Oadham Family Register, likely from a Family Bible Flyleaf, 1687–c.1722 (with later addition)

Description

A manuscript family register, likely inscribed on the flyleaf of a family Bible, recording the principal life events of Catesby Oadham (born 27 July 1687) and his wife Mary English (born 31 December 1697), who were married at St Mary's Church, Fort St George, Madras, on 7 October 1717. The register records the birth of their first son Catesby at Madras on 4 October 1719, baptised on 19 November with Captain Fullerton and Elizabeth Long as godparents, alongside the baptism of Dorothy Thwaitez; the infant died on 5 February following. It further records the birth of their first daughter Mary on 26 October 1720, baptised on 27 November with Nathaniel Elwick Esq., Hannah Greenhaugh, and Mary Boddam as godparents. A later entry records the death of Catesby Oadham Senior on 5 March 1722 at Fort St George in the East Indies. A final entry in a much later hand records the birth of Emma Purvas on 12 July, the year cut off at the edge of the page. The document provides a valuable genealogical record of an English family resident in the East India Company settlement at Madras in the early eighteenth century, and complements the surviving Howland correspondence to and from Mary Oadham during the same period.