Catherine was raised in Allegheny Township, Cambria County, Pa. She died due to a “complication of diseases,” after being bedfast for 18 months.

The Wirtners were among the earliest prominent citizens of Carrolltown, Pa. During the 19th Century, many were born in and around Carrolltown, but the family name could not continue because most of the males died at an early age, entered the priesthood, or did not marry. The family can be traced back to George Adam Wirtner, a blacksmith of Altdorf, Amt. Ettenheim, Baden, Germany. His only son Nicolas (1754-1844) was a farmer and served as mayor of his town for 35 years. His first wife was Mary Sailer, his second wife was frightened to death by the soldiers of Napoleon, and his third wife was Petronilla Graber. Nicholas had 12 boys and 9 girls born to his first and third wives.
John Wirtner (1795-1848) was the eldest son and the third born; he emigrated to the U.S. and was married in Loretto, Pa., to Mary Rufina Hertzog (1813-1846) by Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin on September 6, 1836. The couple lived about a half mile south of Bradley Junction, Pa., where John had a tannery. Five children were born to this union: John Baptist (see more on John below); Rufina, born in 1840; Matilda, born in 1842; Nicholas, a Civil War veteran; and one other. One year after his wife's death, John married Caroline Richter, who bore him one additional child. John died in 1848 when he was thrown from a horse while on the road home from Loretto, Pa.
Nicholas Wirtner's youngest son Benjamin also emigrated from Germany. He married Josephine Richter (a native of Kappel am Rhein, Germany, and daughter of Joseph Richter) in 1848 and started a tannery in Campbelltown, a town that was situated on the northern end of Carrolltown prior to their incorporation in 1850. The couple had a brick residence in Carrolltown, where they raised a large family that included Helen (b. 1849), Mary Magdalen (b. 1852, d. 1852), Simon Celestine (b. 1853), Pius (b. 1855), Philomena (b. 1857), Anna (b. 1859), Rosa Mary (b. 1862). Simon Celestine, Anna, and Rosa all died in a span of five days in October, 1865. Benjamin and Josephine had two sons that became Bendictine priests, Fr. Anthony and Fr. Boniface. The former was the first Carrolltown-born priest.
Benjamin died in 1909, and was known as "Bishop Wirtner" not for raising two priests, but because of what occurred when he met Bishop Young of Erie:

On October 19, 1858, the Rt. Rev. Josua [sic] M. Young, D. D., Bishop of Erie, Pa., administered the sacrament of Confirmation in St. Benedict's church to 62 boys and 57 girls. On this occasion the Bishop came from St. Augustine, where he had administered the sacrament in the morning. Preparations had been made for a grand reception for the Bishop; children and their elders were to conduct him to the church; several horsemen were to meet him on the way, but one was to return and give the signal at the proper time for all to fall in line for the procession. When the horsemen met the Bishop's carriage, the Bishop was pleased, and expressed his wish of riding on horseback to the church. Mr. Benjamin Wirtner offered him his horse and exchanged places. The bishop accompanied by Father Prior Celestine rode on ahead directly to the sacristy. In due time the Bishop's carriage arrived with Benjamin Wirtner as the person of honor, who received all honors intended for the Rt. Rev. Bishop. Thus it came to pass that he was called "bishop" and Carrolltown had now a bishop of its own.

A Joseph Wirtner, son of Peter and Matilda Wirtner, was apparently not a close relative. He married Euphrosina Shattenkirchner at St. Bendict's Church in 1862. Another Joseph Wirtner was married to a Maria Wesensinger, and had a son Edward, in 1863.
John Baptist Wirtner was the first child of John and Rufina Wirtner, and was baptized by Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin. He was an altar boy at the dedication Mass for St. Benedict's Church in Carrolltown, which took place on Christmas Day in 1850. He learned to be a tinsmith at an early age, and opened a hardware store in Carrolltown in 1858. The following year he purchased a triangular lot upon which he built his own store. According to the 1860 U.S. Census, John and Catherine's home as newlyweds was located next door to the home of Augustin and Mary Farabaugh. John bought another lot in 1864 upon which he built a log cabin residence and hardware store. Soon thereafter, John was drafted to serve in the Civil War, which ended by the time he reported for duty in Harrisburg. He continued his business and then sold the lot to James Sharbaugh in 1880. The triangular lot was sold in 1887 to C. A. Sharbaugh, who established it in the area as a well-known clothing store. John and Catherine moved in late 1880 to St. Augustine, Pa., and took up farming before moving to Beaver Dam, in White Township, and finally retiring in Patton, Pa. The couple had a difficult time in their old age. Catherine was bedfast for the last 18 months of her life, and John was blind for his last ten or eleven years. One relative believes his blindness was the result of a fence wire accident.
John fabricated the original nine foot tin cross set at the top of the tower of St. Benedict's Church in Carrolltown, which was erected in 1872. The cross was replaced in the early 1950's by a replica with copper sheeting.