¾o1.1937 5•'1J ALLEN,New Light on Mark Catesby 349 NEW LIGHT ON MARK CATESBY BY ELSA G. ALLEN, PH.D. Plate œ3 F•w of the early naturalistshave left so worthy and so substantiala contributionto scienceand yet suchmeager details of their biographiesas hasMark Cateshy. In fact, it hasoften been said that it wouldbe difficult, if not impossible,to trace out the story of his life from the scantsources available. The progressof this study has thereforebeen disappointingly slow, but throughthe aid of the AmericanCouncil of LearnedSocieties, the AmericanPhilosophical Society and a fellowshipfrom Alpha Omicron Pi Society,ofwhich I am a member,I havebeen able to seekout in England a fewdetails of Catesby'slife whileworking on the generalproblem of pre- AudubonJanornithology. The publishedmatter on this earlynaturalist is unfortunatelylimited to a few shortarticles, two by Dr. WitruerStone ('Bird-Lore,' vol. 7, 1905,and 'The Auk,' October1929)and brief accounts in the'Dictionaries of National Biography'and 'AmericanBiography' as well asin the olderstandard works of this type. In addition,there are a few scatteredmentions of Cateshyin the 'VirginiaMagazine' and other Southernjournals. With thesefew basicarticles to work from it has beena great help to meeta collateraldescendant of Mark Cateshy,Mr. T. CateshyJones of New York, for putting me in touchwith whomI am indebtedto Mr. Alexander Sprunt of Charleston,South Carolina. To Mr. JonesI am indebted for informationregarding the whereaboutsof someof Catesby'sletters and othermatter. He is the donor,many will recall,of a memorialplaque to ColonelThomas Jones and Mark Cateshyin WilliamsburgChapel, Wil- liamsburg,Virginia. However, the combinedinformation contained in thesevarious accounts and offeredby theseseveral leads, still leavesus in ignoranceof Mark Catesby'sbirth and final resting-place,his parentage, his education,and most of the detailsof his adultlife beyondthe factsthat he madetwo trips to America,one in 1712and a later onein 1722,and was electeda memberof the Royal Society of Londonin re9ognitionof thepubli- cation of his two-volumework 'The Natural History of Carolina,Florida and the BahamaIslands,' which cameout in separatenumbers between 1731 and 1743. 17AMILY,i•ARENTAGE AND BIRTH Accordingto C. W. Bardsley's'Dictionary of Englishand Welch Sur- names,'the Cateshyfamily is from the fertile inland countyof Northamp- ton, and all the Catesbysin the 'Dictionaryof National Biography'may ultimatelybe tracedto this interiorsection of Englandand probablyhad their nameoriginally from the Parishof Catesby. 350 A•.a•EN,New Light on Mark Catesby tJuly[Auk On his mother'sside Mark Catesby was a direct descendantof Thomas Jekyll, born January 21, 1570, antiquary and historian of the Countiesof Essex,Norfolk and Suffolk. There were two rather distinguishedsons of this ThomasJekyll: ThomasJekyll, a divine,and Sir JosephJekyll, Master of the Rolls, knightedin 1700 and a memberof the Privy Council,who left part of his private fortune to relieve the national debt. A third son of Thomas Jekyll was NicholasJekyll, apparentlynot known in public life. Nicholas Jekyll was the grandfatherof Mark Catesby, and the father of Catesby'smother, Elizabeth Jekyll. On his father's side alsoCatesby was of the blood of lawyers;for his father, John Catesby,was a magistrateof the town of Sudburyin Suffolkand severaltimes its mayor,--and a very spiritedgentleman and politicianhe was. He ownedconsiderable property in London in the neighborhoodof Fleet Street, as well as severalfarms, dwellingsand other holdingsin Suffolk, some of which he left to his son Mark. The marriageof Mark Catesby'sparents took placeMay 16, 1670, and is recordedin Foster's 'London Marriage Licenses,1524-1869': "John Catesby, gentleman,about 28, bachelor,and Elizabeth Jekyll of Castle Hedingham,spinster, 18, her father consents,at St. Andrews,Holborn, or Gray's Inn, or Charter House Chapel,London." There were numerous offspringof this marriage:twin sonsrecorded in St. Gregory'sChapel, Sud- bury, 12th September,1675; Elizabeth Catesbywho, againsther father's wishes,married Dr. William Cocke of Virginia; Jekyll Catesby; John Catesby; and Ann and Mark Catesby. The exact order in which these childrenwere born I have not yet workedout, but Mark and Ann wereboth of the decade 1680-1690. The date and placeof Mark Catesby'sbirth have never beendefinitely knownbut are enteredvariously and with question-marks,a.s probably Sudburyor Londonin 1679 or 1680. A searchof the parishregisters of Sudburyfailed to revealMark's birth but yieldedthat of his sisterAnn, in 1688. However, knowingthat his mother was from the village of Castle Hedingham,about eight miles from Sudburyin Essex,just over the little borderingriver Stout, I took occasionto