CATTO family of New Deer, Aberdeenshire

[king william]

I have helped a friend with her family history but there are still a couple of gaps.

She has a Barbara Jane Catto who married Thomas Fowlie on 3rd December 1857 in New Deer, Aberdeenshire.

Barbara was a daughter of Thomas Catto and Barbara Baxter who married on 15th February 1829 - possibly also in New Deer or surrounding area.

Just browsing the internet I came across a Lord Catto of Peterhead so followed the origins and discovered a family industrial group including Thomas Catto who was elevated to the peerage in 1936 as Lord Catto of Cairncatto.

This family descend from ancestor William Catto - a merchant of Peterhead in the 1680's.

As Catto is a fairly uncommon name, is there any chance that my friend's Thomas Catto is also descended from this William Catto of Peterhead and is therefore a distant relative of the current industrial family.

Being in New Zealand it would be quite exciting for her to be linked, even if only slightly, to one of the great families of Aberdeenshire.

[GR2]

In the kirkyard at New Deer.

1863. Erected by Thomas Catto & Barbara Baxter in Auchreddie in memory of their son James d. 2 July 1862 aged 30, their daughter Christian d, 18 April 1858 aged 28, their son Alexander d. 18 February 1860 aged 7. Their grandchild Christian Jeffrey d. 24 June 1862 aged 9. Above Barbara Baxter d. 10 September 1885 aged 78, above Thomas Catto d. 26 January 1887 aged 78. his grandchild James Catto d. 15 January 1887 aged 2 years 3 months. His son Thomas d. 5 July 1929 aged 83. His grandson William d. 7 May 1929 aged 45. Mary Bruce wife of his son Thomas d. 26 December 1946 aged 83. [back of stone] Also Gavin youngest son of Thomas & Mary Catto d. 24 November 1859 aged 66. Also their son Alexander d. 28 October 1960 aged 74.

[GR2]

You will also find Thomas and Barbara on FreeCEN. The 1851 and 1861 censuses there both give Thomas Catto's parish of birth as Meldrum, which is in the opposite direction from Peterhead. Barbara is a native of Monquhitter, to the west of New Deer.

[ruthhelen]

Barbara Baxter is my 4x great aunt, and as GR2 says, the Baxters were from Monquhitter. Barbara married Thomas Catto on 15 Feb 1829 in Fyvie - he was baptised in Old Meldrum on 24 Oct 1808, the son of William Catto and Isabel Taylor.

I don't know William's occupation*, but he and Isabel are both at Mill of Gight, Fyvie in 1841, along with one of their sons, Gavin Catto - a farmer, and his wife Isobel Middler. I haven't tracked down all of William and Isabel's children yet, but those sons that I have followed were all farmers or agricultural labourers - including your Thomas Catto.

I haven't been able to find an MI for either William Catto or Isabel Taylor - nor a marriage for them -  but there's a tree on Ancestry that has William dying in 1845 - which isn't beyond the realms of possibility, as he was 82 in 1841. The same tree has him baptised in Old Meldrum in 1759, the son of one John Catto (b. 1728, Monquhitter), who was the son of John Catto (b. 1696, Fyvie), the son of Alexander Catto (b. abt. 1670, Ellon) and Janet Ferguson - I haven't pursued the line back beyond William and Isabel to try and verify any of this yet... 

Ruth

* Edit: actually, that's not true - I have a death certificate for one of the sons - William (m. Margaret Durward), who died in 1867 stating that his father William was a farmer...

[GR2]

The following stones are at Millbrex.

William C. Fowlie farmer Turfhillock beloved husband of Ann Moir d. 17 July 1949 aged 74; the above Ann Moir d. 3 September 1958 aged 81; their eldest son Thomas beloved husband of Ann Jane Irvine d. 13 October 1960 aged 59; 2nd son William farmer Turfhillock d. 17 July 1962 aged 52; In loving memory of Barbara Catto wife of Thomas Fowlie d. 3 August 1883 aged 49; the above Thomas Fowlie farmer Turfhillock d. 5 September 1906 aged 80.

In loving memory of Barbara Catto Fowlie beloved wife of James Robertson Turfhillock d. 20 October 1956 aged 49.

There are also two stones recording the family of Gavin Catto and Isabell Middler.

[ruthhelen]

As I was wondering *why* I have the death certificate of William Catto (m. Margaret Durward), it dawned on me that I actually have another link into this family - but this time on the Catto side. My first cousin, 4x removed - Elizabeth Leslie McArthur - married George Catto, youngest son of the aforementioned William Catto and Margaret Durward, in New Deer in 1865...

Now, Elizabeth Leslie McArthur is the daughter of George McArthur and Christian Knox - George McArthur's brother, Robert McArthur (my 3x great grandfather) was married to Susan Baxter, sister to the aforementioned Barbara Baxter...

Small world, innit... 

Ruth

[GR2]

New Deer:

Erected by William and Margaret Catto, Knaven, in memory of their son Gavin d. 15 June 1848 aged 20. their grandchildren James d. 26 May 1850 aged 16 months, Margaret D. Catto d. 3 September 1866 aged 10 months. Above William Catto d. 26 April 1867 aged 67. His widow Margaret Durward d. 1 December 1880 aged 83.

[flst]

ruthhelen, it is a small world.One of my husband's great grannies was a Margaret Anderson. Her niece,Annie Anderson, daughter of her brother George, married George Catto in 1905. George was the son of George & Elizabeth Catto.
king william,Catto is a common name in this area of Aberdeenshire.
flst

[Rosinish]

is there any chance that my friend's Thomas Catto is also descended from this William Catto of Peterhead and is therefore a distant relative of the current industrial family.

As with any family tree, a paper trail is needed to establish any connections whether to Princes or Paupers 

Annie