Early Life
Hiffernan was a Roman Catholic. Her father, Patrick Hiffernan, is described by Whistler's friends, Joseph Pennell and his wife Elizabeth, as being like "Captain Costigan," the drunken Irishman in Thackeray's novel Pendennis. The Pennells also described him as "a teacher of polite chirography (calligraphy)" who used to speak of Whistler as "me son-in-law." Her mother, Katherine Hiffernan, died in 1862, aged 44. Joanna Hiffernan had a sister called Bridget Agnes Hiffernan, later Singleton. The artist Walter Greaves, who began tuition with Whistler in 1863, and who knew Hiffernan well, claimed that she had a son called Harry but no trace of him can be found in official records.
Read more about this topic: Joanna Hiffernan
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