Katharina von Bora Philipp Melanchthon thought that Luther's marriage would hurt the Reformation because of potential scandal. Luther eventually came to the conclusion that "his marriage would please his father, rile the pope, cause the angels to laugh, and the devils to weep." Martin Luther married Katharina on June 13, 1525, before witnesses including Justus Jonas, Johannes Bugenhagen, and Barbara and Lucas Cranach the Elder.They held a wedding breakfast the next morning with a small company. Two weeks later, on June 27, they held a more formal public ceremony, presided over by Bugenhagen. Von Bora was 26 years old, Luther 41. The couple
Catharine Merrill and served in the Indiana General Assembly (1819–22) and as Indiana's first state treasurer (1822–34). Samuel was responsible for moving the state treasury to the new state capital at Indianapolis in 1824; his young family, which included nine-month-old Catharine, joined him on the journey. Catharine, nicknamed Kate, was the third of ten children. Merrill's mother died in 1847 and an older sister died two years later. Merrill's father married Elizabeth Young of Madison, Indiana, in 1849; he died in 1855. During this period, Catharine helped care for her younger siblings. Other members of the extended family also lived with the