WELCOME TO MY FAMILY OF THE LIVING, DEAD AND LONG GONE

I have researched back to 1763 confirmed and 1681 unconfirmed. Areas covered include the following:

Oldham, Royton, Ashton-u-Lynne, Eccles, Hope and of late Dalton-in-Furness.
 

The following names are relative to my (Caton)family tree:

Alletson, Allsop, Bainbridge, Bee, Brierley, Broome, Cartmell, Chater, Christopher, Clayton, Clegg, Clearey,
Coupe, Coxon, Croft, Crompton, Crooks, Crossfield,Eaves Fisher, Forster, Garth, Goldsborough, Groves,
Hartshorn, Howarth,Hyde, Jagger, Jennings, Knotcliffe, Leadbetter, Lomax, Lord, McCready, Pethurst, Poste, Pye,
Shannon(USA) Simpson, Tait, Taylor, Waller, Walford, Wilson, Wright, Wynne.
However, I have not researched all the above families due to time, inter alia.

I read a journal of one, William Caton, born c 1631. He was a Quaker Missionary and a friend of the

Family of Swarthmoor Hall, Cumbria. Whilst I am not a Quaker, I did have an interest in my family
history and found that this was a good starting point for a hypothesis. I set out to prove that
William was not related. This was for no other reason than my christian names, George and
William, have been carried on from c 1631 with the exception of Thomas.

My research was mainly centered around Oldham because that is where most of my research had

 
been up to reading William's journal. This made me think my hypothesis was correct. There did not
 
seem to be a connection between the Caton family from the Lancaster area and the Manchester area.

However, like many a family of early 19th century, my family moved around and one excursion

took Thomas Caton to Hope in Derbyshire where he married Mary Jennings. He then flitted back to

Royton with her. Why he went all that way to Hope is a mystery.

Thomas's father, George, was found in Eccles and he married Jane Hartshorn. This though has not

been confirmed. It was in Eccles that a clue, from the poor law records, indicated the the next stage

of my research was to be in Dalton-in-Furness. Research of church records in Dalton indicated that

the whole family came from that area. However, I have not yet got evidence to confirm it.

This latest clue implies that my hypothesis could be wrong. However, I have not yet completed

my research in the Cumbrian area and my next visit will take me to Swarthmoor Hall..

Dated 9/5/99 and amended November 2006

Left - Wedding photograph of my grandfather and grandmother(nee Jagger, with both great-grandmothers(nee Wright and Coupe

Center - Grandfather and Grandmother. Right - GreatGrandmother

Click on photo to enlarge

Left to right

Front row Aunt Emily, Alice Ann Caton (nee Wright), George Caton, Jamima Jagger(Nee Coupe), Grt Aunt Mary

Middle row Grt Aunt Minnie and Grt Aunt Clara ??????? Great Aunt Mary Alletson(Nee Caton)????????????

Top Row William Caton, Richard Carlisle Jagger, Fred Crompton, Frank Jagger, Eli Jagger(Grt Maternal Grandfather)

Of course not all the names are known . My maternal great grandfather Jagger married Jemima Coupe. They had Jane Jagger who married my grandfather. My paternal great grandfather is missing from the scene due to him being abroad working for Platts of Oldham. My paternal great grandmother Wright is from Oldham but little is known of her side of the family.
This is one of two photographs rescued from Aunt Hilda Eglin(nee Caton). Because grandfather George died at age 31 and grandmother remarried (an Officer from the Royal Flying corps) it was forbidden to talk about grandfather George.

Consequently little or no information was known about the Caton side of the family. Eventually I managed to extract enough information to get started on the right track. Oral information is important to the family researcher and even little snippets of information can be useful in tracking down an ancestor. It is all too easy to except on face value a non-relative but a snippet of information may just confirm the research. Playing detective is an important aspect of family research.

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Amendments will be made to this page in due course.

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