Page 3 - Genesis
BACK TO PAGE 2 - Bottom of Page

The Roots

Now that the five major contributers to the breed's establishment have been identified it becomes necessary to investigate these founding cats and their pedigrees to determine if they perhaps share some common ancestry.

The first correlation between any of the pedigrees which is readly discernable is that of Dalai Robin of Mehitabel and Sheramain's Dabru. The sire of Dabru, Dalai Deta Tim of Selene, was also the grandsire of Robin. Figure # 7 represents the pedigree for Deta Tim.

A second association easily perceived is that of Chota Li R.S.T. to May Ling Tutseita. Chi Sai Sekhmet of Chota Li was the sire of R.S.T. and the grandsire of Tutseita. Sekhmet's sire was Shermax Tish of May Ling and Tish's sire was Selene's Sha of Shermax. Sha's sire was Raby Chuffa of Selene and his dam was Caper Cat Trinket of Selene.(figure # 8)

Research showed that Ring's Abi Abdel of Selene's grand-dam on his mother's side, Dalai Sarita of Selene was a littermate of Dalai Deta Tim of Selene. Both were born May 8, 1955. (see figure # 7 for Deta Tim's pedigree)

Even just a cursory glance at these last two pedigrees reveals that Raby Chuffa of Selene represents that one common denominator that all these cats and thus our Somalis share in common. With all the hundreds of felines that can appear on a single pedigree of sixth, seventh and eighth generation representation, only the name of Raby Chuffa appears on each and every Somali pedigree.

RABY CHUFFA OF SELENE - IMPORT 68-SB-699-A v68
Male, Ruddy, Hazel eyes, born April 4, 1952

Breeder: The Lady Barnard
Owner: Mrs. Leonard Shuler, Buffalo, NY

Sire - Raby Ashanto G.C.C.F. 36677 by Ch. Abou G.C.C.F. 24391 ex. Croham Tchips G.C.C.F. 33420 Dam - Raby Tosca G.C.C.F. 52680 by Raby Ashanto G.C.C.F. 36677 ex. Roverdale Tara G.C.C.F. 40721

(data obtained from C.F.A. stud book vol. 68)

Raby Chuffa was bred by the late Lady Barnard of Great Britain and imported to the United States by Mrs. Francis Shuler-Taft of New York.

Raby Ashanto, Chuffa's sire, was also the stud who produced Raby Aida, Raby Nefertari and Raby Ramphis, all littermates (born May 21, 1948) who found their way to the U.S. The dam of these early imports was Wagphur Cleopatra.

In addition to implicating Chuffa as the possible carrier of the long-hair gene, Chuffa has already had the distinction of being named as one of the originators of the recessive red gene. Chuffa was the sire of Rufus the Red of Selene. Rufus, born April 1, 1955, was one of the first red Abyssinians ever exhibited in this country. Rufus' dam was Selene Lise and Lise's sire was also Raby Chuffa.

And so our family tree has been rooted.


Raby Chuffa of Selene
Parents, Grandparents and Great-Grandparents
Sire: Raby Ashanto Sire: Ch. Abou



Dam: Crohan Tchips
Sire:Bruton Billiken

Dam: Pibun

Sire: ?

Dam: ?
Dam: Raby Tosca Sire: Raby Ashanto



Dam: Roverdale Tara
Sire: Ch. Abou

Dam: Crohan Tchips

Sire: ?

Dam: ?

Author's note: In 1976 this was the complete known pedigree. Two years after Genesis was published a startling discovery was made by another researcher. See 1998 Genesis Update for the additional information,
or go directly to Chuffa's completed pedigree, using your BACK button to return here.

The Making of a Somali

Figure # 9 is the pedigree of a registered Somali (minus the registration numbers) which is representational of the breed's history.

Saika Sham's Black Bart can trace his pedigree to Chota Li's R.S.T. (see 3d). Chota Li's R.S.T. can trace his pedigree to Raby Chuffa through his grandsire Shermax Tish of May Ling.

Lo Mi R's Tawa (1c) can trace her pedigree to Dalai Robin of Mehitabel. Robin can trace his pedigree to Dalai's Deta Tim of Selene (figure # 2) and Tim can trace his heritage to Raby Chuffa (figure # 7).

Don-Al's Sun Beau of Fredna was out of Don-Al's Flame and Flame was sired by Dunedin Moseph of Don-Al, discussed in 5b. Tutseita, Moseph's sire, inherited the long-hair gene from Chi Sai Sekhmet of Chotal Li (figure # 6) and Sekhmet was sired by Shermax Tish.

Thus these cats, all of whom can claim Raby Chuffa as their own, have combined to produce Mimosa's sire, L'air de Rauch'e Rocky Raccoon.

Lynn Lee's Fawn is a heterozygous Abyssinian who inherited the recessive long-hair gene from her sire, Du-Ro-Al's Samson of Lynn Lee (a Somali).

Samson's sire and dam Du-Ro-Al's Top Brass and Du-Ro-Al's Melissa share the same pedigree. Both were sired by Sheramain Yankee Sultan of Du-Ro-Al and both were out of Kit-Kan Rebecca of Du-Ro-Al.

Yankee Sultan was discussed in 2a of the Family tree. Sheramain's Dabru, Yankee Sultan's sire, can plot his pedigree back to Raby Chuffa through Dalai's Deta Tim of Selene. (figure # 3)


Figure # 9
Foxtail Mimosa
Parents, Grandparents and Great-Grandparents
Sire: L'Air de Rauch's Rocky Raccoon Sire: Golden Bosie of Lynn Lee



Dam: Saffron's Caprice de Rauch
Sire: Saika Sham's Black Bart

Dam: Lo-Mi-R Tawa

Sire: Don-Al Sun Beau of Fredna's

Dam: Saffron's Cibi
Dam: Lynn Lee's Fawn Sire: Du-Ro-Al's Samson of Lynn Lee



Dam: Selene's Kenya of Rogay
Sire: Du-Ro-Al's Top Brass

Dam: Du-Ro-Al's Melissa

Sire: Wa-Ja-Ma's Little Guy

Dam: Ring's Pansy of Selene

While this investigation ends with the naming of Raby Chuffa the question of the long-hair gene has still yet to be answered.

Was Chuffa descended from those Bunny Cats of England as described by S. Denham in his book 'Child of the Gods'?

Were Chuffa's grandparents longhairs? Information found in Dr. Rosemond Peltz's 1972 C.F.A.Yearbook article on the Abyssinian indicates that Abou was sired by Bruton Billiken and was born out of a cat called Pibun. That is where my information ends. Who were Bruton Billiken and Pibun and what did they look like? Roverdale Tara's pedigree is non-existent! What of Tara's parents?

Was Chuffa a harborer of a genetic mutation which went unnoticed?

Is the Somali a result of a piling of gene modifiers? Genetic mutation? Atavism (as suggested by Pat Warren in her latest "Somali Scribblings")? Or is the Somali merely the culmination of genes introduced to native British cats and then reintroduced to the earliest examples of the Abyssinian?

BACK TO PAGE 1 | BACK TO PAGE 2 | TO PAGE 4
Top of Page

Walter and Karen Del Pellegrino, E-mail

Pink Somalis Triangle Tee
Pink Somalis Triangle Tee by SomaliCat
Build a t-shirt from zazzle.com.
blue ribbon graphic in support of free speech
[Safe Surf Logo]
A Definitive History of the Somali Cat
DelPellegrino.com
ItalianPotteryMarks.com
Books by the Del Pellegrinos
English-toy-spaniel.com
[logo of the Lycos Top 5% Award]

© 2013

on the world wide web since 1997
updated 3/17/2013