Katherine Matson Post as portrayed by a student from the Immaculate Conception School of
Jamaica Estates, NY.
My name is Katherine Matson Post and I am the daughter of the Rev. William Matson who was the third rector of the Church of the Resurrection in Richmond Hill. We moved to Richmond Hill in 1877 when it was a very small community.
On June 3, 1885 I married James Post. Although there were other recorded weddings in Richmond Hill before my wedding, mine was the first wedding that took place inside the Church of the Resurrection. The other weddings had followed tradition and had taken place in the home of the bride. My marriage caused much excitement and even the store was closed and a signed placed in the window reading "Store closed on account of the wedding." At my reception a gold ring was placed inside the wedding cake. The slice that contained the ring was found by one of the ushers.
I lived in Richmond Hill and was very active in its social life. I was a member of the Ladies' Twentieth Century Club, which was organized in 1898 with the goal of improving Richmond Hill. We had two major fund-raisers 1905. In the first all the members of the club contributed their favorite recipes that were placed in a small book. I donated my recipe for a Sally Lunn cake. The second fund-raiser was a book that I wrote and it would be the first book ever written about the history of Richmond Hill. I spent a great deal of time researching the early history of the community. It was published in 1905 with photographs taken by my sister Frances Matson who was a noted artist. The book is praised today by modern day historians of Richmond Hill as a very important document that accurately portrays the early history of Richmond Hill. Allow me to read a passage from my book:
"In spite of all this sudden and marvelous growth which savors so much of city life, the tired toiler from busy Manhattan who sits upon the porch of his Richmond Hill home on summer evenings, enjoying the cool breezes that sweep across the Island, still feels that he is in the country. His children indeed have its advantages without its inconveniences, and the best advantages of the metropolis without its noisy whirl and stifling air."
Presented May 22, 2004 by The Richmond Hill Historical Society, Maple Grove Cemetery, and The Immaculate Conception School of Jamaica Estates, NY (Dr. Charlene Jaffie, principal).
Copyright © 2004 Carl Ballenas & Nancy Cataldi.
No claim to Old Kew Gardens [.com] color photograph.
No claim to Old Kew Gardens [.com] color photograph.
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