Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 059-2 - April 2005 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 6 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2014-03-12 08:14:40 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:06:02 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:06:02

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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oN ~ Nun versus Madam: The Dispute over Annie Coughlan’s Will by Orval Bronson [Note: Research into the dispute over Annie Coughlan’s will was precipitated by an interest in confirming or dispelling a couple of stories long bandied-about in the community. One story involved a black prostitute’s daughters, one a nun, the other a prostitute, involved in a fight over their mother’s will. The other story involved local madam, Kittie Taylor, who donated a large sum of money to help the Trinity Episcopal Church rebuild after the church building was ravaged by fire. Neither story is true, although some elements of both are. With regard to the church story, a madam may well have donated money to the church’s rebuilding efforts, but it wasn't Kittie Taylor—she died in 1923, while the church fire in question occurred on November 28, 1943. The following is a factual account of the people and places involved in the dispute over Annie Coughlan’s will.] Y ALL ACCOUNTS, HER ADULT LIFE WAS LIVED ‘unobtrusively, first in Grass Valley and thereafter in Nevada City, mostly in her rundown cottage on Spring Street. In death, her life and that of her family became public during a legal battle over the disposition of her 7\estate—a battle presumed to be between the Catholic Church and a Nevada City prostitute. 1880 census records show Annie Coughlan (née Casey) and her miner husband Patrick, both natives of Ireland, and their daughters, Lillian (age 4) and Annie (age 1), as residents of Grass Valley. Lillian was born in San Francisco and Annie in British Columbia, Canada. Given Patrick’s occupation, it is conceivable that the family first went to San Francisco after entering the United States, then moved to Fraser River area, and then to Grass Valley. Sometime around the beginning of the twentieth century Annie, now widowed, moved from Grass Valley to Nevada City. Her daughters were well into their chosen vocations— Lillian had entered a convent, soon to be known as Sister Mary Teresa, and Annie was reportedly ensconced in “the world’s oldest profession.” In 1916 Annie Coughlan became ill; late in that year her illness, diagnosed as Bright’s disease (kidney inflammation), was determined by her physician, Dr. Carl L. Muller, to be terminal. Coughlan, unable to read or write, enlisted a friend, Frank Taylor, a Nevada City businessman, to write her will. Taylor, interviewed after Annie Coughlan’s death, indicated that Coughlan directed that her assets—a passbook account and two parcels of land—be bequeathed to her daughter Annie, with $10.00 bequeathed to daughter Sister Teresa. Subsequent efforts to locate this will (to be used as evi‘ Nevada County Historical City Bulletin VOLUME 59 NUMBER 2 APRIL 2005 dence at trial) were unsuccessful. It was believed to be in the possession of daughter Annie, who also used the name Annie Carter, who by then was a “working girl” in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. Annie died of cancer on March 9, 1917 at age 45. Shortly after her death, the “houses” in Medicine Hat were closed and her friends, now scattered, couldn’t be located. Aware of her daughter’s death, Coughlan executed a new will, drafted by Carroll Searls of the Nevada City law firm of Searls and Searls, with John O’ Neill and David Morgan as executors and Carroll Searls and Dr. C. L. Muller as witnesses to Annie Coughlan’s mark. This will directed that Coughlan’s assets be bequeathed to Mrs. Kittie Taylor, with the exception of $10.00 which was to go to Sister Teresa. Kittie Taylor was a madam operating a “boarding house” on Spring Street in Nevada City. Taylor and Mrs. Coughlan had known each other for some twenty years, dating back to Coughlan’s residence in Grass Valley (there is some indication that Coughlan’s daughter Annie at one time may have worked in Kittie Taylor’s establishment). Even when residing in Grass Valley, Mrs. Coughlan often visited Kittie Taylor in Nevada City, generally asking for old clothing, some of which she kept for herself but most of which she gave to others. After Mrs. Coughlan moved to Nevada City, Kittie often visited her, taking her food and occasionally giving her small sums of money. When Annie Coughlan became seriously ill—about Thanksgiving 1916—Kittie visited her regularly and noted in a subsequent deposition the deplorable condition of the house. Kittie Taylor paid for materials to fix doors and steps and bought door locks to make the home more secure. During Annie Coughlan’s last months, Kittie on a daily basis brought Annie her meals, gave her medicines, massaged her limbs, dressed her and changed her bedding. In her subsequent deposition, Kittie indicated that Mrs. Coughlan frequently spoke of her daughter Annie, but seldom of Lillian, commenting that the nun had a good home and had no need for money. Both Annies, mother and daughter, had agreed that whoever died first would leave her assets to the other and that the survivor, on her death, would leave her assets to “whoever was kind to her,” acI