Caperton Origins

Troy Kent Caperton - 15 May, 2004, Austin, Texas

To the speculations of the last 88 years, I would like to add my own theories and speculations. There is nothing in my findings and theories that conflict with other ideas and I will attempt to reconcile my ideas with the research that has gone on before.

I submit that Capertons probably came from the Gascon town of Capbreton that is situated seventeen kilometers north of Bayonne, France on the shores of the Bay of Biscay. This town had a significant community of Huguenots prior to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes on October 22, 1685. As evidence that this indeed might be the case is 1) the early mention of Capertons connected with French names in English records from 1705 to 1830, 2) the early spelling of “Capebritton” by John Caperton in Virginia, 3) a copy of a map of Gascony (below) that shows a spelling of Caberton. This is very close to our spelling and the map appears to date from the seventeenth or eighteenth century.

The above speculation does not conflict with any of the other theories that I have seen. Both Morton’s view and the ideas of Robert Canterbury can be accommodated by my speculations. Apparently at least some “Capertons” arrived in southern England which was the closest Protestant destination for exiled Huguenots who had lived on the shores of the Bay of Biscay. This would explain the marriage of Richard Caperton and Mary Devorelle in 1712/13 Canterbury. That some “Capertons” would emigrate to Scotland also makes sense because Scottish Presbyterians were their closest co-religionists. French Huguenots were Calvinists just as were the Scottish Presbyterians. This accommodates Robert Canterbury’s assertion that John Caperton the Immigrant was the son of Alexander Capitan and Isobel McIver of Kilmorack parish, Inverness county, Scotland.

Therefore it seems likely that the first Capertons were religio-political refugees from Capbreton, France. There could have been one family or a group of families that took the name of their native town for a last name. "Capbreton", or perhaps the more archaic "Caberton", soon transformed into Caperton in the English-speaking environment. Furthermore, this theory is the genesis of the proposal that a Caperton coat of arms should be; "azure, a chevron or". This is the coat of arms of the town of Capbreton and I believe could be used by bearers of the name Caperton.

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