Catharine (or Catherine) Hitchcock Tilden was born in Dundee, Monroe County, Michigan, December 13, 1844. She was the daughter of Hon. Junius Tilden (Yarmouth, Massachusetts, November 28, 1813 - Monroe, Michigan, March 1, 1861), formerly a prominent lawyer of that state, and Zeruah (Rich) Tilden (Wellfleet, Massachusetts, January 28, 1813 - Dundee, Michigan, June 30, 1854). Catherine's mother was a descendant of Governor Treat, of Connecticut; Governor Roberts, of New Hampshire; and of Governor Prence, of Massachusetts; as well as of the "Mayflower" pilgrims, Elder Brewster, "of blessed memory," and stout Stephen Hopkins. Four of the mother's ancestors served in the Continental Congress and the American Revolutionary War. Col. John Bailey, of the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment, was at Bunker Hill and Monmouth, crossed the Delaware with Washington, and was at Horatio Gates's side in the northern campaign which ended in Burgoyne's surrender. The Gad Hitchcocks, father and son, served as chaplain and as surgeon. The elder Gad, in 1774, preached an election sermon in which he advocated the cause of the Thirteen Colonies and brought forth the wrath of Gage and the thanks of the Massachusetts General Court. Samuel Tilden, private from Marshfield, Massachusetts, and member of the Committee of Safety, completes the list of her Revolutionary ancestors. When Catherine's mother died, she left two children (Catharine and her sister, Augusta), four children having died earlier.