An Unexpected Inheritance

After a long period of inactivity, I’m finally writing a new post. The inactivity is due to the fact that my research focus has shifted to other branches of my family. In addition, I’ve researched and written extensively about the Casbon line and just haven’t had that much new material to write about.

That said, this post is motivated by an email I recently received from Steve Shook, the unofficial historian of Porter County, Indiana and author of the blog, “Porter County’s Past: An Amateur Historian’s Perspective.” Steve and I have corresponded off an on for several years. He has access to some of the older Porter County newspapers that are not available online.

Steve’s email contained this brief news item from the 5 June 1913 Chesterton Tribune. [image]

Wow, this is exciting! Although details are limited, I think it is remarkable that the three brothers were inheriting money from a relative in England. After all, they left England 67 years earlier when they were “small boys.”

As I’ve described in earlier posts, Sylvester, Charles, and Jesse were the sons of Thomas and Emma (Scruby) Casbon. Along with their sister Mary Ann, the family left their home in Meldreth, Cambridgeshire, England and boarded the ship Parkfield bound for Quebec in April 1846. ^[1] At that time, Sylvester was 8 years old, Charles was 5, and Jesse was only 2. The family first settled in the vicinity of Wooster, Ohio, where they lived for a number of years before relocating separately to Porter County, Indiana between about 1859 and 1865.

One Hundred English pounds may not seem like very much, but this amount in 1913 would be worth about 16,223 dollars today.^[2] That’s quite a generous inheritance from someone they never met! It also suggests that the deceased must have had a considerable estate, because it’s unlikely the brothers were the only beneficiaries.

Which raises the question, how did the deceased in England know about the brothers in Indiana? I don’t know the answer, but I can think of a few possibilities. One, relatives in England maintained some kind of correspondence with their American cousins. This seems unlikely, but it is entirely possible that letters were occasionally exchanged. Two, relatives in England didn’t personally keep in touch with their counterparts in Indiana, but still knew about them. Three, they had no knowledge of their American relations, but either the Will or probate laws stipulated that the deceased’s estate would go to any relatives of a certain degree who could be located. In this case, some kind of search by the executors of the estate would have been conducted to find Sylvester, Charles, and Jesse.

Who was the deceased? Again, I don’t know. The news article only says the money was left “by a relative in Cambridge, England.” We don’t know what kind of relative it was, but presumably the relationship was close enough that the brothers might qualify in some way to be beneficiaries of the estate.

I think we can eliminate any aunts and uncles. All the siblings of Thomas Casbon and Emma Scruby would have died well before the early 1910s.

I think it’s also unlikely the deceased was a second cousin (i.e., they shared a great-grandparent with the brothers). First, the number of surviving second cousins would so high that it would take an incredibly large estate to generate payments of £100 to each of them. Second, I don’t believe second cousins would have been eligible to receive such a payment unless they were specifically named in the Will.

According to “Understanding the Rules of Intestacy in England and Wales,” “If there are no surviving parents, siblings, or half-siblings, the estate passes to the deceased’s grandparents. If none are alive, the estate is distributed among the deceased’s aunts and uncles. Failing that, it extends to the deceased’s first cousins.”^[3] No mention is made of second cousins. If there are “no known surviving relatives, the entire estate goes to the Crown.”^[4] These rules were set forth in a 1925 Parliamentary act, so I can’t be sure if they apply to an inheritance that took place in 1913.

If the above does apply, then a first cousin (i.e., one who shares a grandparent) might well have been the three brothers’ benefactor.

The grandparents of the three brothers were: Isaac Casbon and Susanna Howes (parents of Thomas Casbon), and Sylvester Scruby and Elizabeth Robinson (parents of Emma Scruby). Isaac and Susanna had four sons, all of whom survived to adulthood and married. I have pretty good data on Isaac and Susanna’s grandchildren (i.e., the first cousins of the Indiana brothers). I don’t believe any of those who remained in England lived long enough or had estates of sufficient size to make them the likely benefactors.

Sylvester and Elizabeth Robinson had 5 children and 22 grandchildren, not including the children of Thomas and Emma (Scruby) Casbon). I don’t have complete records for all of them, but I have spotted a likely candidate for the benefactor of Sylvester, Charles and Jesse.

Mary Scruby was the daughter of Emma (Scruby) Casbon’s older brother, Joseph (1798–1866) and his wife Ann _____(1806–1832). Mary was born 3 November 1829.^[5] She remained a spinster until marrying George Sanford when she was 62 years old in 1892 .^[6] She died at Sandy, Bedfordshire, 15 February 1912 (her husband preceded her).^[7] Her estate was valued at £3155 3s. 9d (about $523,000 in today’s dollars).

Given that she was widowed and childless, it is certainly plausible that some of her estate went to first cousins. However, without seeing the probate documentation, it is impossible to know if this was the case. One bit of contradictory evidence is that she lived and died in Bedfordshire, not Cambridge, as suggested in the article. Bedfordshire is a adjacent to Cambridgeshire, where the Casbons originated. There are many possible reasons why the article might have gotten the location wrong, so I don’t think this eliminates Mary Scruby as the possible benefactor.

There were good reasons for the Scruby side of the family to maintain connections with their Stateside cousins. When Thomas and Emma (Scruby) Casbon emigrated to the United States in 1946, they were accompanied by Emma’s niece, Emma Payne, the 15 year-old daughter of Emma’s sister Sarah and her husband James Payne. Mary Payne, Emma’s sister, joined the Casbon family in Ohio in 1856 and eventually became the wife of Thomas Casbon’s brother James (1813–1884). Mary (Scruby) Casbon died at Porter County in 1903 (see “The Death Certificate of Mary (Payne) Casbon (~1832–1903)”).

Furthermore, Emma (Scruby) Casbon’s brother, James (ca. 1807–1852), came to the United States in 1832. He settled in Ohio and raised a family there. He was almost certainly the impetus behind Thomas and Emma’s decision to emigrate and settle in Ohio. After James’s death, Thomas Casbon was appointed guardian of his son, William, who later moved to Porter County.

Thus, members of the Scruby family were closely connected with the Casbons in both Ohio and Indiana over the course of many years. Did this connection lead to an unexpected inheritance for the three Casbon brothers in 1913?

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[1] Listing of recent ship departures, including Parkfield, sailing for Quebec, 18 April 1846 from Southampton, Lloyd’s List, No. 10,014, p. 1, col. 3, 20 April 1846; imaged, Find My Past (http://search.findmypast.com/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000861%2f18460420%2f003 : accessed 13 January 2017).
[2]  Eric W. Nye, Pounds Sterling to Dollars: Historical Conversion of Currency (https://www.uwyo.edu/numimage/currency.htm : accessed 26 Nov 2024).
[3] “Understanding the Rules of Intestacy in England and Wales,” 16 Feb 2024, Ashton’s Legal (website) (https://www.ashtonslegal.co.uk/insights/news-for-individuals/understanding-the-rules-of-intestacy-in-england-and-wales : accessed 26 Nov 2024).
[4] Ibid.
[5] “England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975,” database with imagaes, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NK35-BNR : accessed 13 May 2016), entry for Mary Scruby, b. 2 Nov 1829.
[6] “England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1940,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1352/ : accessed 26 Nov 24), entry for George Sanford & Mary Scruby, 25 Aug 1892.
[7] “England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations),” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1904 : accessed 26 Nov 2024) >1912 >Quadling–Szanyo >image 137 of 340, entry for Mary Sanford of St. Neots-road Sandy Bedfordshire.