MEMOIR OF GEORGE CATLIN. 



George Catlin was born at Wilkes Barre, Pa., July 26, 1798. He die4 

 at Jersey City, K J., December 23, 1872. 



THE CATLIN FAMILY. 



The following history of the Catlin family was in part prepared by 

 Mrs. Clara Catlin Clarke, of Syracuse, N. Y. It was received from 

 Francis P. Catlin, of Clayton, Wis., surviving brother of George Catlin: 



The Catlins Lave been seated at Newington, county of Kent, England, ever since 

 the Norman conquest, A. D. 1066. Reynold De Catlyn, one of the followers of William 

 the Conqueror, is mentioned in " Domesday Book" as possessing in the time of his 

 successor (108?) "Two Knights' Fees" of land in Kent County. 



Various individuals of the family have been honorably employed in the service of 

 the Kings of England and other European powers, among them "Sir Robert Catlin," 

 to whom the arms now borne by the family were granted for great gallantry at the 

 memorable battle of Agincourt, A. D. 1415 (Henry 5th of England). The arms are. 

 t' Per chevron or and azure. Three lions passant — guardant in pale — counterchanged. 

 A chief-argent-crest. Leopard's head couped argent, ducally collared and lined, or 

 regardant. The u lions passant guardant" imply a command of a wing of an army. 

 The " chevron," a siege of a city. The " ducal coronet'' shows service with a sovereign 

 duke of France. Another person of consequence was Sir Robert Catlin, lord chief jus- 

 tice of the King's Bench in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, A. D. 155S. 



William Catelin, incumbent of All Saints Church, Hargrave, from A. D. 1623 to 1673. 

 The historian says : " William Catlin went out with Charles the First, 1649, but was re- 

 stored by Charles the Second," thus identifying the two names Catelin and Catlin in 

 the same person. 



On one of a chime of bells in St. Peter's church, is Raundes, in inscribed in Saxon: 

 "Gulielrnus Catlin, Arrniger Multi Vocati, Pauci Electi Omnia fiunt in gloriam Dei." 



The arms are specifically drawn by the " commission appointed to investigate and 

 certify" the claims of every family in England, as per the " Harlein Manuscripts" in 

 the British Museum, London, the sole "original" document in all the world. 



In the course of search in Europe the following curious incident occurred, not as 

 connected with the Catlin history, but as a curiosity : In Cormenin's Histoire Des 

 Papes, volume premiere, page 399, we read: " Jean 1st, 55th Pape, A. D. 523, Sur- 

 nomme, Catelyn le Toscan (John Catelyn), Regna 2 ans 9 mois, mourut 27 mai, 526. 

 Enterre a St. Pierre, Rome, Canonize"." 



In a "Sketch of the Lives of the Popes of Rome" in "Roman Catholicism" is this: 

 'LIV John the First, a Tuscan, a man of great learning and piety, was cast into prison 

 by Theodoric, and there hilled by the stench and filth of it, A. D. 525. He sat 3 

 years and 8 months." "Some of the name lived in Bedfordshire." 



George L. Catlin (ex-consul to Stuttgart) has traced the history of the Catlin fam- 

 ily to England and Wales, where the name was spelled Catlyn and Catlme, and 

 thence to France, where it was spelled Chatelaine. 



The same authority says the first time the name appears in American annals is in 

 the year 1643 : "Thomas, one of three brothers, came from Wales, settled in Hart- 



701 



