Thank you to Tim Cattley, Liz Cordingley and Nigel Butterfield, your
replies to my query are much appreciated.
I now realise that the information given to me by Don Prescott has
come from your research into the Cat(t)ley name. I have also now
found "The Catley Database" with its wealth of information. When I
mentioned confirming data I was just given 5 generations of direct
line names without any sources or notes etc. I immediately went to
the IGI, FIBIS and BL sites to see what I could find and noticed
there were some child-parent links not available in these sources. I
hope my query was not interpreted as questioning your research as I
didn't know its source at the time I posted it. My sincere apologies
if any such connotations came through.
I have also received your documents Nigel, it will take me a while to
go through all the information and provide detailed feedback on any
additional information I have about Laura Catley and Joshia(Joshua)
Ballard. All those cousins my wife and her parents never knew they had <bg>.
I noticed you don't have my wife Cheryl's mother in your data, so I
will give an overview of how she fits in. She is Heather Ritchie the
sister of Mae Prescott. Their mother was Rubye Violet Ballard
youngest child of Joshua and Laura Ballard. Rubye lived in Melbourne
for the last few years of her life and we were able to get some
information from her before she died. So Laura Catley is my wife's
great grandmother. My wife was born in Melbourne but has Anglo Indian
ancestry on both her mother and father's side.
At 31/12/2008 07:42 AM, Nigel Butterfield wrote:
Dear Graeme - I am probably the one to speak to on this branch of the
Catleys.
My Grandmother was May Winifred Catley and her father, (my great
grandfather), Thomas Pratt Catley, was half brother to your wife's
ancestor Laura Violet Catley - sharing the same mother Charlotte
Bunyan. Your wife and I are therefore distantly related- according
to my FTM 's calculator we are third cousins 1x removed - whatever
that means,!!
That looks about right, TMG will tell me too when I have entered you
into my database - I can't work out the xCxR cousins in my head easily <bg>
I attach a descendants report on the family, commencing with Emery
Catley (which is as far as I go back) who lived in Midsomer Norton ,
Somerset, England in the early 1700s. His great great grandson
Leonard Catley (Laura's father) was the one who came to India (with
the British Army in about 1840) and founded something of a dynasty
out there. He married a pregnant young (15 year old) anglo indian
widow Charlotte Pratt (maiden name Bunyan) and they had 13 children-
including my great grandfather Thomas Pratt Catley who was well on
the way when they married ( the natural father being Thomas
Pratt-Charlotte's deceased first husband). Anyway it is all
explained in the attached report. Charlotte was the daughter of John
Bunyan a private in the Royal Regiment and his wife Mary. I also
attach the same in an outline family tree format - but you will have
to scotch tape the pages together. I have started this with Leonard
and Charlotte to avoid it becoming too cumbersome.
Thank you for this information,
as I mentioned it will take a little
while to go through it all let alone enter it into mu database. My
wife was interested in the Midsomer Norton origins, says maybe that
is why she likes looking at the scenery when watching Midsomer
Murders on the TV :)
Pretty well all of the 'Indian' data , including all
Laura's key
records, was transcribed by either myself or Liz Cordingly, who was
working on this with me on this, from the microfiche copies of the
Ecclesiastical BMD records of the India Office held at the British
Library and the military records at the National Archive. The former
is the default source for the report for all India events that are
not shown as sourced otherwise.(unfortunatly the FTM report writer
is not picking this up)
A lot of work there. You are lucky to be able to visit the
library
and archives, I had two half days twenty years ago when transiting
London to Geneva for work. Now it's oder a film from the LDS etc etc
cheaper than travelling to London but not as convenient.
As you will see Laura was born to parents Leonard and Charlotte on
15th November 1865 in Oolamcotta, Madras, was baptized on 24th
December 1865 and died on 3rd Jan 1914. She married Josiah William
Ballard in 1885 in Bombay. I understand your concern regarding
sources so I have double checked back to my handwritten notes and
can confirm the birth details have been verified to the microfische
baptism records. Ironically Liz and I appear to have doubled up on
this as we both logged the record!
Do you know where Oolamcotta is or is it yet
another name for Ooty
(Ootycomund)? I can't find it in the Gazetteer. My wife and I have
been to India four times in the last five years and visited many of
the places our family lived (my grandmother was born there in the
1870's) including Ooty.
I also attach for your information a copy (the Word document) of a
report given to me by Glynis Brown, another Catley enthusiast which
gives a fuller picture of the UK side of the family .It was put
together before we made the connection to the Catley's in India -but
you can see our man Leonard Catley near the top of the ninth page.
You mention that you were trying to confirm information received
from another source. I have a suspicion that I may well be that
other source, as I have recently provided similar data to a Jeni
Rice- who was researching on behalf of her friends Mai and Don
Prescott. Mai was formally Mai Richie -Rubye's daughter -so is
presumably a very close relative of your wife's. Don and Mai
through Jeni provided me with some data on their immediate family
that is now included in the reports.
Yes, it is your data that I was given. Not sure
how much Don has from
you but I only got the direct line with no information on where it
came from. Hence my query about confirming it. Mind you, querying the
data from Don has led me to this list and "The Catley Database" so I
am happy about that <bg>.
I hope the enclosed is of help to you, and please contact me if you
have any questions or notice anything that may be incorrect. In
particular I would be grateful for any additional data you can
provide me with concerning more recent generations (the British
Library records finish in the mid 1940s with Indian Independence).
Where for instance do you and your wife fit into the tree ? !
The enclosed is very
helpful, thank you, it extends my wife's Catley
line back 5 generations, she is most grateful. I will certainly share
any additional information I have with you and get back to you
off-list with corrections and additions.
Kind Regards
Graeme Simpson
Look forward to hearing back from you.
Nigel Butterfield
PS this is copied in to the Catley rootsweb address but without attachments
(which are usually rejected by the rootsweb postmaster!)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Graeme Simpson" <gsimpson(a)netspace.net.au>
To: <CATLEY(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 12:17 PM
Subject: [CATLEY] Laura Violet CATLEY in India
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I am trying to confirm information received from another source on a
> Catley family in India.
>
> My wife's great grandmother was Laura Violet CATLEY b 1865 in India,
> and married Joshua(or Josiah) William BALLARD in 1885. They had 3
> boys and 3 girls one of whom was Rubye Violet CATLEY my wife's GGrand
> Mother. I don't yet know who Laura's parents were but should find out
> when the LDS film of her Christening arrives for me to look at. The
> information I have been given is her father was Leonard CALTEY and
> mother Charlotte BUNYAN but with no sources so this needs to be confirmed.
>
> I should probably search the archives first <bg> but thought I would
> simply ask if anyone is researching this family.
>
> Kind Regards.
>
> Graeme Simpson
> Melbourne Australia