The Catlow Sisters

You may remember I mentioned Julie who is a descendant of Nellie Catlow and who has been a mine of information on them all, well, she recently sent me three photos including one of the triplets that I didn’t have originally. And finally I have one of their mother Millicent who was missing in all of the photos I had. However, there is just one last question – who is the extra girl in the group of eight – not their mother surely? Not counting the triplets there should only be seven of them. There is nothing written on the back of the group photo so I’m just presuming that one of them is their mother, probably the one on the right with the large buttons on her skirt, if so then I’m coveting her tiny waist and trim figure after having ten babies! Thank you Julie for all your help, it has been great.

                          *** Lily – Rose – Violet – not necessarily in that order – 1900-1901 ***

                                     Millicent Catlow with her triplets at 8 weeks old – Oct 1900.

Addendum: we now know who the extra person is in this photo – Cissie Burrows (standing right with large buttons on her skirt) – was a friend of the Catlow sisters.

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Millicent Catlow 1896-1978

Millicent, known as Millie, was born 3 Apr 1896, after her parents, Thomas Watson & Millicent Catlow, had moved to the town of Nelson in Lancashire where their home ‘Braeside’ was built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above photo was taken about 1913, Millie on the right with her older sister Lizzie. On the right she is sitting in the living room of her grandparent’s home Braeside.

Millie married Thomas Henry Shackleton in 1925 and they had one daughter. The photo below is them in the garden at Braeside, dates unknown for these two photos.

 

Millie died in 1978 aged 82 and Tom in 1983 aged 87.

Tomorrow we have sixth daughter Nellie Catlow.

Mary Elizabeth Catlow 1893-1919

The fourth daughter of Thomas Watson & Millicent Catlow was Mary Elizabeth, known as ‘Lizzie’. She was also born in Bacup, Lancashire, her birth was registered in the 3qtr of 1893. There are only two photographs of Lizzie as she died at the young age of 25 in the Spanish Influenza epidemic, her death is registered in the 1qtr of 1919.

A pretty young girl, seen here with her younger sister Millie with other relatives on what looks like either a ramble in the bush or perhaps a picnic nearby.

It is dated ‘prob 1913’ and in pencil is a calculation of what looks like someone’s birth date and how old they would be in 1913.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn’t seem to be either Lizzie or Millie’s birthday though as their births were registered in 1893 & 1896.

The other photo of Lizzie is the one previously published on her sister Annie’s page, she’s in the middle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll post more on the group photo in a later article. Uncle Dick Dobson was the brother of their mother Millicent Dobson.

 

Next time it’s the turn of fifth daughter Millicent Catlow.

Martha Ann Catlow 1887-1919

Martha Ann Catlow, or Cissie to her family & friends, was the second daughter of Thomas Watson and Millicent Catlow. Born in Bacup, Lancashire her birth was registered in the 2qtr of 1887.

 

On looking closer at this photo, from the earlier article on her sister Annie, I see now that Cissie is definitely the one on the right. A lovely young woman and look at that tiny waist.

Cissie was living with her parents & siblings in 1891 in Newchurch & 1901 in Nelson. In the 1qtr of 1910 she married Harry Stanley Hartley in the Burnley Registry Office. They had two sons, Stanley and Kenneth.

 

 

 

I’m not sure when her two sons were born but both would have been after the 1911 census because in that she says she’s been married for one year and had no children, they were living in Wickworth St, Nelson, the one for sale on the right.

                                    Stanley                                                    Kenneth

Cissie sadly passed away in the 2qtr of 1919 aged 31, she is buried in the Nelson Cemetery, Walton Lane, Nelson, plot 4 grave 294. Husband Harry died in 1959 aged 71 and son Kenneth in WWII.

Lastly, a photo of Kenneth, a real boy with grubby knees, sitting in what looks like the garden at ‘Braeside’, the home of his maternal grandparents.

