I’ve been discussing the descendants of Thomas Casbon (~1743-1799) of Meldreth (see Stepping back: Thomas Casbon, 1743-1799). Thomas’ youngest child was John, baptized Casborne October 3, 1779 in Meldreth. [1] He was the third son named John, the first two having died in infancy.
Baptismal record for John Casborn, 1779, in Meldreth (Click on image to enlarge)
For review, here is a diagram of Thomas’ children
(Click on image to enlarge)
John married Martha Wagstaff December 29, 1802 in Meldreth. [2]
Marriage record of John Casbon and Martha Wagstaff, Meldreth, 1802 (Click on image to enlarge)
The record tells us that John and Martha were both single (i.e., not previously married), and they both belonged to the Meldreth parish. Also, John was able to sign his name. Martha signed with her “mark.”
Martha was baptized as Patty Wagstaffe 1775 in the little village of Cockayne Hatley in Bedfordshire, about 7 ½ miles west of Meldreth and just across the Cambridgeshire county line. [3] How I came to learn that Martha and Patty were the same person is an interesting and convoluted story that I’ll save for another day.
For reasons unknown, John and Martha did not remain in Meldreth. But they didn’t move far. Their first two children were born in the town of Royston, a sizeable crossroads and market town a few miles south of Meldreth, in Hertfordshire. These children were: Jane, baptized November 27, 1803, and William, baptized on Christmas Day, 1805. [4],[5] Edith, their third child, was baptized in the village of Whaddon, about 1 ¾ miles west of Meldreth. [6]
Composite image showing baptismal records for Jane, William, and Edith Casbon (Click on image to enlarge)
All three children lived well into adulthood and remained in the Meldreth area. Their stories are interesting enough to warrant their own posts.
John, however, did not live long after his children were born. He was buried at Meldreth December 3, 1813, leaving Martha a widow with three children. [7]
Burial record of John Casbail, Meldreth, 1813 (Click on image to enlarge)
Martha married Samuel Barns, a recent widower with his own children, July 24, 1815 in Meldreth. [8] Due to the high death rate and the necessity for both a breadwinner and someone to watch the children, remarriage was a common and practical method to restore two parents to broken families.
Would it have been common to give three babies in a row the same name when the first two died? (My 21st century sensibility finds this a little hard to fathom, but maybe it was parents’ way of dealing with high infant mortality?)
It was extremely common to give a child the same name as one who died. Probably less common for three in a row because it was less common for two to die consecutively, and for all three to be the same gender.
Here’s some additional explanation:
“Often considered repugnant to modern ears, a child’s untimely death meant the end of the honor bestowed upon someone. Since many children died in the 17th and 18th centuries, parents had no problem with re-using the name of a dead child for a subsequent birth. A family might, therefore, have several John or Jane children. Occasionally, the same name was given to more than one living child, but this was rare. The re-use of a name almost always meant that the first child with that name had died.” “British Naming Conventions”,FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/British_Naming_Conventions
Thank you so much for the informative link, Jon! The New England progenitor I’m researching emigrated from London in 1635, so I expect that British naming conventions apply to his early descendants. I’d say that a good 75% of the first three generations is named John, Jonathan, or Sarah!
[…] in point: in my last post “John Casbon of Meldreth & Royston (~1779-1813)” I mentioned that John’s wife Martha Wagstaff was baptized as Patty Wagstaffe. I had a hard […]
[…] of John and Martha (Wagstaff) Casbon. John and Martha were each the subjects of earlier posts (“John Casbon of Meldreth & Royston (~1779-1813)” and “Martha = Patty”). Today I’m focusing on their first child, […]