More Servants!

My last two posts profiled two individuals who entered into domestic service as a ladies-maid and footman, respectively. Before I leave the topic altogether, I want to pay tribute to many other Casbon family members who worked as domestic servants. I’ve combed through my files to find those Casbon relatives who were listed as servants… Continue reading More Servants!

Croydon

“You never get away from that thing in your hometown that it has over you. You don’t outgrow where you come from." – Brian Fallon As a child of a military family, I never had a hometown. We moved every few years to a variety of locations in and out of the United States. The… Continue reading Croydon

Going, Going …

The sister villages of Meldreth and Melbourn in Cambridgeshire are my ancestral homeland. Records of Casbon ancestors in these villages go back to the mid-sixteenth century. Families occasionally moved from one village to another, or to other nearby villages, but there was little reason or incentive to go further. The situation remained stable for over… Continue reading Going, Going …

Jane, William and Edith, Part 2

This is the second post in a series about the three children of John Casbon (1779–1813) and his wife Martha (Wagstaff, 1775–1855). Their second child was William. His birth date is not recorded, but he was baptized in Royston, Hertfordshire on Christmas day, 1805, so he was probably born earlier that same year.[1] William is… Continue reading Jane, William and Edith, Part 2

Give me an “a”…

The story of Samuel Clark Casban reflects the social and economic changes that were sweeping England in the mid- to late- 19th century. He was baptized with the surname Casbon in February 1852, [1] the third son and sixth of seven children born to William (b. abt. 1805 in Royston) and Ann (Clark) (b. abt… Continue reading Give me an “a”…

What’s in a Name?

Our name wasn’t always Casbon. What I should really say, is that our name wasn’t always spelled ‘C-a-s-b-o-n.’ As you go back into our early family records, the ways our name is spelled varies dramatically. The earliest I’ve traced my ancestors is the marriage of William Casbolde to Margrett Saybrocke in 1577.[1] Here is a sampling… Continue reading What’s in a Name?