Hi Janna --
You wrote:
After John Britt died in 1857 in Morgan Co. WV, his wife Catharine sued
William G. Catlett in a case of debt. I'd like to know more about Wm. G.
Catlett, please. Perhaps they are related?
I believe the William G. CATLETT you refer to was William Gassaway CATLETT,
who was probably born about 1830 (a guesstimate by me), the son of Alexander
CATLETT and ----- BAILEY. He was married to Ann Maria WILLIAMS in 1852. She
was the daughter of [Rev.] Curtis WILLIAMS of Frederick Co., Maryland. Her
ancestors were apparently from "old" Maryland families: BRICE, WORTHINGTON,
RIDGELEY, SIMPSON, CLEMSON, and WARFIELD.
Alexander's father is thought to be Elisha CATLETT, son of Alexander CATLETT
and Susannah BEALL (of Maryland with ties to the GASSAWAY family).
This information from a book on the Catlett family written in 1918 by William
Carter Stubbs and his wife Elizabeth (Saunders). [Two Transplanted Virginia
Families from County Kent, England...] -- located in many libraries throughout
the United States. A bit of caution here -- the book has numerous errors in
it -- some small, some big, some right on target. Some areas sourced, others
not. [Stubbs, pp.64-65].
Have you access to Fred Newbraugh's 3-vol. series WARM SPRINGS ECHOES? There
might be some more information on this CATLETT branch there and possibly also
your John and Catharine BRITT. I have the books and will take a look;
however, they're not indexed, so it might take me a while to read through
them.
I've seen (and have probably photographed) the cemetery markers for two or
more of William Gassway CATLETT's descendants (Brice W, and William G (Jr. or
III and possibly others). They are buried near my family's plot in the
Greenway Cemetery in Berkeley Springs, WV. My CATLETT ancestor, Maria Louisa
Dorothy CATLETT (DEVERS) BLACKWOOD, is interred there.
I don't have any BRITT descendants recorded in my fairly extensive CATLETT
database, but that doesn't mean there isn't a family link some place -- I
haven't done any research on this particular branch. I believe that I've read
that they were rather prominent in Berkeley Springs and Morgan Co., so you
shouldn't have too much problem finding secondary information on them via the
Internet or other published sources. You might also consider writing to the
Morgan Co. list on Roots web (wvmorgan-l(a)rootsweb.com -- must subscribe first,
of course), if you haven't already and you might also write to the public
library in Berkeley Springs. When I first started tracing my family lines
(back in 1976), the librarian was a Miss CATLETT. They had quite a collection
of family notes (on many Morgan Co. families) housed in their small building.
Will let you know what I might find in the Newbraugh books, should you
indicate that you need a look-up in them.
Wishing you great success in your BRITT - CATLETT search.
-- Karon