Maud – Our Casbon Journey

This is my seventh post in the Guild of One-Name Studies blog challenge.

My last post was about the period in Amos Casbon’s life before his marriage. Today we read about his wedding to Carrie Belle Aylesworth on 28 November 1900. This is another newspaper discovery from my visit to the Valparaiso (Porter County, Indiana) public library in May 2019.

Here is the article from The Porter County Vidette of 6 December 1900.^[1]

(Click on image to enlarge)

Wedding Bells
The Marriage of Amos J. Casbon
and Miss Carrie Aylesworth

Mr. Amos J. Casbon and Miss Carrie B. Aylesworth were united in marriage Wednesday evening, Nov. 28, at the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Aylesworth, of Boone Grove. The bride was very tastefully attired in a beautiful cream cashmere, richly trimmed in silk lace.
The young couple were attended by Mr. Clyde Aylesworth, a brother of the bride, and Miss Sadie Breyfogle.
About seventy-five of their friends and relatives were present to witness the ceremony which was performed at 8 o’clock by Rev. Miller, of Indianapolis. After congratulations were extended a bountiful repast was served.
Mr. and Mrs. Casbon expect to go to housekeeping in about six weeks and will reside on Mr. Casbon’s farm, two miles west of Boone Grove.
They were the recipients of many useful and valuable presents, viz: Dinner set, Mr. and Mrs. John Aylesworth; clock, Clyde Aylesworth and Sadie Breyfogle; coffemill [sic], Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Aylesworth and family; butter knife and sugar shell, Glenn Aylesworth; set silver teaspoons, Wm. Sawyer and family; silver cracker jar, Misses Sina, Lillian and Maud Casbon; salad dish, Floyd Aylesworth and Jettty [sic] Carson; silver sugar shell, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Aylesworth and family; silver gravy ladle, Mr. and Mrs. L.H. Coplin; glass salt and pepper box, Bessie Shreve; half dozen napkins and bed spread, Emery Wickham; one pair linen towels, Mrs. J.W. Aylesworth; rug, Mr. and Mrs. [i.e., Cora Casbon] John Sams and Elmer Stulz; bed spread, Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Massey; silver gravy ladle, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Skinkle; silver jelly spoon, Mr. and Mrs. L.L. Casbon and family; set silver teaspoons, Jesse Casbon; silver berry spoon, Mrs. Belle Aylesworth and daughter; bed spread, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Shreve; broom, Mr. and Mrs. Guy Aylesworth; pair linen towels, Mr. and Mrs. [i.e., Lodema Casbon] Hiram Church; glass salt and pepper boxes, Anna Aylesworth; glass vase, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Massey; silver gravy ladle, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Casbon; one dozen water glasses, Mr. and Mrs. H.B. Kenney; silver pickle castor, Mr. and Mrs. S.V. Casbon; glass tea set, Giles Aylesworth and family; cream ladle, Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Black and daughter; chamber set, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Leeka, Mr. and Mrs. Guy Aylesworth and Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Aylesworth; pair white leghorn chickens, Mr. C. Wallace. The house was a piece of Mr. Wallace’s own work and showed his skill as a workman.

The article is full of interesting details, from the description of Carrie’s dress to the itemized list of wedding gifts.

Wedding portrait of Amos and Carrie (Aylesworth) Casbon;
courtesy of Ron Casbon (click on image to enlarge)

I suspect this wedding was a bigger affair than many in the local community. Carrie’s father, John Aylesworth, was a prominent farmer. Members of the Aylesworth family first settled in Porter County in 1842. Their descendants owned several hundred acres of land in Boone Township.

Carrie Belle was not the first Aylesworth to marry a Casbon. Sylvester (“S.V.” in the article) Casbon’s first wife was Mary Adaline Aylesworth, who died in 1868. Consequently, the Aylesworth and Casbon families have always had close ties, and Casbons have been invited to the annual Aylesworth family reunions up to the present day.

I think it’s very interesting that the minister, Rev. Miller, was said to be from Indianapolis, which is about 140 miles away from Boone Grove. A search on FamilySearch.org shows that Rev. Melnotte Miller was the officiating minister for many weddings in various Indiana locales, although Indianapolis is not among them. He officiated at many Porter County weddings in 1899 and 1900, so perhaps he was temporarily assigned to the county at that time.

The list of gifts reveals a mix of practical items and valuable silverware. Have you ever heard of a pickle castor? I had not. This was apparently an ornate container for serving pickled condiments.

Pickle castors (www.carolsantiqueshop.com)

I especially like the gift of two leghorn chickens, apparently with their own henhouse, custom built by Mr. Wallace.

