the new Ottley Courier A gathering place for the descendants and family of Edward Ottley and Harriet Mills

Edward was baptised 25 aug 1782 in Tostock, Suffolk, the oldest surviving child of Edward and Hannah (Bridge) Ottley who had been married 20 aug 1776 at Rede, Suffolk..

Edward married Susannah Collins (who seems to have been an only child) 10 jun 1804 at Sible Hedingham in Essex, the county to the south of Suffolk. He was 22 and she was 21.

It is not improbable that they had just ended their apprenticeships, either in trade or in farmwork, which had begun as was the custom when they were fourteen and ended seven years later.

Nor is it improbable that this was a shotgun wedding, though we have as yet no evidence of an older child born in the 18 months between the wedding and the baptism of twins Martha and Mary on 17 jan 1806, the day their mother was buried at Great Maplestead, Essex. Martha survived her mother by four days, and Mary for almost a month, and they were buried in the same churchyard.

How long had the family been living at Great Maplestead? Who looked after the babies when their mother died? Edward? A wet-nurse? Their grandparents from Tostock or Sible Hedingham?

Eleven years passed. The Battle of Trafalgar had been in 1805, yet in 1815 England was again at war with France. Is this the period that Edward was in France – a sort of “Scarlet Pimpernel”? Was Edward caught by the press gang on a trip to London, spending these years in the royal navy? Did he have other children and marry other wives?

Edward married Frances Holmes 12 may 1817 at Halstead, an ancient market town. He was 35 and she was 32 and two months pregnant.

Was he there when their son Edward was baptised 26 dec 1817? Family tradition says that he was a gentleman’s gentleman (valet) and died in France. Or had he committed a crime and been transported to Australia where it seems there are Ottleys today? Had he been supporting Frances and Edward? Did her parents? Why did Frances wait nine years and not the usual seven for him to be legally “missing presumed dead”, before she married Abraham Whiting 31 mar 1826 at Gosfield, Essex. Again she was pregnant.

If Abraham had adopted Edward, our family name would have been Whiting. Now there’s a thought!

In 1986 Amstrad had a brilliant idea and brought out a package of keyboard, screen and printer.

No need to worry about which piece matched what, so as we had no experience with computers we bought the package like many other people who had been faltering on the brink.

On the day it arrived we took it all out of its carton and placed it on our dining-room table. A knock came at the door : a lady wanted to ask us about the local Family History Society, so we invited her indoors.

Her first words were, “I see that you have a computer link to Somerset House where all the birth, marriage and death information from 1837 for all of England and Wales is kept!”

If only we had known how to to use a computer at that point, and if only what she said had been true about the link which still does not exist. We often laugh about that day.

Sean T. Pyne, who is serving in the US Army, has been sent to the Persian Gulf.

Sean’s wife Clarese writes:

Sean wanted me to send everyone his mailing address. He doesn’t have access to any computers and he no longer has access to the phone. He would love to get letters and/or pictures from everyone.

Address:

SPC SEAN PYNE
ARMT Aco 603D ASB
3D ID (MECH), 4TH BDE
UNIT 93415
APO AE 09303-3415

Edward Ottley – Harriet Mills
. Frederick Hugh Ottley
.. Teggie Harriet Ottley (Barker) (Krause)
… Abbie Barker (Pyne)
…. Kelvin Barker Pyne
….. Sean Toomer Pyne

In her book “Records of an ancient family” published in London, England in 1923, Jane Emily Ottley traces the history of the Ottley family, concentrating mainly on her particular branch of this family.

Her branch began with a David de Oteley who was guardian of the castle of Ellesmere in Shropshire in
1280 AD and ends with an Adam Ottley who died in 1807 [who] never married and thus had no children to carry on the name. [If he died in childless in 1807 how could he be her ancestor?]

Then follows details of fighting between Angles, Saxons, Picts and Scots on what is now British soil, ending with the beheading of Hengist whose son Otte was spared and granted land in about 500 AD which became known as “the land of Otte” or Otteley.

Mention is made of three branches of the Oteley family in Yorkshire, Shropshire and Suffolk.

Jane Emily Ottley quotes “Nomina Villaris” where there ‘are five distinct branches of the Ottleys, all giving their name to a town or village, Otley of Clun & Ellesmere in Shropshire, Ottley of Pitchford, Shropshire, Otteley of Suffolk, an Otteley mayor of London in 1434, and Oteley of Shrewsbury in Shropshire.’

