Her mother died on September 23, 1865,[1] and at the age of two, young Kate was sent to live with her maternal grandfather, Joe Chandler.

[2] On November 9, 1870, Kate's father, George Washington Farmer, was appointed to be the Postmaster of Hamburg, Iowa.

[5] On December 30, 1885, Kate married Thomas Edwin Morgan and they had one child, a boy, born on October 31, 1886; he lived only two days.

A San Francisco lawyer, Alan May, speculated in the 1980s that her death involved foul play.

Evidence for the alleged homicide was a passing statement during the coroner's inquest that the bullet found in her head did not match that of her own gun.