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Not exactly an ancestor, but possibly a key to one of mine.

The William Catt in question was born circa 1770 to 1776 in Sussex. By 1815 he had taken over the Tide Mills, Bishopstone, Sussex, in association with a "cousin" Edmund. William ran the Mills, at first with his wife Hannah (1776 -1823) and after her death, with his daughter Elizabeth, who took over on his death.

Searches on the web are inconclusive where William was born; he is said to have an interest in a mill at Lamberhurst, Kent. One source mentions that he and Hannah were presented with a farm in Robertsbridge/Salehurst for their wedding (1797, in Ewehurst, Sussex). I have found that Rates on Church farm in Salehurst were paid by a William Catt from around 1815 -1835. The only William Catt found in the census records for Salehurst in 1841 was born 1815, so is not the one who paid these Rates.

Can anyone confirm whether the William Catt of Tide Mills, was the same one who owned Church farm?

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/advanced-search.aspx?tab=1

(above always worth a look on)


http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/wills.htm

(or earlier Wills above, if anything)

Chris :)

is this him?


http://yosp.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=330&Itemid=705&lang=en


http://sussex.villagenet.co.uk/bishopstone.php

Thank you both very much.

Chris, I was aware of the National Archives, but appear not to have searched these before for Catt. There are several references that place 'William Catt of Bishopstone' in transactions at Salehurst/Robertsbridge; so I think I have support for the assumption that he had a foot in both places.

Choccy, I had seen the Sussex.Villagenet entry before, and it was to this that I referred in my original post. [The David Lyndhurst mentioned in the entry however refuted the possibility that Catt had the farm at Robertsbridge]. The YOSP site had not come up in my web searches. This agrees with the other, and adds the charming story that Catt's mother secretly provided the cash for purchase of the farm at Robertsbridge! If the date for his birth (1780) is correct, and I have evidence of the marriage in 1797, then he was 17 years old when married; however, other references give birth date as 1770 or 1776. The latter would agree with the reference to him being 21 when married.

All in all, suggestive, but not altogether conclusive that he was born Buxted in 1776 or 1780, and obtained the farm on marriage, before moving to Bishopstone to build up the Tide Mills. Any other contributions would be welcome!

According to his return at the 1851 Census, W Catt was born in Uckfield; a parish record confirms the birth of William Catt there in 1776, son of John Catt. His daughter Elizabeth was born in Ewehurst, 1897, baptised 8 April, and her mother is shown as Hannah; a marriage took place between William Catt and Hannah Daws in Ewehurst, 26 Feb 1897!
Further children were born to the same names in Bishopstone, (Tide Mills) from 1803 onward, and these were undoubtedly William Catt's family.
I found references to a William Catt paying rates on Church Farm in Salehurst during the early decades of 1800's. Furthermore, in 1841 and 51, a nephew John was working with him, who was born to Edward (a farmer) and Philadelphia in Salehurst, 1819.