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,!!
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.
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)
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!
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.
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 ? !
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
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