In her discussion on the
possible origins of the Caperton’s,
Katherine Phelps Caperton states, in part, that:
“the
family tradition that they are of French ancestry Is confirmed by
the record at Canterbury. These records found by Woods A. Caperton.
and reported by Katherine Phelps Caperton in her manuscript, are
as follows: 1705, May 28th. Monsieur Caperton, godfather to David
La Croix, Walloon Church, Canterbury. 1712-13, Mar 2nd Richard
Caperton of Wells, Somersetshire and Mary Devorelle, to marry at
St. Cuthberts, Wells. Marriage license-Diocese of Bath and Wells”.
Using
this information as a starting point, I began research into the available
resources in the Wells Somersetshire England area. While no definitive
link was found, quite a bit of information was indeed “unearthed”.
I present below the facts as I found them followed by my interpretation
of these facts. I have also scanned the pertinent documents and added them
to the website so that others may view these sources and come to their
own conclusion!
What was found…
In searching the Wells St. Cuthbert parish register, the earliest mention
of the Caperton name found was on page 127 where on 11 July 1697
the wife of Thomas Caperton is recorded to have been buried. The
last mention of a Caperton in the parish register was on 6 October
1728 when a Thomas Caperton is recorded as buried. I searched 15
years beyond the last entry of a Caperton in the registers but found
no further Caperton entries. A listing of Caperton and Devorelle
names extracted from the Wells St. Cuthbert Parish Registers can
be found at the conclusion.
Theory…
It appears from the registers of Wells that the Devorelle’s and
Caperton’s were in the area from at least the late 1600’s.
With the earliest entry being that of the burial of Robert Deverill in
1695. I believe there were at least two families of Capertons in the
area during this time. The first family was that of Thomas and Elianor
Caperton, with Elianor having died 1697 and Thomas having died in 1728.
I believe one of their children was Richard Caperton. Richard married
Mary Deverill on 2 March 1712. Richard and Mary had at least 6 children:
Ann (b. 1713); Richard (b. 1714); John (b. 1717); Mary (b. 1719); Richard
(b. 1721); and Eleanor (b. 1723). It is probable that the first Richard
died between 1717 and 1721 thereby causing the next son to be named for
the father, but I was unable to locate any burial record to verify this.
After Eleanor’s birth, there are no further entries for this family,
with the final entry being that of the burial of Thomas Caperton. A check
of the registers up thru 1740 found no additional Caperton’s, although
there are a couple of Capleton families found in the 1851 census in the
Somerset area. One weakness in the theory that Richard is the son of
Thomas and Eleanor, is that even though he had three sons, none of them
were named Thomas. With regard to the name changing from Caperton to
Capleton, I believe that can be explained by a new Vicar taking over
the parish. In the register the name is consistently spelled Caperton
until 1719 when Richard Healy, the new vicar took over. After which it
is consistently spelled Capleton.
Now for some wild guesses!
In an effort to tie the above to family lore, It is possible that the
son John (b. 1717) is our John Caperton. Since there are no further
entries for the Richard and Elianor family in the register the entire
family could have moved to Ireland about 1725.
This would give the youngest child (Eleanor b. 1723) time to be old
enough to safely travel, would explain why there are no further entries
in the Wells register, and could explain the 1725 date found in family
legend. John would have been 8 at the time of this emigration to Ireland.
This would give him time to grow up, marry and have a family, get into
the trouble he is purported to have gotten into, and travel to America,
where by 1753 he was married and having children. The death dates advanced
by Bernard Caperton for John Caperton are between 1787 and 1789. This
would have made John between 70 and 72 years old at the time of his
death. While certainly not impossible, the age does seem a bit old
for someone with his alleged colorful past! While family legend conveniently
explains why John did not name any of his sons after himself, it
is interesting to note that there were no children named Richard,
Ann, Thomas or Eleanor. Names that if he was indeed the same John
as the one found in Wells, would have been important names to him.
So is this the missing Piece?
I have no idea! I think it is certainly possible that this is our John
Caperton, I have found nothing that makes it impossible that this
is our John Caperton. But it is also certainly just as possible that
he is NOT our John Caperton. I do not believe we can link our family
to this man until we find additional corroborating evidence. Perhaps
we can find some ships passengers lists, or some documentary evidence
in Ireland. The parishes were also pretty restrictive in allowing
parishioners to move from parish to parish, so perhaps there are
some settlement papers available in the Wells St. Cuthberts parish
chest. My goal here is simply to make this information
available to others and hopefully encourage discussion and further
research in this promising area. |
