Looking for Charles Cawte - not in any records !

[francisp]

Charles Cawte is my g-g-g-g-grandfather. He is named (with Sarah Adams) as parents on Emily (my g-g-g-gm, 1846) and Sarah Jane (1847) Cawte's birth certs.

Occ carpenter.

The only possible marriage I find is 1840 at Lymington Church. Parents John Cawte (carpenter) and William Adams (labourer).

Emily is b Landport, Sarah Jane b Milton.

By 1851 Sarah has remarried to Charles Clarke and is at Ashley where she seems to originate from.

Only problem is, I cannot find Charles & Sarah in 1841 census, cannot find any record of Charles birth or death (even though that's been narrowed down to 1847-1850).

The Charles who died in 1849 at Southampton is the wrong man - he is a bookbinder who is clearly in the1841 census with his own family.

If I didn't know otherwise I'd say he never existed ! Any help much appreciated.

Francis Payne
Auckland, New Zealand

[avm228]

Hello Francis,

Please could you give us the 1851 census reference (including folio and page number) for Sarah with new husband - I can't easily find them.

Does the 1840 marriage certificate give ages for Charles and Sarah, or does it just say "full age" or equivalent?  Who were the witnesses?

Hope to be able to help

Anna

[francisp]

Hello Anna

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately they are just "full age".

Marriage by Banns. Witnesses are Wm Pitt (!!) and Emma Adams who would be her sister.

In 1851 Charles and Sarah are

Class: HO107; Piece: 1666; Folio: 407; Page: 30;
or second ones on this page (if link works)

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01r9/

Daughter Jane (who must be Sarah Jane) is given as b Portsmouth but in later censuses this reverts to Milton.

Beware the age given for Sarah !. Needing to marry (and Charles being a younger man) I think she chopped few years off. In subsequent censuses it fluctuates but true DOB around 1819 I reckon.

Francis

[trish251]

There is a Charles Cott died in Lymington  Mar 1849 - it comes up in the phonetic search for Cawte on FreeBDM. I guess if Sarah couldn't write the same may sound this way  She didn't remarry until 1850, so it would be possible.

Trish

[francisp]

Thanks Trish. Most interesting.

On one hand I see that Cott appears to be an authentic name but the Charles Cott who is in the 1841 census (at Boldre) is still alive in 1851. So it's not his death recorded at Lymington. 

I'll pursue this further !

Francis

[trish251]

It is frustrating that the death indexes do not contain more information - I hate to have people spending money on incorrect certificates based on my suggestions. If you wait until some time next year, I believe there will be a new index, containing age at death for all records from 1837  - Alternatively do check that there wasn't a child born after 1841 who may have died before 1851 - good luck

Trish

[francisp]

Yes, I agree !

When requesting certs from GRO you can specify certain fields (parents' names, etc) but it's not foolproof.

Regarding Your suggestion about a child born between 1841 and 1851, one odd thing is that if Charles Cawte & Sarah Adams married in 1840, there appear to be no children born or died before 1846.

Possible but quite unlikely ! (Unless Charles was detained somewhere at "Her Majesty's Pleasure"

Regards

Francis

[trish251]

Possible but quite unlikely ! (Unless Charles was detained somewhere at "Her Majesty's Pleasure"

Regards

Francis

Coming from Australia, I did wonder about this - as you can't find a death, I wondered if he was transported after 1845 - although transportation was fading at that point in time. Many women did call themselves "widows" and remarried after their men were transported. It is strange they cannot be found in 1841 (I did look with no success) - your thoughts on gaol may be possible!

Trish

[francisp]

Thanks again Trish.

I've looked through the actual 1841 census images page by page for Ashley, Milton and Lymington with no success. A couple of pages were too faint to read.

The odd thing is that there is no sign of a likely Sarah Cawte by herself, if Charles was in gaol. What would be the best way (from 12,000 miles away) of checking court records or deportation records of that time ?

Going back to his birth record, or lack of, we may have to concede his parents didn't baptise him - there are plenty of Cawtes recorded at Milton but not mine !

Francis