sent from 6344 South 700 East, Midvale, Utah..
[Earl Henry Ottley (1910-1991) never married. He was the 4th child of Edward Charles & Irene Litson Ottley. Earl’s uncle Fred was the 5th child of Edward & Thirza Timbers Ottley.]
Extracts relating to his visit to England with the Tabernacle Choir :
“I was equipped with the mailing list from the Ottley Courier, but aside from that I was as ignorant as to who was what or where was where as one possibly could be. I scanned the telephone directories of London, but found no names corresponding to those on the lists I had, so I proceeded to start calling long distance, starting with the first name on the list. There was no telephone under the first name. The second name I found had no telephone either. The third name I tried to contact was Percy Ottley at Marks Tey, Colchester. His wife, Marjorie, was most delighted to hear from me, and had been primed as to my coming on the Tour through the Ottley Courier. She directed me, but I found London a much larger place than I thought, and I proceeded to get lost, missed a train, but reached their house at dusk in the evening. I little dreamed they lived 2 hours from London! I spent a most delightful evening with Percy, his wife Marjorie, their daughter Janet (their only child), and her boy friend Kenneth Warner, who may by this time be a member of the family. I was taken to visit Percy’s Uncle George [Edward John?] now 76, and his wife. They were a most delightful couple to talk to. I was surely sorry I did not have my flash camera equipment with me so I could have taken their pictures. I shall always remember him, smoking the tiniest cigarettes I had ever seen and recalling old times, thinking all the while, I am sure, that I was my father Edward.
Percy had begun to build a new house on the same lot as his Uncle George lived. It was interesting to know that carpentry was practiced by the English members of the family as were so many of father’s brothers and Grandfather Edward. We then went to visit Ethel whom I seemed a little acquainted with because my sister Mildred had corresponded with her. Again it was a lovely time of reminiscing for she had a number of pictures of various members of our families here. They all asked about you. It was then that I learned that the branch of the family I thought I was visiting, the John Ottley branch, lived farther to the north [south] in the Eastbourne area. I was a bit embarrassed at their hesitancy to discuss the other family, so I said no more on that. Marjorie and Percy talked much about Dean Ottley, your grandson, I believe, who stayed with them after his mission. They also knew my Uncle Frank’s boy Alton who was killed in the war. My brother-in-law, Merlin Shaw, had visited them, too, after his mission to Germany.
I spent the night with them to prolong my visit as long as I could, and left early next morning in order to be present at the ground-breaking ceremonies for the London Temple. How happy I was to have seen some of my relatives. How I wished I could see the others.
My wishes must have been heard, for I had just entered the Royal Albert Hall before our London concert, when word was passed to me that someone wished to see me outside. Imagine my surprise to find Zillah Ottley, Dora Ottley Verrall and her husband Charles, Dora and John Prior, Ettie Bainbridge, Jessica Stoneham and Ann Waine [Warne, aged 16], all relatives of ours! I don’t know when I was more surprised and thrilled! They had driven 80 miles to hear the concert, hoping at the same time that they might see me, too. They had read the announcement in the Ottley Courier. 15 minutes is not very long to visit eight relatives you have never seen before and goodness knows when you will see them again, but we made the most of it. How I wished we were not leaving London the next morning to continue our tour! I was most happy, though, to know I had met folks from the John Ottley line, too. Here again, I wished I had been equipped with camera and flash, but we were requested to leave these behind at concerts.
But I did get several nice pictures of Percy’s family which I am enclosing. I hope you find a bit of joy in them.