The Rev. Johann Baptist Cattaneo (sometimes spelled Cattani) was born in Lavin, Gaubünden, Switzerland, on 27 June 1746 and died in Norka on 16 January 1831. He married in Fläsch, Graubünden, Switzerland, to Barbara Johanna Thomas, daughter of Johannes Thomas and Magdalena Steiner, in 1768. She was born in Lavin, Graubünden, Switzerland, 17 April 1752 and died in Sarepta on 4 December 1808. He studied at the theological school in Zürich, Switzerland, and was ordained on 26 June 1766 in Susch in the Unterengadin Valley, Switzerland, and served in Fläsch from 1767 to 1771.