LEWIS Catherine; WLS; 1853 Then there's CATHERINE LEWIS b Swansea, 6 May ?1853 My lost diva. Not really lost. But if you look up the GRO red books for "Catherine Lewis" you are liable to get drowned in the results. And they are nearly ALL born in Wales. If this were Australia, with its fabulous indices, I'd have no trouble. Australia gives you the parents names alongside the birth registration, and I know Catherine's parents names. Her father was Richard Jeffries Lewis 'of Bristol', a painter and member of the Royal Academy. her mother was may Moran Lewis, which I presume means May Lewis née Moran. I'd go bankrupt spending 6 1/2 quid on every Catherine Lewis born in the right quarter (and who's to know she didn't lie about her age anyway) .. but I'd risk it, except NONE of the ones in 1853 seems to fit properly.. Catherine wed a couple of times, being Mrs Oscar ARFWEDSON for a while, and then, more satisfactorily, Mrs Donald ROBERTSON (1887). She died at Hove in 1942 "aged 88" (says the black book for that year). She also had two sisters on the stage, the celebrated [Mary] Jeffries Lewis and the rather routine Constance Florence Lewis. Both martied, both like Catherine had children.. so there must be SOMEONE out there who can claim descent from one of the sparkiest prima donnas of the American (and originally Engkish) musical stage of the Victorian era.. Yes......?? Kurt KURT GÄNZL, ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF THE MUSICAL THEATRE 9 Les Arabanes, 684-5 Route des Serres, 06570 St Paul de Vence, FRANCE tel/fax: 04.93.32.95.87 e-mail: [email protected] till 12 November then Fernenland, Tophouse Junction, RD2 Nelson, NEW ZEALAND tel/fax (03) 521.1849 e-mail: [email protected] visit me at http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~paulln/ganzl.htm