3-01-2025 7:45pm

Katharine Wright Haskell, the "Swes" to the Wright Brothers

Beth Callahan Editor

Postcard featuring Orville, Wilbur, and Katharine (ca. 1910) Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Living here in Warren County, we our fortunate to be between the two larger cities of Dayton and Cincinnati, allowing us to not only share in both of these city's accomplishments but in their residents, who helped shape our country and our world. And believe it or not, one way of learning about the people who helped shape our history can often be found in one of the historical cemeteries located in southwest Ohio. Montgomery County's Dayton, Ohio's Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, which is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the United States, is filled with history. And, this being the month of March, which is Women's History Month, the WarrenCountyPost.com has been given the privilege to publish a piece from Woodland about Katharine Wright Haskell.

DAYTON, OH -- The youngest of the Wright siblings, Katharine was the only surviving daughter of Milton and Susan Wright. When Susan died of tuberculosis in 1889, Katharine was just one month shy of fifteen years old. The loss of her mother was devastating.

In the wake of their mother’s death, Katharine, Orville, and Wilbur became practically inseparable—they called her ‘Swes’, a German nickname for ‘little sister'. Now the only woman in the family, Katharine was expected to assume the responsibility of managing the Wright household. By taking on the domestic duties usually reserved for wives and acting as both confidant and sounding board, Katharine made it possible for her widowed father and unmarried brothers to fully devote themselves to their work.

Katharine was intellectually curious and did well in school, excelling in Latin and Greek. Unlike her brothers, she struggled with math. The only Wright sibling to earn a college degree, Katharine graduated from Oberlin College in 1898.

Back in Dayton, she became Latin and history teacher at Steele High School. Outgoing and self-assured, Katharine made friends easily. Her natural ability to chat comfortably with just about anyone would go on to be invaluable when her much shyer brothers began demonstrating their flying machines to the rich and famous in Europe.

Though we do not tend to hear as much about the Wright Sister, Orville and Wilbur would have had trouble soaring as high as they did without her.

*Postcard featuring Orville, Wilbur, and Katharine (ca. 1910) Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.