Caleb Cotton STEVENS 1842 Winsford Somerset UK

[Tom_Faggus]

sorry !!!

replied to your message and I am still thinking. I think slowly !

Bob penfold has always tarmaced our drive. He is definitely Somerset and supposed tobe Romany.

I will ask my dad!!

[deb usa]

Hi

This is interesting ....

Matthew HOWE (husband of Mary Stevens) is a boarder with the Clatworthy family (Harness makers, Exton) in 1901!!!!!

ARRGHHHH lol

deb

[old bones]

Just thought I would mention there are two entries for Caleb Stevens on Genes Reunited trees.  One has him as born in Winsford, the other as Exton.  Might be worth contacting if you are not already doing so.  I also notice one has the surname Howe.

[Annis 51]

Just saw your post about Caleb Stevens. My son in law is descended from William Stevens, the father of Mary Stevens. William had several children. James (born Nov 1812) had Robert who had Rupert who had Victor who had Colin who had Brendan.
Sometimes a woman became pregnant with a man who did not marry her and she was left pregnant and unmarried. The usual thing was to give the baby to a couple who were childless to bring up as their own. This left the woman free to marry another man without the burden of bringing up another man's child.
However William Stevens was already bringing up William Norman Stevens his daughter Jane's son. Jane died in childbirth and was buried on Dec 2 1837 and William was baptised the following day in St Mary's Winsford. This indicates that William would not have forced Mary to give up her son.
Caleb was not baptised at St Mary's Winsford nor at Exton so it is rather a mystery.
The Winsford Stevens are still around. The Cutcombe Stevens are a separate family. In the 1841 Census there is a William Stevens born in Winsford and another William Stevens born in Cutcombe. Each have a wife called Elizabeth. The Winsford William Stevens married Elizabeth Norman. They were C of E. The Cutcombe William Stevens married Elizabeth Hill. They were Methodists.
I think Tom Faggus is closely related to Brendan since the same surnames appear on his tree. I have drawn up a family tree for Colin Stevens which just lacks the maiden name of the wife of George Hayes born in Exford in 1800. Colin Stevens's first cousin Wendy (father Henry stevens) married Edward Schofield (born in Yorkshire).
Just need to get the last name filled in then I can frame it and give the tree to Colin. Mary Hayes was born in Twitchen which is in Devon so the records are not online. So a bit stuck.
1911 census is now free for a while on Ancestry.
Hope this helps.
Annis.

[christyb]

Thank you for your reply.  The more I research the Stevens family the more confused I become!
Caleb was baptised at Winsford on 22 January 1843.  On the West Somerset Transcriptions website his name is transcribed as Caleb Coomer Stevens however I checked the name on the register at Somerset Heritage Centre and it is definitely Caleb Cotton Stevens.  There is no father shown on the baptism register but William Cotton is shown as the father on Caleb's birth certificate (and Mary Stevens stated as spinster)

Regarding Mary Hayes' maiden name, perhaps you could appeal to some kind person who is visiting the N Devon Record Office to find their marriage record.

I am in the process of moving house so family history has to take a back seat for a while, however when I am settled I hope to get back into it.

I would love to solve the mystery of Caleb's apparent absence from the 1851 and 1861 census.  His grandchildren were told he was raised by another family - the question is - who?  His granddaughter, now aged 100, would love to know.

[Annis 51]

Hello,
I've found that sometimes people are missing from the census because they were deliberately left out. This was because the head of household did not want them to appear or because they thought that they were going to be put on the list at their permanent home. Rarely they were abroad so were not resident in the UK. Nobody did anything about it then.
Similarly birth registration. If a baby died the usual thing was to replace 'it' with another baby! This meant having another baby and giving the new baby the same name as the baby who died. Another method was for the bereaved couple to accept a bastard baby that had recently been born to another woman who was unmarried and unsupported. Her reputation was restored and nobody minded this. Still happens in other countries. Sometimes the dead baby/child was replaced by a child of similar age but re-named by the new parents with the same name as the dead baby/child. Better than being chucked down a disused mine shaft or well. All normal right up until the Midwifery Act 1954 which made it illegal to assist in the birth of a baby and to keep it a secret. Not illegal to give birth and say nothing until after 42 days!
Anyway children were often farmed out to other branches of the family to be brought up. Now we know that it is important to know who your parents are because of genetic problems being caused by cousin marriage. This was common practise in rural areas even though the Church was very much against it.
Also girls were forced to get married when pregnant. If the baby's father was unwilling or already married, a widower might offer. Usually the girl was very grateful and the arrangement worked well. The new husband was registered as the father.
Have you looked into Mary's subsequent marriage to one of the Howe family? Three of William Stevens's children married Howes.
Best wishes,
Annis.

