This is a short post, just to celebrate the season. Here is the barely legible baptism record of my third great-grandfather, Thomas Casbon (1803–1888). The register is written on parchment. In this case, in addition to smudges, the ink has degraded or flaked off. Here’s what the entry says: [Born] Novr. 3d. Thomas, son of… Continue reading A Christmas Baptism
Tag: Thomas
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 …
Was my Third Great Grandfather a Convicted Thief?
Sometimes there are long gaps in records, especially for people who lived before censuses were taken. You might only have records for birth (or baptism), marriage, and death (or burial)—commonly referred to as “BMD” records, with no information about what happened in the intervals between these major life events. Such is the case with my… Continue reading Was my Third Great Grandfather a Convicted Thief?
Obituaries: Charles and Mary Casbon
obituary (n.) "register of deaths," from Medieval Latin obituarius "a record of the death of a person," literally "pertaining to death," from Latin obitus "departure, a going to meet, encounter" (a euphemism for "death"), from stem of obire "go toward, go to meet" (as in mortem obire "meet death"), from ob "toward" (see ob-) +… Continue reading Obituaries: Charles and Mary Casbon
The Family Bible of Charles and Mary Casbon
My pursuit of family history began in the early 1990s as a collaborative effort with my father. He had received an offer in the mail to purchase The World Book of Casbons, published by Halbert’s Family Heritage. We didn’t know it at the time, but this company was named as a purveyor of "scam" genealogy… Continue reading The Family Bible of Charles and Mary Casbon
Lost Man, Found
Ever since I wrote about Thomas Casbon (b. 1840) of Peterborough, I’ve been wondering what happened to him. You may recall that Thomas was fished out of the Thames in Greenwich and admitted to the Greenwich Union after an apparent suicide attempt in 1871.[1] Thomas was estranged from his wife, who had filed for divorce… Continue reading Lost Man, Found
Last Words
In my previous post I described the enjoyment Emily (Price) Casbon derived from keeping bees and extracting their honey. Today’s post looks at what might have been Emily’s defining characteristic: her Christian faith. Emily was the wife of Jesse Casbon (1843–1934), who with his father Thomas, mother Emma, two brothers and one sister (born after… Continue reading Last Words
Wedding Portrait – Charles Arthur Casbon and Eliza Kate Harvey, September 21, 1915
Thanks to contributor Charles “Tony” Casbon in Peterborough, UK, for this portrait of his paternal grandparents’ wedding. Charles Arthur Casbon (1880–1945) was the son of Thomas (1854–1910) and Elizabeth (Pettifor, 1856–1906) Casbon.[1] Charles and his family were descended from the Littleport/Peterborough line of the Casbon surname. This was his second marriage. The first, to Grace… Continue reading Wedding Portrait – Charles Arthur Casbon and Eliza Kate Harvey, September 21, 1915
Joseph Casbon, Death Registration, 1847
Before getting to today’s topics, I have a couple of brief announcements. First, I’m happy to say that an article I wrote titled, “Thomas Casbon, James Scruby, and the Meldreth-Wayne County, Ohio Connection” has been published on the Meldreth History website. You can read the article here. Much of the information in this article has… Continue reading Joseph Casbon, Death Registration, 1847
The Death Certificate of Mary (Payne) Casbon (~1832–1903)
Death certificates can be a valuable source of information, especially when other sources about a given person are limited or cannot be found. However, the accuracy of the information is often questionable, depending on how and by whom the information was obtained. Both of these statements apply to the death certificate of Mary (Payne) Casbon,… Continue reading The Death Certificate of Mary (Payne) Casbon (~1832–1903)