Katherine Bennett - lost family heir - died June 1990 - anyone on Ancestry.com?

[everybodylovesrs]

Anyone have a login over at Ancestry.com?

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"It seems like every town in America has a village recluse: a mysterious soul who chooses to remain alone, isolated from the community. Katherine Bennett of Portland, OR was just such a person: an eccentric, nearly destitute packrack who dressed in men's clothing, rarely left her home, and refused to discuss her past with anyone.

For years, Katherine Bennett was viewed with curiosity by sympathetic neighbors. What noone suspected was that Katherine had amassed a modest fortune worth more than $125,000. But on the day she died, Katherine Bennett was a woman with few friends and no family.

Little is known about Katherine before 1941. That year, she meant a handsome young soldier named Gilbert Bennett. Six months later, they were married.After the Second World War, the couple settled in Portland, OR where Gilbert worked as a commercial photographer. Katherine became his favorite subject. The two shared a love for the great outdoors. At every opportunity, they would escape to the unspoiled rivers of the Pacific Northwest.

"They loved the outdoor life, and they fished every chance they could get. They were very devoted to each other. They were inseparable. Every place they went, they went together. And they fished together, and they hunted together, and what have you. I'm sure that they were very much in love with each other", said Marion Bennett, Katherine's brother-in-law.

Gilbert and Katherine never had children. Instead, they built a loving, private universe for two. Katherine lavished attention upon her husband, her garden, and her pets. Yet she remained intensely private about her past. "She never spoke of her past, and I have since talked to all my brothers and sisters, and they said the same thing - they just didn't know anything of Katie's past." In 1980, after 38 years of marriage, Gilbert Bennett died. Katherine's will began to crumble.

"When she lost Gilbert, she just lost everything I guess. And I had talked to Katie concerned about her future. I asked her if she had any living relatives, and she said, No, she didn't have family. She was raised in an orphan home and didn't know anything about a family. And she just withdrew from holidays and things like this - we'd ask her to come to dinner and stuff like this, and she wouldn't do that, and we - we just couldn't keep in contact with her too long as a result of this."

Katherine rarely left the home where she and Gilbert had spent so many years together. In the end, only the charity of neighbors kept her from total seclusion. Finally in June of 1990, after ten years alone, Katherine Bennett passed away. She was 80 years old.

When no blood relatives could be located, representatives from the Oregon Division of State Land were dispatched to Katherine's house to sort out her estate. Almost no one had entered the house in the ten years since her husband had died.

"Her home was unkept, it was cluttered, it was flea infested. It had an odor, it was as if a hermit had lived there. Mr .Bennett's closing was still draped over the back of the chairs in the bedroom," said Larry Larimer, Estate Administrator.

"You could hardly even walk through it, it was such a mess, papers and bottles and trash and garbage and uneaten food, and she had several animals, cats, and there was cat food everywhere, and cat food tins, and the fleas were unreal - you could just feel them all over you as you walked in . It was really bad." said Marcella Easley, Trust Property Manager.

"Our first job is to locate a will or locate heirs, and when we entered the home, we quickly sift through the personal papers, looking for letters, insurance policies, anything that might lead to an heir. ", said Larimer.

The investigators never did find a will, but they were surprised to discover that despite the surroundings, Katherine Bennett was anything but destitute. They came across unopened Social Security checks dating back to 1981 and valued at more than $30,000. In addition to a large amount of loose chance, they found a number of rare coins worth $1500. Finally, investigators discovered that Katherine had squirreled away nearly $60,000 in two separate bank accounts. After her house was sold, the value of Katherine's estate rose to more than $125,000 .

Officials in Oregon have launched an extensive search for Katherine's heirs. Because her husband is dead, state law requires that the estate goes to the nearest blood relative. What complicates the settling of Katherine's estate is that almost nothing is known about her past, and much of what is known is fraught with contradiction.

Katherine Bennett was born in Kansas City, KS in 1910. She once told her in-law that she was raised in a Catholic orphanage after the death of her parents. However, in a document notarized in 1945, just three years after she was married, Katherine presented a completely different story about her life. She declared that her father had died prior to her birth, but that her mother (first name: Barbara) was still alive and married to Joseph Fabac of Kansas City, Kansas. The document also made mention of a brother named Martin Juratovich.

Katherine's maiden name is also a source of confusion. Before her marriage, she went by the name Katherine Juratovich, but in Gilbert's family bible, her maiden name is listed as Bernard. If you have any information, please contact the Oregon Division of State Lands.
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I found this, and this is very likely the brother that she mentions in that document from 1945 at the end - almost definitely.


Martin JURATOVICH
Birth Date: 11 Nov 1900
Death Date: Aug 1968
Social Security Number: 510-05-7657
State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: Kansas
Death Residence Localities ZIP Code: 66101 Localities: Kansas City, Wyandotte, Kansas]

In addition, I found a Ancestry death record for Katherine, married to Gilbert Potter Bennett, but you have to pay to see it. Can anyone copy and paste it?

[everybodylovesrs]

Name: Katherine Bennett
SSN: 512-01-8849
Born: 2 May 1910
Died: 22 Jun 1990
State (Year) SSN issued: Kansas (Before 1951)


And this:

Name: Katie Juratovich
[Katie Fabac]
Census Date: 1925
Residence County: Wyandotte
Residence State: Kansas
Locality: Kansas City
Birth Location: Croatia
Marital Status: Single
Gender: Female
Estimated birth year: abt 1910
Race: White
Relation: Daughter
Line: 32
Roll: KS1925_176
Father's Name: Joseph
Mother's Name: Barbara
Household Member(s):
Name Age
Joseph Fabac 55
Barbara Fabac 50
Matt Fabac 21
John Fabac 16
Katie Juratovich 15


Still need more info on the Fabacs that are in similar age range (although she was the youngest, and that was when she was 80 when she died!) . Maybe they have kids

[everybodylovesrs]

OK. Obviously at this point, all those Fabacs are either incredibly old or dead.

