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,
- Coupe,
Coxon, Croft, Crompton, Crooks,
Crossfield, Fisher, Forster, Garth,
Goldsborough,
- Hartshorn,
Howarth, Jagger, Jennings, Knotcliffe,
Leadbetter, Lomax, Lord, Pethurst, Poste,
Pye,
- Simpson,
Tait, Taylor, 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 2000
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