History

Born April 11, 1956

Our first queen Phoebe and our now-departed first stud Sam have in their pedigrees various cats from an old Siamese cattery in Pennsylvania, Green Lane, which was active from the 1950s through the 1970s. Sandy Engle, of Sandypoints Cattery outside Philadelphia, has kept vestiges of Green Lane going for the last 30 years; she and her cats were “discovered” a decade or so ago by Connie McCarthy of Archenland Cattery, whose first Siamese, born in 1979 in Pennsylvania, was a Green Lane cat. Connie went looking for his modern relatives and found Sandy and her cats keeping the line going.

The Green Lane Cattery was owned by Mrs. Rex Naugle (Elizabeth Stewart Cogill Naugle, 1900-1984). Elizabeth Naugle probably named her cattery after the street, Green Lane, in the small town of Primos outside Philadelphia where she lived. (We are always looking for more information, so if you have any, or know of anyone who might, we’d love to know.)

Most of the very old catteries either closed or dropped the Green Lane lineage in the 1970s (along with most of the other excellent old lines) when the Siamese breed went to the extreme look we see at cat shows today, and breeders started breeding their cats mainly to the most extreme-looking Siamese of their era. One special thing about our cats is that the Green Lane ancestors of most other catteries’ Old-Style Siamese are many generations back in the pedigrees, whereas our cats have them only a few generations back. The extra generations have caused most cats to evolve farther from the Green Lane “look,” while our cats still look much as they did in the 1950s.

Elizabeth Naugle obtained many of her breeding cats from well-known old catteries such as Wu Cattery, Newton Cattery, Doneraile Cattery, and Hollycat Cattery. She sold her Green Lane cats to a number of later catteries, such as Velvet Paws. Because those later catteries were very active in the breed, you can find some Green Lane cats in almost every Siamese pedigree if you go back far enough.

Elizabeth Naugle collaborated with Newton Cattery, which was owned by Virginia Cobb. Ms. Cobb started the Newton Cattery in the 1930s, but was still breeding until at least 1950. Although Green Lane started with several different queens, the queens were bred primarily to studs from the Newton Cattery, which links the lineage directly to the Newton cats.

The earliest Green Lane queens we are able to document with certainty are from 1948. In 1953, Naugle imported two extremely fine cats from England. It is from her cattery’s British imports that Green Lane’s most important studs came. Two of these were Ch. Green Lane Vance, Green Lane Sam’s great-great grandfather, born in 1954, and his son, Grand Champion Green Lane Chulalongkorn, born in 1958.

   Born May 14, 1953 and expecting kittens in this photo.*

Elizabeth Naugle was the owner of Ch. Doneraile Brun Malvana (see photo above), a chocolate point female Siamese whom she imported from England. She bought Malvana from Mrs. Kathleen Williams, the owner of Doneraile Cattery in England. Malvana is Green Lane Sam’s great-great-great-grandmother. With Ch. Beauchat Brunnescens Lynn of Wu, and Malvana, Elizabeth Naugle bred R.M. Dbl. Gr. Ch. Green Lane Van of Velvet Shadow (see photo at top of page), a chocolate point male and an important stud found in many old-style and show-style pedigrees. He was bred by Naugle and owned by Cerise Thrift. His parents were Ch. Green Lane Vance and Doneraile Brun Malvana, both owned by Elizabeth Naugle.

Born May 15, 1958

Dbl. Gr. and Quint. Ch. Green Lane Beryl (see photo above), was bred by Elizabeth Naugle and owned by Mr. and Mrs. Leigh Manley. Beryl’s sire was Gr. Ch. Green Lane Van of Velvet Shadow, bred by Ms. Naugle and owned by Cerise Thrift. Cerise Thrift, the owner of Velvet Shadow Cattery, appears to have been one of the later breeders with whom Elizabeth Naugle worked closely. Beryl’s dam was Green Lane Miranda.

R.M. Gr. Ch. Gidgetta of Cyreccia (see photo below) was another very influential chocolate point queen found in lots of old-style and show-style pedigrees. She was bred by Sue McNally, but her sire was a Green Lane cat, Gr. Ch. Green Lane Van of Velvet Shadow.

Born July 14, 1960

(modified from text by Connie McCarthy, Archenland Cattery)

Sources

Dr. Cristy Bird, Sarsenstone Cattery

Genealogy research by Lynn Tennyson

Su-Bali database

CFA certified pedigrees

Photos/text from This is the Siamese Cat by Marge Naples
(Published in 1964 by T.F.H. Publications, Inc.)
* Photo/text from Siamese Cat Book by Vera M. Nelson
(Published in 1967/76 by T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd.)