Joseph CASS Investigation!

Joseph CASS is my Great, Great, Great Grandfather.

When I first found out about him, it was because he was listed as the father of my Great, Great Grandmother, Jane CASS, when she was baptised at the church of All Saints in Little Canfield, Essex on 25th December 1836. Her mother is given as Eliza and Joseph's occupation was Labourer.

I then found the three of them on the 1841 Census living in the Parish of Stanstead in Hertfordshire with both Joseph and Eliza listed as being 28 years old and Jane as 4 years old. Joseph is still listed as being a Labourer. The reference for this Census record is HO 107 P434 B12 F8 Pg10.

Since the 1841 Census is the one where people were asked to round their ages to the nearest five if older than 15, at this point I would hazard that both Joseph and Eliza were actually 28 in 1841 which gives an approximate year of birth for both of them as 1813. For all three, there is an 'N' for born in the County so they weren't born in Hertfordshire.

On the 1851 Census, they are in Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire and both Joseph and Eliza are given as being 37 years old, giving an approximate year of birth of 1814. The reference for this record is HO107 1705 F156 Pg12. Joseph says his birth place was Little Canfield, Essex and Eliza says she was born in Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex. Jane CASS was not living with her parents, even though she would have been only 14 years old. There are two possible matches in Great Amwell, Essex and Little Hallingbury, Essex but there isn't anything about either that enables me to select it as being correct. She could well have been living in service somewhere.

However, with them on the 1851 Census are Mary Ann (8 years old), Emily (3 years old) and Louisa (6 months old). I did also find another girl called Martha whose birth was registered in the 4th Quarter 1840 and baptised on 15 November 1840 at St John the baptist in Great Amwell, Hertfordshire but she died with the death being registered in the 1st Quarter 1841.

On the 1861 Census, Joseph is listed as being 48 years old, giving a birth year of 1813 and again Little Canfield, Essex is his place of birth. The reference for this record is RG9 804 F11 Pg16.

On the 1871 Census, Joseph is 58 years old and he still lists Little Canfield as his place of birth. Once again, this gives a birth year of approximately 1813. The reference for this record is RG10 1350 F61 Pg2.

On the 1881 Census, he suddenly gives his age as 72, which gives an approximate birth year of 1809, although his place of birth is still Little Canfield. The reference for this record is RG11 1400 F72 Pg23.

When he dies in 1887, his age is given as 77 which gives an approximate birth year of 1810.

Interestingly, when his wife died in 1883, her age was given as 74, giving a birth year of 1809. Interesting because they are consistently listed on the Censuses with the same age.

So, there are some discrepancies with his age but it is suggesting his birth year is around 1813-1814 with a possibility that it could be as early as 1809, and with Little Canfield in Essex as the most likely place.

But first! Their marriage! Thankfully, several of their children had their births registered via Civil Registration and all of these entries on the GRO Birth Index show that the mother's maiden name was REYNOLDS (apart from Emily where it is REYNOLD).

So, I tried searching for a marriage for Joseph CASS and Eliza REYNOLDS in the Little Canfield, Essex area but with no luck. As I've seen a few spelling variants for CASS, I tried just searching with Eliza REYNOLDS and Joseph and found a marriage on 13th October 1834 in Great Canfield, Essex between Joseph CAST and Eliza REYNOLDS. Both familysearch and Ancestry have his surname transcribed as CAST. Luckily, I have the register record itself from the Essex Archives and, to me, it looks more like CASH. However, I'm sure it's the right one.

It's a shame that the first witness signature is impossible to decipher for sure. Interestingly, the marriage is with the consent of the parents, from which I can infer that one or other of them (or both!) was under 21. On the 1841 Census, they both said they were 28 which implies that 7 years before that, they were both 21! So perhaps they were just under 21 at the time of the marriage?

Remembering that Eliza consistently said she was born in Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex, I would have expected the marriage to be in her parish. However, Hatfield Broad Oak and Great Parndon are next to one another, so it's still in the general area.

Then onto searching for Joseph CASS's baptism. I first tried searching with familysearch and ancestry between 1809 and 1816 with a surname of CAS? (since the name comes up frequently as CAST, CASS, CASH, CASE) but the only entry was over in Sandon, Essex which is a long way away.

I then tried searching on FREEREG but with no immediate easily identifiable match.

I think the search for Joseph CASS's baptism is going to require a wider investigation! However, one interesting thing I did find on FREEREG is that there was another marriage earlier in 1834, on 12 September, in Little Canfield, Essex for Sarah CASS and William SUTTON where one of the witnesses is Eliza REYNOLDS. I wonder if this Sarah is a sister to Joseph CASS? It would seem highly likely and it does give me another approach to researching!