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

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.

Elsie Stoneham Warne (Harriet-John) visited the US from the UK in the early 1970s. At the airport she knew which in the crowds had come to meet her by their familiar female Ottley faces. Who were they? Elsie had her unmarried aunt Zillah Ottley with her, and possibly Elsie’s sister Harriet (Ettie) Stoneham Bainbridge too.

The article about Ottleys in Quartzsite has omitted the visit to Iola and Gene Lee of DeLoy and Effie Flinders Ottley of the Fred H. branch.

DeLoy was immediately recognisable to the English visitors as he looks just like Bert (Albert Edward) Ottley of the John O branch.

As I recall, Teggie Ottley Barker Krause (Fred H group) was interested in the series of 12 crosses which English King Edward I (1239-1307) caused to be erected at the end of each stage of the funeral procession of his Spanish wife Queen Eleanor (d. 1290) from Nottinghamshire to Westminster Abbey in London.

The last cross was at Charing Cross, now a well-known London railway station site.

Was this an Ottley connection, or did this Royal Line come through her mother Abigail Lewis Ottley?

(Horrid pun – Royal Line at the Railway Station!)

Well, not blue exactly, but type B+. Several of the John Ottley branch have this group, but it may stem from Edward Stoneham the husband of Harriet Ann.

English people do not have blood tests before marriage, so unless they know for some other reason (e.g. voluntary blood donors) they do not know their groups. American Ottleys seem to favour (English spelling!) groups O+ and A+. Comments please.

Has anyone ever done the genealogy for Abraham Whiting who was christened 9 July 1797 at Colne Engaine parish church, Essex, England?

Who were his parents? He was the stepfather and the only father Edward Ottley I knew. Ed’s mother Frances (bet she was called Fanny!) married Abraham in 1826 and several of Ed’s children seem to have lived with his step-brother George Whiting in Holloway, London. Did the Whitings immigrate with Edward II?