 

Next time will be Cissie’s sister Connie’s turn, the third of Thomas Watson & Millicent’s ten daughters.

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Thomas Watson Catlow 1865 - 1924

Thomas Watson Catlow, son of William & Mary Catlow, was born in 1865 in Trawden, Lancashire. Trawden is a medium sized village in the Trawden Forest parish of Pendle, at the foot of Boulsworth Hill, in Lancashire, England. Agriculture was the main industry of the village and surrounding area, although it did have several mills, most of which have now been demolished for, or converted to, housing.

So far no baptism has been found but his birth was registered in the 2qtr of 1865, in the 1871 census Thomas Watson was aged 5, living with his parents and siblings Richard 14, Martha Ann 11 and baby James 11 mths at 80 Todmorden Rd, Newchurch in Pendle, Lancashire. They were still there in 1881 then in the 2qtr of 1885 Thomas Watson Catlow married Millicent Dobson. Over the next 30 years they lived variously in Bacup, Newchurch in Pendle and finally settling at 39 Moore St, Nelson in a house named ‘Braeside’. Here they are in the 1911 census living at 38 Temple St, Nelson:-

Thomas Watson followed in his father’s footsteps working in the cotton weaving industry, first as a weaver gradually working his way up to a cotton loom overlooker. During this time he & Millicent had ten daughters, Annie, Cissie, Connie, Lizzie, Millie, Nellie & Winnie who all survived to adulthood. Triplets Rose, Lily & Violet were born in August 1900 but tragically Lily & Violet died before their first birthday in the 2qtr of 1901 and Rose soon after in the 4qtr. There were no sons.

Moore St, Nelson as it was in 2009 thanks to Google. I’ve been up and down it but there doesn’t seem to be a #39, it certainly doesn’t look anything like the house in the above photo with Thomas sitting in the garden but I expect that was the garden at the back of the house.

Thomas died at the Swinton Grove Nursing Home, Upper Brook St, Manchester on 20 Sep 1924, aged 59, and probate of his will went to his widow Millicent. Millicent died on the 22 Mar 1931, aged 67, at their Braeside home and the probate of her will went to her son-in-law James Wilkinson, overlooker.

Addendum 2-6-14: My thanks to Julie, a descendant of Thomas & Millicent, who tells me that due to subsidence, ‘Braeside’ was demolished and re-built half a mile away, she doesn’t know when but probably more than 50 years ago, it was originally more or less at the end of Moore St about where the blue arch is in the above photo. The address is now 50-52 Whitwick Rd, Nelson, and this is what it looked like in July 2011. Julie also sent me a copy of Thomas Watson Catlow’s obituary:-

Both Thomas Watson & Millicent were buried in the Nelson Cemetery, plot 4 grave 189, the same grave that daughter Cissie  Hartley was buried in.

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Tomorrow we continue with Thomas & Millicent’s eldest daughter Annie Catlow.

The CATLOW Family

It all started with Mary Hartley, the daughter of Bernard & Martha Hartley of Trawden & Colne in Lancashire.

Mary was born at Trawden in 1833 and baptised at Colne on the 7 April that year. About 20 years later she met William Catlow and on the 12 Nov 1859 she married him in the St Mary the Virgin Church in Trawden, neither had been married before.

William was the son of John & Nanny Catlow of Trawden, baptised on 1 Jul 1832 at St Bartholomew’s Church in Colne. In 1841 William was living with his father & siblings at Whitelee Head so it seems his mother had died by then, by 1851 his father had also passed away & William & his brother James were both living with another brother Thomas.

William & Mary had four children and what follows is the story of their second son, Thomas Watson Catlow, and his ten daughters, over 30 photographs of whom I recently found on eBay, all with lots of fascinating information written on the back of them.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting the photos and information on each daughter in separate articles, starting tomorrow with Thomas Watson & his wife Millicent Dobson.

I hope you will enjoy reading the story as much as I have in researching them.

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