examinethe registersof the old Norman churchof Saint Nicholasand was glad to find Mark Catesby's birth and baptismthere enteredin fairly legibleform, as follows:"Mark Catesby,son of John Catesby,gent, and Elizabeth, his wife. Baptize-- March 30, Nates March 24th, 1682." In all probabilityMark was born in the villageof CastleHedingham in the housewhich, it is likely, wasbuilt as well as occupiedby his grandfather, Nicholas Jekyll. This houseis still standing,--a picturesque17th centurytype,--at the southend of the village. It has been said and published! that the Jekyll family ownedand See Lewis H. Jones's 'Captain l•oger Jones of London and Virginia,' Alb0•ny, 1891. Vol.1937 54]] ALLEN,New Light on Mark Catesby 351 operatedthe old castlenow in ruinswhich stands on a hill overlookingthis villageand knownas HedinghamCastle. But thiserroneous statement has doubtlessgrown out of the confusionexisting in the useof the namesCastle Hedlnghamand HedinghamCastle indiscriminately for both the castleand the village. I am indebtedto my friend,Mr. C. F. D. Sperlingof Sudbury, for an explanationof thismatter. He haspointed out to me alsothe epitaph whichformerly stood over the graveof Mark Catesby'smaternal grand- parentsin the churchyardof CastleHedingham, and alsothe old Jekyll homeknown as 'Shapcote,'in the village. We know from the entry in the ParishRegister of Saint Nicholasthat Cateshywas three yearsyounger than his reportedage at death, the date of which has been publishedas December23, 1749. In Lewis H. Jones's 'Captain Roger Jonesof London and Virginia,' Albany, 1891, there is a noticepurporting to be an excerptfrom a Londonnewspaper, as follows: "On Saturday,December 23, 1749, died at his homebehind St. Luke's churchin Old Street, the truly honestand ingeniousand modestMr. Mark Catesby....... He lived to age of 70 [his proved date of birth makeshim only 67 at death], well known to and esteemedby the curiousof this and other nations,and died muchlamented by his Friends, leavingbehind him two childrenand a widowwho has a few copiesof his noblework undisposedof." Also,in the 'Gentleman'sMagazine' (vol. 19, p. 573), there is a list of deathsfor the year 1749,and we read: "Mr. Mark Catesby,F. R. S., aged 70, author of the Natural History of Carolina, a large and curiouswork which is the chief supportof his widow and two children." RegardingCatesby's education it is difficultto learn anythingbut it is probablethat he attendedthe old GrammarSchool of Sudburyfounded in 1491 by William Wood. However,upon goingthere to consultthe files, I wasinformed that all the recordsprevious to 1837had beenburned. Catesbyis saidto have goneearly in life to London,because of his inter- est in natural history,and in the prefaceto his 'Natural History' he re- gretfully refersto his distant residencefrom London,the natural Mecca of the learned. MARK CATESBY'S PLACES OF RESIDENCE IN LONDON Cateshyis said to have lived in three differentparts of Londonproper: Fulham, Hoxton, and Old Street,which is in St. Luke's Parish in Middlesex. No letters that have yet come to light were written in Fulham, but in 'Britton & Boulger,British and Irish Botanists,'he is saidto be "of Hoxton and Fulham." We know from a letter of Mark Cateshyto his niece,Mrs. Jones,that in 1730he wasliving in Hoxton, a part of Londonwhere several botanistsand nurserymenresided, notably Thomas Fairchild, the authorof 352 ALLEN,New Light on Mark Catesby œJuly[Auk 'The City Gardener,' 1722, and an experimenterin the hybridization of plants. Catesby'slatter years,at least,were spent in the Parishof St.Luke, --Old Street,--a poorsection of Londonat that time and alsotoday, al- thoughthe buildingsof the mid-eighteenthcentury have beenlargely re- placed. It is probablethat he wasburied in the old churchyardof St. Luke's,but the only entry in the churchregister possibly referring to him is in the name of Sketesby,being death entry No. 26 for that month, and with the cause of death given as "age." Errors in namessuch as this werevery common in thosetimes for they wereoften set downby uneducatedassistants of the undertaker,and unlessdeaths occurred from a few definitediseases they were saidto be dueto "age." It is evident,however, that Catesbywas suffering from a dropsicalcondition shortly before his death,as we may gatherfrom a letter• of Mr. Knowltonto Mr. RichardRichardson, dated July 18, 1749. Speakingof a trip to Londonhe says:"I sawlikewise Messrs. Cateshy and Edwards who has materialsfor a third volume of Birds, Flies and Animals, etc., but poorMr. Catesby'slegs swell and he looksbadly. Drs. Mead and Stacksaid there was little hopesof him longthis sideof the grave." In talkingwith the presentvicar of this church,I learnedthat although many tombstonesstill remain,the graveshave in most