Things are looking up?

[firemonkey]

I have a relatively rare surname (Gatty), with variant spelling there are about 1100 worldwide .
The Gattys seem to have been found first in Cornwall and then Devon as Gattey.
My father and I have not been able to connect our Gatty line to the Cornish and Devon branches.

A little while ago I loaded my father's raw data to My heritage. Today I discovered he has a 24cM/15.8 match with someone who has an Elizabeth Gatty born Veryan,Cornwall in 1704 as an 8th generation ancestor.

Could this be the elusive Cornish/Devon connection?

[Voskos]

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Gertrude,' from nick. Gatty. It is curious to note that the registrars of the 16th and 17th centuries found as much difficulty in spelling Gertrude as Ursula. The latter bothered them completely.

[firemonkey]

My father seems to have poured cold water on the suggestion. His reply and My reply back.


> Hi Tim, Thanks, but the Cornish Theory of Gatty has failed so far
> because we know our Edward was born around 1813 in Bury or Bolton to
> William and Mary Gatty whearas the Edward on the Cornish/ Devon line
> was born in Exeter around the same date but as the son of Jospeh Gatty,
> Builder and Joiner and ex-Mayor of Exeter. If you can get onto one of
> the projects on my Family Tree Builder program ( "Edward Gatty
> Ancestors" )it will take you right back to 1437 or so. But unless we
> discover something that ties the Bury William into the Cornish / Devon
> tree I have given up on the idea of Cornish origins. As you know, the
> Cornish Edward had a brother William but there is no further
> documentation of either of them after their birth records.
>
> Love Dad

Hi Dad,
Given the relative rarity of the Gatty surname, about 1100 currently inc variant spelling according to the Forebears surname site, I believe the connection is probably real.
It doesn't necessarily follow that because we have not unearthed a link to the Cornish/Devon line one does not exist.
The truth is we know nothing of our line beyond William Gatty your 3 gt grandfather and therefore can not exclude an earlier Cornish connection.
Not being able to place a connection to the Exeter line does not in itself disprove the, I believe , strong possibility of the connection to Elizabeth Gatty's Cornish line.

A Christopher Marlin Moody is listed as a match to you at Family finder on family tree dna.


Love

Tim


If anyone could give me further advice on how to explain that the dna suggests there may very well be a connection I would be most grateful.