Posting Member: Jenn
Topic: Keleter Bentley
Family Name Associations: Young & Bentley
Location: Home
Mood: Sooo sleepy! Fighting the urge for afternoon napping!
Music: I have this song stuck in my head!!! Kids don’t repeat those words. No, really. Don’t do it!
Sandra’s headed out to Western Canada in October – Anyone out that way should catch one of her appearances and pick up copies of her latest. I think Karen will be out there too, these ladies are so, so good at their presentation of the British Home Child cause.
Sandra’s a wonderful writer that gives so much to the comprehension of what BHC went through. A must see!
http://www.sandrajoyce.com/Contact_info.html
Or you can purchase online if you’re not in the area.
http://www.sandrajoyce.com/Order_The_Street_Arab.html
Jake wanted to give you all a taste of the view from this weekend – Autumn in Ontario, there’s nothing quite like it.
And we’ve had an amazing development via FindAGrave member JBL, who I simply cannot thank enough. Really. I’m so thrilled, we all are.
So, JBL posted an image of the Lakeside Cemetery in Quebec of the Bentley stone there. At first, we were all emotional over seeing the tribute to Private John Arthur Bentley that his family had made to him after he was Killed in Action, having been on the Hospital Ship the Llandovery Castle when it was torpedoed by a German Uboat that continued to fire on life boats and survivors after the ship had been sunk, despite Red Cross lights and regulation.
And in further communication with JBL we discovered that there were also images of the other side of the stone, with none other than who we knew as Kalitta Bentley listed on it.
Keleter, who has also been recorded as Kalitta, Keleter, Kalter and by the more commonly recognized Caletta, only lived to age four years. She was the daughter of Selina Caletta Priscilla Young and Stephen Bentley of Bewerley, Pateley Bridge, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.
Now, the reason the spelling of Keleter’s name is so specifically of interest is that it was a family name, held by Selina and passed on to Edith Caletta Rose by Selina’s daughter Alice. Even Arthur Ernest Hedgecoe (Hitchcock) Senior called Edith ‘Letty’ as a nickname.
Selina was born illegitimately, daughter of Mary Ann Young. The Young family has proven difficult to track in early 1800 England with family names like Ann and John Young for parents. However, finally we feel like we have a clue. Caletta is not a Bentley name, according to any of our research. Was it possibly a nod to Selina’s unknown father? Could Caletta have been Keleter? Initial google searches show Keleter families living in London, England in 1901. We can’t wait to start searching and see if it brings anything new to the table for one of our English branches.
For those interested – A quick link to Keleter’s FindAGrave memorial. How amazing is that?
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=93327489
We’ll post as much as we can during all our crazy construction. Questions can be sent to the usual e-mail addresses or you can reach me at closet.skellies@gmail.com
