Caperton European Roots

by Robert Canterbury

The Following summarizes a series of eMails written by Robert Canterbury on his research of the origins of the Caperton Name. Robert's connection to Caperton is thru Alice Caperton, his g-mother. She was daughter of Hugh Thompson Caperton, s/o John S., s/o Captain 'New River' Hugh Caperton.

Published here with the permission of the Author.

7-2-99
Caperton European roots –
Evidence indicates John Caperton – American immigrant – came from Ireland, then Scotland, and a long way back - France. It appears quite likely that John Caperton was born about 1735 in Kilmorack parish, Inverness county, Scotland and that his parents were Alexander Capitan and Isobel McIver, both of the same parish- reference Old Parish Records of Scotland. His family moved to Ireland shortly after 1748 and John Caperton was in Augusta county Virginia by May 8, 1753. He was likely married by 1755 - birth date of oldest son Adam (not Hugh, born abt 1757) per Elmwood manuscript - see p.197 of "The Caperton Family" by Bernard Caperton - 1972, Katherine Phelps letter dated 7/23/1930 and the fact that Adam was listed in early Virginia tithables in 1773 and Hugh not until 1774 (see p. 9 of "The Caperton Family"). The evidence below supports this proposal. Comments welcome.

1. Caperton family history from 1800’s and early 1900’s. Reference article from 1972 Harper’s Magazine and 8/7/1921 letter from G.W.Caperton, president of Slab Fork Coal Co. – 2 nd paragraph. Also Katherine Phelps Caperton’s early research (reference her letter dated 7/23/1930) and Admiral Capertons’ research in Scotland as the initial source of Capertons, before coming from France.

2. Reference p. 192 of "The Caperton Family" by Bernard M. Caperton in the discussion on European background of John Caperton. In 1932 a genealogist was hired to search to search for a connection with Caprington and Cunningham in Scotland - finding no connection Katherine Phelps Caperton had sources in England checked and found references to families with name spelled Caperton, i.e. Richard Caperton and Thomas Cappiden (this was the spelling interestingly, same as the Scottish spelling, except with an extra ‘p’). Katherine Phelps Caperton’s first belief of the family origin in Europe was Scotland, however and she changed latter. Unfortunately, back in the 1930’s, the Old Parish Records in Scotland were only available on paper records, mostly unindexed. Now, computer aided search tools are available on old parish records that have been indexed by name, available via internet access and the Family History IGI in larger public libraries.

3. Name was not originally spelled Caperton, reference above letter dated 1921 from G.W.Caperton. In Bernard Caperton’s book on he references some of the early spellings of Capertons in early Virginia records – i.e. 1774 tithables for Augusta county – lists Adam Capitan. Most often the spellings were more phonetic than based on standard spellings in those times – that is, how the listener guessed the spelling.

4. Book "Scottish Emigrants to the USA", page 65, by Donald Whyte, lists John Caperton as coming from Scotland.

5. Book "Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy" by Fredrick Adams Virkus, p. 299 Vol. I, dated 1925, says John Caperton came from Scotland. Book in item 4 above references this work.

6. According to Bernard Caperton’s book, the Elmwood Manuscript, which he estimates dates to before 1844, says the Capertons came from Ireland and left after some trouble. A copy of the manuscript appears in his book. Suspect stay in Ireland was rather short.

7. The Old Parish Records (OPR) of Scotland list a Hugh Capitan/Capidan and an Alexander Capidan in Kilmorack parish, Inverness county. There family records of marriage and their childrens’ births last from 1735 until 1748. Interestingly, no other published records in all of Scotland list any families by the surname of Capitan or Capidan, 1748 is the last reference – also see Family History IGI records. Suspect the remenants of the family moved to N. Ireland to escape English oppression in Scotland, especially ruthless in the mid-1700’s. At this time in history, N. Ireland was a better place to live than parts of Scotland, especially Inverness area, and Scottish migration to N. Ireland was not uncommon.

8. All the family first names listed in the OPR noted above were fist names used in the family here in America. The first name Hugh especially stands out – it was not a common first name in early days of USA.

