Re: Edward Boyd-Moss and La Touche 1890s
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In reply to:
Edward Boyd-Moss and La Touche 1890s
11/13/00
This probably won't help very much, but it may fit in a bit of the jigsaw puzzle.
My grandfather, Francis Charles COOK, married in Colombo, Ceylon, in 1893 Mary GRAY, who was born in Ceylon in 1874.Mary is described in her marriage lines as 'Eurasion' (sic).Judging by her wedding photo, I have no reason to doubt the 'Asian' bit.
My mother (deceased - I now wish I'd questioned her more closely) said that Mary's father was a tea-planter, Francis GRAY, (both of these facts I have since confirmed) of Scottish origin and that her mother was a Eurasian nee 'LA TOUCHE' or 'LATOUCHE'.A cousin of mine visited Sri Lanka some years ago and uncovered no further evidence.
There the matter ends, apart from one thing.In the 1881 census there appears one Mary Gray, aged 7, born in Ceylon - right name, right age and right birthplace.She was living near Southampton with two siblings (one born in Ceylon, one in Ireland) and her mother Sarah.Sarah's birthplace is given as 'St Albans, Herts', a place not noted at the time for producing Eurasians, let alone Latouches.On the other hand, I note from IGI that there was no lack of Latouches in Sainte Alban, Vermont, and -given the appalling handwriting of the census-takers - it would be easy enough to misread 'St Alban, Vermont' for 'St Albans, Herts'.But then the 19C USA wasn't noted for producing Eurasians either.In short, I'm baffled.
Over to you.Happy hunting!
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Re: Edward Boyd-Moss and La Touche 1890s
Rebecca James 12/25/08