I wonder if any of these gifts have been handed down in the family?

From the standpoint of my one-name study, the guest list is chock full of Casbons, indicated in bold font in the transcript. This is not surprising, given that Porter County was ground zero for all the Casbons of English descent. Notably absent, however are any of Amos’s immediate family, which then consisted of his stepmother, Mary, and his sisters Margaret “Maggie,” and Alice. He was said to have been estranged from Mary and Maggie, but I don’t know why Alice wasn’t there. Or, perhaps they were in attendance, but just not listed as the givers of gifts.

There is one other item of interest in the article: the statement that the couple would “go to housekeeping in about six weeks and will reside on Mr. Casbon’s farm, two miles west of Boone Grove.” The location doesn’t make sense to me. In the previous post, I mentioned a January 1900 news item stating that Amos, then living in Chicago, was job hunting in the Boone Grove area.^[2] He apparently found a job, since we find him in the 1900 U.S. census, residing in Porter Township.

Detail from the 1900 U.S. census, Porter Township, Porter County, Indiana
(FamilySearch.org) (click on image to enlarge)

Amos is listed as a boarder on the farm of William Shreves. (Note that Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Shreve and their daughter Bessie were present at the wedding). Amos’s occupation is not given in the census listing, but presumably he was engaged in farming. The Shreve farm was located about 1 ½ miles west of Boone Grove, so perhaps that is the location referred to in the article. However, if that is the case, it could not be rightfully described as “Mr. Casbon’s farm.” Also, I doubt that Amos’s lodgings on the Shreve farm would have been suitable for a young newlywed couple.

The statement that Amos and Carrie would start housekeeping “in about six weeks” brings another explanation to mind. I have reviewed the Porter County deed records and note that Amos’s first land purchase closed on 14 January 1901, almost six weeks exactly after the wedding. On that date, Amos purchased 65 acres from Hattie Dye for the price of $3,250.^[3] That land is located about one-half mile southwest of Boone Grove. Although the location does not match what is written in the article, the timing and the description as “Mr. Casbon’s farm” make this the likely place.

Detail of 1895 plat maps of Porter and Boone Townships, Porter County, Indiana, showing John Aylesworth’s farm, Amos’s residence in the 1900 U.S. census, and Amos’s first land purchase in 1901. (Porter County Indiana: A Part of the InGenWeb Project, http://www.inportercounty.org/)(Click on image to enlarge)

At any rate, this is where Amos and Carrie spent their lives together. Over many subsequent years, Amos bought adjoining plots of land to increase his holdings and the value of his property. This land remains in the family today.

[1]“Wedding Bells,” The Porter County (Indiana) Vidette, 6 December 1900.
[2]“Boone Grove Items,” The Porter County Vidette, 25 January 1900.
[3]Indiana, Porter County, Deed Records, vol. 59, 1899–1901.

Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post about George Casbon, an orphan who was sent from England to Canada to live and work when he was 15 years old, under the auspices of Doctor Barnardo’s Homes.^[1] I knew that George was born June 11, 1914, that his birth was registered in Croydon, Surrey, and that his mother’s maiden name was given as Casbon. This told me that George was probably born out of wedlock.

However, I was unable to connect George to the rest of the family tree, because I didn’t know his mother’s given name. I needed the actual birth registration to get that. Fortunately, the General Register Office (GRO), which is the central registry for all births, marriages and deaths in England, recently began a trial program in which portable document format (PDF) copies of original records can be purchased for a reasonable price. As an aside, anyone with British ancestors born between 1837 and 1916 or who died between 1837 and 1957, can look up the records on the GRO website at https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp, and can order copies of the records.

I ordered George’s birth record, and 5 days later, I received an email telling me that the PDF file was ready to download. Here’s what I received.

(Click on image to enlarge)

This document provides a wealth of information. Besides giving the date and location of George’s birth, it tells us that his mother’s name was Hilda Mary Casbon, that she was “a Domestic Servant of 140 Beckenham Road, Penge, U.D.[Urban District],” and that she lived at Y6 Eridge Road in Thornton Heath. The birth was registered June 24, 1914, at the West Croydon sub-district of the Croydon registration district. Since no father’s name is given, and George was given his mother’s surname, it is almost certain that George was born out of wedlock.

Hilda Mary Casbon is in my database, and this new information allows me to fill in some gaps in her life. Hilda Mary was baptized in Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire on October 9, 1887, the daughter of George (1846–1897) and Sarah (Pearse, abt. 1847–1912) Casbon.^[2] George was the third son of my fourth great-uncle James Casbon, about whom I have written many posts.