9. Katherine Phelps Caperton references that Capertons originally came from France with William the Conqueror and his Norman host in 1066. Interestingly, Kilmorack parish noted above in Scotland is predominately populated by Frasers, a Scottish clan who came to Britain with the Normans as noted above and held ties to France. Reference the Fraser history, clan motto in French (rare for mottos of that time, most in Latin.) Seems the Ireland and France connection are common to most theories about the Caperton origin, it’s just the middle country that’s at question. A name in early Kilmorack parish records - about 1675, was Captaine, which with that spelling died out early 1700’s, may be an earlier spelling of Capitan/Caperton.

10. Estimating about 1735 for John Caperton's birth, given a note in Katherine Phelps Caperton's letter noted above that Hugh was born in 1735. Suspect that was really John Caperton's date, which would fit with Alexander
Capidan's marriage time frame in Inverness county.

7-6-99
No Franklin or George found as first names in the Scottish records. According to Bernard Caperton's book, they didn't start appearing in the Caperton families until about the 2nd or 3rd generation in America.

3-6-00
Capitan,without the ‘r’ was an early spelling of Caperton according to several historical sources. Often names were spelled as they sounded to the writer. Capitan or similar spelling without the 'r' is the way it sounded to the writer in the following documented cases:

1. The 1773 tithables of Botetourt county Virgnia list ‘Adam Capitan’, Caperton spelled without the ‘r’. Bernard Caperton in his book “The Caperton Family” on p.9 suggests this is the same person as Adam Caperton, son of John Caperton the Immigrant.

2. On p.192 of “The Caperton Family” book noted above, another reference is made to an early spelling of Caperton, without the middle ‘r’ (Cappiden), in an English marriage record.

3. The book “George Rogers Clark and His Men – Military Records 1778-1784” on p. 114 provides a muster roll reflecting the original spellings of names of the soldiers who were members of Capt. James Estill’s company. It includes Adam, who was killed at Estill’s Defeat in Kentucky. The original spelling of his last name on the muster list is without the middle ‘r’.

Consequently, the popular spelling Caperton was early spelled several different ways, including Capitan or similar spellings without the ‘r’, which is a historical fact and occurred at least 3 different times by 3 different clerks. This is not counting the likely references in Scotland as noted earlier in this forum. Apparently, to those clerks, the ‘r’ sound was not clearly pronounced or was soft enough not to be heard when they documented the name.

Some other additional early spellings were:

Capertin – per Chalkley’s Vol 1, p. 391, referring to Hugh Caperton

Capbritton (per Chalkley’s Vol 3., p356,363 and p.9 of “The Caperton Family” -first syllable not sounding like ‘CAPE’ but ‘CAP’ apparently)”. Not sure where ‘Capebritton’ was found, have not seen it that way, only as ‘Capbritton’.

Capterton - per p.151 of “Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers” by Lloyd D. Bockstruck – refering to muster roll of Capt. John Lewis’s company in Sept 1774.

[editors note: on 2-14-02 Mr. Canterbury clarified portions of his research. Those clarifications follow]
My original comments were not as clear as I had intended on these items - hope these updates clarify these theories :

1. Caperton's where almost certainly of French stock originally. Believe they left France for Scotland during persecution of the Huguenot's in the 1600's. Have found documentation of some other Huguenot families who had settled in the Inverness area of Scotland as well. Also, maybe more than a coincidence, is the fact that the Capertons married early on into another Huguenot family in Virginia - the Shumates. Item of possible interest –did find record of a French name that spelled close to Caperton recorded several times in the town of Pinsot in S.E. France (near Grenoble). Had heard the Cape Britain area (unable to locate this on a map) of France also offered as another location for the Caperton homeland.

2. Believe a family of Caperton's spent a few generations (maybe mid-1600’s to the late 1740’s) near Inverness, Scotland - a district thick with other French expatriates, namely Frasers (been a few hundred years since they left France, but they held that memory close, i.e. in their motto etc. - also many of whom were Protestant in this region of Scotland). Suggest then that a Caperton or two made for Ireland around 1750 and within a couple years or so ended up in Virginia in the early 1750's.

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