I am Susan Ottley Palmer, daughter of Fred E. Ottley, grand daughter of Frederick Hugh Ottley.

I currently live in Orlando, FL. as my husband Jim and I are Full Time Ordinance Workers in the Orlando Florida Temple. Our home is in Brunswick Georgia.

We have 5 children. Two in Georgia and 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina. We have 10 living grandchildren, with another due in March.

1973-2003. A brief overview.

1973-1982 Our early years together were filled with decorating and refurnishing the house, work for Crawford, tourist guiding and genealogical research for Ann, until 1976 when they founded the Devon Family History Society and secretarial & committee work, teaching, lectures, broadcasts and such things filled the days. We bought our first car in 1979. In 1982 Ann got a degree, and the birth that year of our first grandchild, Iain, led us towards the next decade…

1983-1992 … which was mostly about our four oldest grandchildren. We bought our first computer in 1986. This “grandchildren” decade ended with Christopher’s death and Deborah’s move to Brighton in 1991.

Travel abroad :
Crawford had already been abroad – to Sweden twice in 1965 & 1966, to Holland in 1969, and twice to Ireland 1969 & 1970. Ann had been to Holland in 1954. We had both been, separately and then together, to much of England, Scotland and Wales.
1987 was our first foreign travel together – day trips from Brighton to Bolougne in June and Plymouth to Cherbourg in November.
1988 we two went alone for 10 days of “April in Paris”, then a day trip Eastbourne to Calais (15/9) and Plymouth to Morlaix – Iain too – (15/10)
1989 fortnights at Easter and again in
1990 in the summer half-term in Brittany with all our grandchildren.
Then, to try and fill our empty lives,
1992 a cruise in Egypt for ten days, and later in 1992 two months with Ann’s cousins Edna and Calvin Neal mainly in Idaho, Oregon, & Utah, (June 10-Aug13)

1993-2002 could be called our real travelling years. We spent parts of winters in the Arizona desert, then bought a motorhome in 1999 and spent later winters in southern Spain. Our last grandchild, Alyson, was born in 1995, and our first great-grandchild, Brendan, in 2002.

Travel abroad :
1993 began with a Rhine cruise, then we went with the Neals & Iola to Austria and Italy (Sep 9 – Oct 28)
1994 (11/1-8/2) & 1995 (Jan – Mar and 1/11-11/12) to Iola in Arizona.
1996 Ireland (28/3-11/4)
1998 with Saga to Andalucia, Spain (12-27 Nov) (Silver Wedding year)
1999 with Saga to the Algarve, Portugal (22/1-5/2) (Ann = 60)
1999 (10/11)-2000 (26/2) was the first time we had spent the winter months in our motorhome in Spain (that time via France, Italy and Monaco, plus a later day trip to Morocco), and we went there again through France in 2000 (9/10)-2001 (11/4) & 2001 (23/10)-2002 (11/4).

2003 brings our 30th (pearl) wedding anniversary…

Travel abroad –
2003 Arizona again (6/1-31/3), where the summer population of two thousand increases to almost two million for a few days at the end of each January.

Eye halve a spelling checker,
it came with my pea sea,

It plainly marks four my review
miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
and weight for it two say,

Weather eye am wrong or rite
it shows me strait a weigh!

As soon as a mist ache is maid,
it nose bee fore two long

And I can put the air or rite,
its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it,
I am shore your pleased two no,

Its letter perfect awl the weigh.
My checker told me sew.

from The Louisville Fax News, via Kyanna Gemscoop 3/99, via The Roadrunner News 2/03.

Please will Iola Barker Lee print her funny stories (eg baby pigs indoors, baby lamb and door-knife) in the Courier for us all to enjoy.

The Ottley Courier Photo Gallery is now on line. Get out your pictures and start sharing them!

To submit your photos to the gallery, you must log in to the Ottley Courier and go the the New Photos album of the Photo Gallery. You can then click on [add photos]. This will open a new window where you can upload your photos.

Be sure to describe the picture in the caption as you will not be able to see your picture after it is uploaded until it has been filed in the correct family or section of the Photo Gallery.

Brendan Roy Christopher Banks, son of Ann-Marie Mika and Carl Christopher Banks, was born on 4 December 2002.

Brenden is the first grandchild of Deborah and Rod Mika and the first great-grandchild of Ann and Crawford Chiswell of the John Ottley line.