memoir*] In later years she filled the spacious grounds with a formal garden, reminiscent of her visits to Italy with straight paths and a pergola on two sides. [Photo of Katherine at left]
In 1896, Katherine and her daughter Marian made the first of several trips to Italy, and promptly fell in love with the country. After a second trip in 1899, her husband proposed that her letters home be published as a book, which became Wayfarers in Italy, first published in 1891, with photographs by her daughter Marian, already an accomplished amateur photographer.
The Memoir records the harrowing experience of living through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, where her father, Osgood Putnam, then an invalid, had a house. While the earthquake itself did relatively little damage to her father's house, the ensuing fires destroyed all before them. "The experiences of the family through the following six days were of one horror after another, sleepless nights, and such physical exertion leading to utter exhaustion as well might have wrecked their health for life." For days they camped on the sand at Black Point while they watched the city burn.
Katherine spent her last years in Santa Barbara, where she wrote Through the Heel of Italy (1927), also illustrated by Marian. She died at her house at 224 East Mission Street in July 1935.
----
*See Samuel Marshall Ilsley, Katherine Hooker, A Memoir (Santa Barbara, 1935)
In 1896, Katherine and her daughter Marian made the first of several trips to Italy, and promptly fell in love with the country. After a second trip in 1899, her husband proposed that her letters home be published as a book, which became Wayfarers in Italy, first published in 1891, with photographs by her daughter Marian, already an accomplished amateur photographer.
The Memoir records the harrowing experience of living through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, where her father, Osgood Putnam, then an invalid, had a house. While the earthquake itself did relatively little damage to her father's house, the ensuing fires destroyed all before them. "The experiences of the family through the following six days were of one horror after another, sleepless nights, and such physical exertion leading to utter exhaustion as well might have wrecked their health for life." For days they camped on the sand at Black Point while they watched the city burn.
Katherine spent her last years in Santa Barbara, where she wrote Through the Heel of Italy (1927), also illustrated by Marian. She died at her house at 224 East Mission Street in July 1935.
----
*See Samuel Marshall Ilsley, Katherine Hooker, A Memoir (Santa Barbara, 1935)
Born in Milwaukee, Katherine Putnam married in 1869 John Daggett Hooker, who had moved from New England to San Francisco eight years before. Her two children, Laurence Whitney and Marian Osgood were born in San Francisco, before Hooker moved his family to Los Angeles in 1886. About 1891 he built a large Colonial Revival house at 325 South Adams Street, Los Angeles. A Memoir of her life published in 1935 records that "the house became the center of a delightful and gracious hospitality. All that was interesting and worthwhile of Los Angeles Society was to be met there..." [Memoir*] In later years she filled the spacious grounds with a formal garden, reminiscent of her visits to Italy with straight paths and a pergola on two sides. [Photo of Katherine at left]
In 1896, Katherine and her daughter Marian made the first of several trips to Italy, and promptly fell in love with the country. After a second trip in 1899, her husband proposed that her letters home be published as a book, which became Wayfarers in Italy, first published in 1891, with photographs by her daughter Marian, already an accomplished amateur photographer.
The Memoir records the harrowing experience of living through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, where her father, Osgood Putnam, then an invalid, had a house. While the earthquake itself did relatively little damage to her father's house, the ensuing fires destroyed all before them. "The experiences of the family through the following six days were of one horror after another, sleepless nights, and such physical exertion leading to utter exhaustion as well might have wrecked their health for life." For days they camped on the sand at Black Point while they watched the city burn.
Katherine spent her last years in Santa Barbara, where she wrote Through the Heel of Italy (1927), also illustrated by Marian. She died at her house at 224 East Mission Street in July 1935.
----
*See Samuel Marshall Ilsley, Katherine Hooker, A Memoir (Santa Barbara, 1935)
In 1896, Katherine and her daughter Marian made the first of several trips to Italy, and promptly fell in love with the country. After a second trip in 1899, her husband proposed that her letters home be published as a book, which became Wayfarers in Italy, first published in 1891, with photographs by her daughter Marian, already an accomplished amateur photographer.
The Memoir records the harrowing experience of living through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, where her father, Osgood Putnam, then an invalid, had a house. While the earthquake itself did relatively little damage to her father's house, the ensuing fires destroyed all before them. "The experiences of the family through the following six days were of one horror after another, sleepless nights, and such physical exertion leading to utter exhaustion as well might have wrecked their health for life." For days they camped on the sand at Black Point while they watched the city burn.
Katherine spent her last years in Santa Barbara, where she wrote Through the Heel of Italy (1927), also illustrated by Marian. She died at her house at 224 East Mission Street in July 1935.
----
*See Samuel Marshall Ilsley, Katherine Hooker, A Memoir (Santa Barbara, 1935)
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