[christyb]

Hi Annis
I have considered all possibilities, such as Caleb being brought up by William Cotton's family, or a family member, or being renamed, being taken abroad.  I have looked at all Calebs, and 8/9 year olds in Devon and Somerset in 1851. I don't understand why he would have been left off the census on two occasions  especially on the 1861 census at age 18.  As he became a saddler/harness maker he must have served an apprenticeship somewhere.  It's so strange for someone to 'disappear' for 25 years, between his baptism in 1843 to his marriage in Taunton in 1868. 
Caleb married Louisa Jane Peppin who was living with her mother and stepfather, John and Jane Sully, in 1861 at Williton, so they must have been in the same area in the years leading up to their marriage.  They were living in the same area of Taunton when they married.  On their marriage certificate Caleb's father was named as William Stevens which suggests he didn't know about William Cotton, and that he may have been brought up by his grandfather William Stevens or uncle, also William.  The mystery goes on!
I have looked into Caleb's mother Mary's marriage which took place in December 1844 to Matthew Howe, their first child Margaret was born the following year.

I'm sure your head is spinning with all this information so I'll leave it for now, but if you know any more about the family or can help in any way I would be very grateful.
Best wishes.

[Annis 51]

Dear Christy,
Ok so do you live on Exmoor? The thing is that Exmoor is rather uncivilised and a bit behind the times. If you have a bastard baby round here and the father doesn't want you to keep the baby and doesn't stand by you nobody will speak to you if you do! My eldest grandson is the son of Andrew Stevens of Codsend, Wheddon Cross. I thought that he was ok but he turned nasty when Alex my daughter told him she was pregnant. He told her to get an abortion otherwise nobody would have anything to do with her. Well she didn't want one and Ben was born May 2008. We had to go the whole nine yards with the CSA and Andrew refuses to see his only child. He pays £5 a week because he lies about his income. The grandparents see the boy once a year on his birthday which really annoys my daughter since this is neither one thing or the other. So it is not very nice. Plus Andrew Stevens works for Sully's in Minehead! Some coincidence. As well as this my daughter married Brendan Stevens June 2011 and they had a baby Max the following May. Brendan descends from the Winsford Stevens and is therefore a distant relation of yours. His father Colin was born 1945. His father was Victor who was born (can't remember) then it was Rupert Darrell then Robert who was born in 1857 then James who was born in 1812 then William Stevens who was born in 1798! So there it is. Colin Stevens lives in Wheddon Cross and he's a sweetie. He loves the boys and sees them a lot. In view of what has happened to us I can well believe someone keeping quiet about the shame of having a bastard in the mid 1800's. My father was born a bastard in 1933 and it was just the same then. It is only recently that being illegitimate hasn't ever been anything but a terrible shame. Such a pity. This is the likely reason for not finding him in the census records. Life is different now and I hope that the boys on Exmoor got a wake up call when they discovered what happens when they get a girl in the family way and tell the CSA to F--K OFF. We got a new birth certificate with his name on and he should be ashamed of himself. Ben has a new Daddy now which he thinks is fine. "The first Dad was no good cos he ran off." Rather says it all. Minehead used to have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Somerset but now the school has resumed sex education lessons the rate has gone down.
I had a word about Caleb when Colin came for supper last night and he said that he would have a look into it.
So it is a bit frontier land here. I was surprised by the viciousness of the local girls in relation to Alex. Brendan was told by one of them that the reason they hated her so much was because they all had to do the decent thing and have an abortion! It's not fair she was allowed to keep her baby and I hate her!!!!! Well more fool you was his reply. Indeed Alex was pressed to have a termination by the doctor at Musgrove but she's Roman Catholic and does not believe in that kind of behaviour. Ben is a splendid chap (looks just like his Dad!) and we adore him.
So whilst I like Exmoor I find some of the locals rather unfriendly!
I'll let you know if I come across anything.
Regards,
Annis.
PS. Now Ben is walking around looking just like his Dad the older men shake their heads and say Hmmmmm.!!!!!!

[Annis 51]

Just looked on the 1871 census record and there was a Caleb Stevens at the Lambeth Church. Have you looked at this record? In the 1861 census there is a Caleb Stevens in Lewes. This man is still alive in 1901 and is distinct from Caleb Stevens born in Winsford. Maybe Caleb was in London when the census was taken and the Church wrote him down as being there on that night. It might say more about him in the actual record. One of my ancestors was away from home and it states visitor from Broadstairs in the actual record.
You could also look up harness makers ( what he was in 1901) in Somerset and see if he turns up.
The Heritage Centre has loads of old records.
Who were his godparents? Are these in his baptism record? He might have gone there. I think that he would have spent a lot of time with his grandfather William if he names him as his father on the marriage certificate. Who witnessed the wedding because he might have been living with them. Life was a lot harder then. What happened to William Cotton? Did he die before he could marry Mary? Was he married already? You have relations in America by the way because I saw a post about this man on a US site.
Regards,
Annis.