Hilda’s early life was spent in Fowlmere, a small village and parish in southwestern Cambridgeshire, about 3 miles east of Meldreth. In the 1891 census, we see Hilda, along with her father, mother, brother Henry, sisters Olive, Maud, and Elsie, and a cousin, Lucy Pearce.^[3]

Detail from 1891 Census, Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire. (Click on image to enlarge)

In 1901 Hilda was living in Fowlmere with her widowed mother, brother Henry, and two sisters.^[4] Her mother’s occupation was listed as “charwoman,” suggesting that the family was living in reduced circumstances following their father George’s death.^[5] Brother Henry was supplementing the family income as stockman on a farm.^[6]

In the 1911 census, only Sarah and Hilda were living together, at the same address in Fowlmere, with Sarah still listed as a charwoman and Hilda’s occupation listed as “General (domestic).”^[7] I believe this means Sarah was doing domestic work outside the home.

Based on George’s birth record, we now know that Hilda left Fowlmere sometime between 1911 and 1914 to work as a domestic servant in Penge, a suburb of south-east London. Perhaps she needed to leave Fowlmere to find a better source of income following her mother’s death in 1912. George’s birth is the last record I have of Hilda until her death in 1921 at the age of 33.^[8] George would have been about seven years old when his mother died.

As is often the case, new answers lead to new questions. Did Hilda give George up for adoption soon after his birth, or were they only separated after her death? Was Hilda able to continue her work as a servant after George’s birth? Why did Hilda die? I could probably find records to answer some of these questions, but for now they will remain unanswered. At least we now know how George became an orphan, leading to his entry into Dr. Barnardo’s home and eventual emigration to Canada.

I’m happy that I was able to find George’s family, and to find that he is distantly related to me (third cousin, twice removed), as well as many of today’s living Casbons—especially the descendants of Hilda’s brothers and sisters. One brick wall down, many more to go!

^[1] Jon Casbon, “George Casbon – A Canadian Mystery,” 18 Apr 2017, blog post, Our Casbon Journey (https://casbonjourney.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/george-casbon-a-canadian-mystery/ : accessed 26 October 2017).
^[2] “Fowlmere Baptisms 1561 – 1994,” PDF extract, accessed through “Ancestor Finder,” Cambridge Family History Society (https://www.cfhs.org.uk/tokens/tokpub.cfm : accessed 26 October 2017) >Surname Casbon/Parish Fowlmere > Forename Hilda/Year 1887, baptism of Hilda Mary Casbon, 9 Oct 1887; citing Fowlmere parish registers.
^[3] 1891 England Census, Hertfordshire, population schedule, Foulmere, p. 14, schedule 86, George Casbon; imaged as “1891 England, Wales & Scotland Census,” database with images, findmypast (https://search.findmypast.com/record?id=gbc%2f1891%2f1103%2f0153&parentid=gbc%2f1891%2f0008356302 : accessed 26 October 2017); citing [The National Archives], RG 12, piece 1103, folio 72.
^[4] “1901 Census of England, Wales & Scotland,” database, findmypast (https://search.findmypast.com/record?id=gbc%2f1901%2f0009841671 : accessed 26 October 2017), entry for Sarah Casbon (age 53), HIgh St., Fowlmere, Hertfordshire; citing [The National Archives], RG 13, piece 1295, folio 53, p. 3; Royston registration district.
^[5] “1901 Census of England, Wales & Scotland,”findmypast, database entry for Sarah Casbon, HIgh St., Fowlmere, Hertfordshire.
^[6] “1901 Census of England, Wales & Scotland,”findmypast, database entry for George Casbon in household of Sarah Casbon, HIgh St., Fowlmere, Hertfordshire.
^[7] 1911 England Census, Hertfordshire, population schedule, Fowlmere, High Street, schedule 26, Sarah Casbon; imaged as “1911 England, Wales & Scotland Census,” database with images, findmypast (https://search.findmypast.com/record?id=gbc%2f1911%2frg14%2f07557%2f0051&parentid=gbc%2f1911%2frg14%2f07557%2f0051%2f2 : accessed 6 October 2017); citing [The National Archives], census reference, RG14PN7557 RG78PN370 RD135 SD3 ED5 SN26.
^[8] “Search the GRO [General Register Office] Online Index,” database, HM Passport Office (https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp : accessed 26 October 2017) >Casbon >Hilda >female >1921, Hilda Casbon (age 33), June quarter, 1921; Croydon registration district 2A/312.

Tag: Maud

“Wedding Bells”

New Document Breaks through a Brick Wall

(Click on image to enlarge)

Detail from 1891 Census, Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire. (Click on image to enlarge)