Hi Deb
Continuing our chat from my thread on Ivybridge 1841 - I have no idea who William Cotton was, it's purely speculation, he could have been a member of the gentry or a stable boy!
I have just been trying to piece together any possible connections, for example if Mary Stevens was in service and met a William Cotton but have not found any William Cottons and Mary Stevens in the same area in 1841. Of course they could have met after the census was taken.
I agree that Caleb could have been known under another name when he was growing up, however he was called Stevens in 1868 when he married (incidentally his father was shown as William Stevens on the marriage certificate which complicates matters further)
The Caleb Clatworthy you mention is also on 1881 census, as is Caleb Stevens, so not the same person.
I am helping Caleb's granddaughter (now 97) to try and find who her great-grandparents were, she would love to know the truth.
Caleb's son was also told he had 'cousins' in the Howe family from Winsford and I have been sent details of a marriage in 1844 Winsford of Mary Stevens and Matthew Howe.
I don't think this mystery will be solved without evidence of Caleb in 1851 and 1861.