Catharina Elisabeth was born to and Anna Margaretha Lindheimer, daughter of lawyer Cornelius Lindheimer and his wife Elisabeth Catharina Lindheimer (née Seip), on 19 February 1731. She had eight siblings, four of whom survived, including politician and lawyer
Johann Jost Textor. She married
Johann Caspar Goethe, who was 21 years older than her, on 20 August 1748, after which she moved into
his house on Großer Hirschgraben. Three months later, she became pregnant aged 18, and her son
Johann Wolfgang was born at the house on 28 August 1749. Goethe was soon pregnant again, and gave birth to her second child,
Cornelia, on 7 December 1750. 5 more children followed, but none survived to adulthood. After the death of Georg Adolf in 1761, the Goethes did not try for any more children; each birth posed a great risk to both the mother and child. Catharina Elisabeth's role in the Goethe household primarily involved looking after her children; the Goethes had a servant, a cook and two maids who did most of the household tasks. Catharina Elisabeth was a
pietist and did not often attend church, preferring the
conventicle of the pietists instead. In 1774, Johann Wolfgang published
The Sorrows of Young Werther, which brought him great fame, and thus many guests came to visit the Goethe household. Catharina Elisabeth revelled in caring for these guests. In 1775, Goethe moved to
Weimar, but the Goethe House in Frankfurt still remained a popular spot to visit, with guests wanting to meet the mother of the famed playwright. Many of these guests became correspondents of Catharina Elisabeth, such as
Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and
Bettina von Arnim. Johann Caspar became ill in 1780 and died in 1782, after which Catharina Elisabeth occupied their house alone. She sold the house in 1795 and moved into an apartment on Frankfurt's Roßmark, in which she lived until her death on 13 September 1808. Goethe was buried at the Textor family grave in the in Frankfurt. == Legacy ==