Daughter Of A Slave, With Deep Roots In Hartford By ANNE M. HAMILTON

Frances Taylor Dunham Catlett, a social worker, painter and poet, came from an African American family with deep roots in Hartford. Many members of her extended family have made significant contributions in education, social work, the union movement, sports and the arts. Catlett, whose parents were a formerly enslaved woman and the son of a white slave trader, was until her recent death a living connection to slavery in America. Catlett died in San Leandro, Calif., on April 22. She was 105 years old, and had lived independently until she was 103. She was born in Hartford on July 3, 1908. Her father, John Osborne Taylor, was the son of William Taylor, a white slave auctioneer, and Martha Ann Jett, whose heritage was Native American and African American. She graduated in 1926. A wealthy Hartford African American resident had offered a four-year college scholarship to a black student with the highest grades, and Catlett won. She chose the University of Chicago because an older sister lived there. In an autobiography she wrote in the third person, she attributed her success in life to her strong family and her supportive church background. "Whatever she had was given," she wrote. She is survived by her son Kaye Lawrence Dunham, four grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren. A son, Michael Catlett, one grandson and her three husbands predeceased her. In her unpublished autobiography, written more than 15 years ago, Catlett wrote: "So, from the early years of the 20th century to nearly the dawn of the 21st century, from the youngest of ten children to being a great-grand mother, from innocence to sophistication, through tragedies, joy and 'amazing grace,' I still travel on." The Hartford Courant