Katherine (Katie) is in the 1925 Census with the Fabacs, as she declared in that document in 1945 that is shown in the Unsolved Mysteries segment. However, she was not in the 1920 census records with that family. Which lends credence to the speculation that, as she said, she may have been in an orphanage, perhaps because her biological parents were dead , and would explain why she is a Juratovich and her siblings are Fabacs, and she just appeared at age 10 in the census.

So, the real question is at this point - tracking down children or grandchildren of Martin Juratovich or the Fabacs that were her siblings to try to find anyone that can help crack the case.

It may have already been solved and just not "updated" on Unsolved Mysteries, or in the newspaper. Who knows. I also realize it is unlikely that any family member at this point can receive her estate. This was a case profiled in 1992 . But, even if nothing of the case matters to them emotionally, the family might be interested to know they had a relative, distant as she might be, that was profiled on a national television show.

[everybodylovesrs]

More info. Although not 100% confirmed, it appears the image of the 1925 census shows that Katherine emmigrated from Croatia in 1922; final destination:Kansas City. She cannot read or write, and is allowed this exception (did you have to be literate to immigrate?) because she is "joining father".

The name of the nearest relative in the country she left is her uncle, Mato Juratovich, in Ribnik.

So, at this point, more information is needed on Martin Juratovich or Mato Juratovich's line to find her nearest blood relative.

[everybodylovesrs]

In 1930 Martin Juratovich is living with Joe and Barbara Fabac in Kansas City, KS. He is a laborer at a meat packing house, and immigrated in 1924, according to the census. He is not married at that time. Katie, now Katherine, is also living with the family (as is 18 year old Anna Fabac). All three young people are listed as son or daughter, not stepchildren. (Could be a cultural thing.) Katie is a candy packer for a candy company.

Nearby is a George Fabac family.

Both Barbara and Katie now say (in 1930) that they immigrated in 1912. That doesn't make much sense, so it is likely 1922. The family lived at 339 Ann Ave...which now appears to be torn out for an expressway. Although it was small and fuzzy, pretty positive that is what it said in that 1945 notarized document in the segment as to where her mother Barbara lived.

Well, anyway, more information than what was in the segment, whether or not anyone cares at this point - she's been dead since 1990 and had no close relatives.

[everybodylovesrs]

More info from someone who has done some research on her:

"I did my research on her in 2003 - - when the story was aired or re-aired on Unsolved Mysteries.
Although, if she died anytime in the 1990s, the statute of limitation would have run out a long time ago.
So I'm wondering, who was holding the money from the estate?
Was it an Estate Attorney who then claimed it for himself?

Kate Juratovich immigrated 2 Oct 1921 at age 11; on the manifest she stated that she was joining her father Martin Juratovich, who at that time was residing at the same address as that of Joseph FABAC and his wife in Wyandotte.
Kate's last residence in Jugoslavia/Croatia was with Mato Juratovich in Ribnik, Karlovac Co., Croatia.
This would mean that her father immigrated before her.

Question: where was her father Martin living in 1920 or 1921 when she arrived? Unable to find him on the 1920 census!

Then in 1930, a brother Martin Juratovic [28] and Kate Juratovich [24] appear in the household of Joseph and Barbara FABAC.
Joseph Fabac came from Grice, Karlovac Co., Croatia.
Ribnik and Grice are only a few kilometers apart. So the families most likely knew one another or were possibly related.

Her brother Martin, b. 11 Nov 1900 died in August 1968 in Kansas City. I'm sure that after his death, his descendants did'nt keep in touch with their aunt in Oregon. Although, with some detective work, I'm sure the estate attorney could have located a descendant of Martin's at the time of Kate's death, unless they were all girls who by then were married and therefore difficult to locate.

Martin Juratovic, the brother, was still single in 1930. Assuming he was married by 1940, any children born around that time could still be living .
One way to check for his descendants is to get a copy of his death certificate and check the name of the 'informant' on the DC. It's usually a relative. Then, check the obituaries in the newspaper at the local library to find out who he was survived by, a wife, children, etc.
So there are ways of finding out additional information if one is truly interested.

Ursula

"

[Gelatinous Goo]

I remember this case fondly. It always saddened me that Katherine never seemed to get over the loss of her husband, wearing his old clothes after he died.

Through census records, I found a Eugene C. Fabac, son of Mathew and Barbara Fabac. This appears to be Eugene G. Fabac, born Mar. 24, 1929, died May 17, 1992, Bonner Springs, Wyandotte County, KS. This is located in the same county as Kansas City. At one point he was living at 6404 Earnshaw St., Shawnee Mission, KS, 66216. Somebody else lives at that address now. There are seven Fabacs currently listed in Shawnee. Call them up--you`re sure to find your lost heir!

[everybodylovesrs]

Originally Posted by Gelatinous Goo

I remember this case fondly. It always saddened me that Katherine never seemed to get over the loss of her husband, wearing his old clothes after he died.

Through census records, I found a Eugene C. Fabac, son of Mathew and Barbara Fabac. This appears to be Eugene G. Fabac, born Mar. 24, 1929, died May 17, 1992, Bonner Springs, Wyandotte County, KS. This is located in the same county as Kansas City. At one point he was living at 6404 Earnshaw St., Shawnee Mission, KS, 66216. Somebody else lives at that address now. There are seven Fabacs currently listed in Shawnee. Call them up--you`re sure to find your lost heir!

I wrote a Fabac. They didn't reply. The only hope is one of them Googles themself but even then the money has been distributed by now to someone else.