Short answers, pulled from the story.
Marta Helena Skowrońska was born on the 15th of April 1684 in the eastern parts of the former Polish, Lithuanian Commonwealth. Her father Samuel Skowroński worked as a Roman Catholic farmer near Minsk while her mother Elizabeth Moritz remains a subject of historical debate.
Emperor Peter the Great died on the 28th of January 1725 without naming a successor. A council meeting decided Russia's next ruler amid political maneuvering by Alexander Menshikov before Guards regiments proclaimed Catherine the ruler because they were very popular with her.
Catherine traveled with Tsar Peter I to the Pruth Campaign in 1711 against Ottoman forces when Turkish troops surrounded them with overwhelming numbers threatening total defeat. She suggested using jewels belonging to herself and other women as bribes which allowed the Ottoman grand vizier Baltacı Mehmet Pasha to receive these gifts and permit a retreat.
Catherine I died on the 17th of May 1727 at age forty-three years old after catching a chill then fever following an ice ceremony blessing on river Neva in January 1727. Bleeding continued until she never recovered from illness diagnosed as lung abscess or tuberculosis.
Catherine was first woman to rule Imperial Russia opening legal path for female rulers. Her daughter Elizabeth and granddaughter-in-law Catherine the Great continued modernizing policies for nearly century while City of Yekaterinburg named after her honors her legacy.