Caffyn's Field

Caffyn's Field in Littlehampton.
So far as I can tell it is between St Catherines Road and Beach Road, the church in the background is St Catherine of Alexandria RC.  It is still known as Caffyn's Field.

How it got its name I don't know but it may be connected to Frederick James Caffyn who lived at 1 Beach Road.  Frederick was born in 1863, the son of John and Mary Caffyn, he married Ann Elizabeth Isaac in Wokingham in 1895 (she was born in Devon).  The couple moved to Sussex and eventually to Littlehampton where Frederick was a butcher.  Their children were Mary Elizabeth (1897), Frederick Charles (1899), Frank (1901), Emily Gwynneth (1903) and Margaret Doris (1905).  Frederick died in 1942 and his wife two years later.

James Caffyn (1772-1835) - part two

In part one I showed that James Caffyn was nonconformist, and that he was a cousin of Richard Caffyn and brother to Thomas Caffyn.

I am not likely to find a baptism record for him - Baptist churches (the Caffyn family had a strong Baptist tendency) did tend to record their congregations new arrivals but I have all the surviving records for Sussex and James is not included.

So identifying his parents is not straightforward but I have the will of a Jacob Caffyn "of West Grinstead in the County of Sussex farmer" dated 1799, he is married to Elizabeth and lists his children as Jacob, Thomas, Elizabeth, Sarah, Matthew, James and Jane.  He also mentions his son in law Benjamin Browne of Cowfold.  He does not specify his daughters surnames which suggests they are not married but the reference to his son in law contradicts this.

A search of marriages finds that Benjamin Browne of Cowfold married Elizabeth Caffyn on the 26th May 1787 in West Grinstead.

Returning to the will of Richard Caffyn (written 1810) I found that in addition to a bequest to his cousin James Caffyn of Rusper he also left a bequest "to my cousin Elizabeth Brown wife of Benjamin Brown of Cowfold".  So we now know that Elizabeth Brown nee Caffyn is another cousin of Richard Caffyn.  She could also be a sister of James Caffyn.

I checked the will of Richard Caffyn for the other daughters of Jacob Caffyn; Jane Caffyn is referred to as "Jane Terroll wife of Joseph Terroll of Cowfold" - Jane Caffyn married Joseph Terrell on the 28th May 1799 at the age of 21 years.  Sarah Caffyn is "my cousin Sarah Wells wife of William Wells of Slaugham" - Sarah Caffyn married William Wells on the 23rd October 1786 in Slaugham.  There is also reference to cousins Matthew Caffyn of West Grinstead and Jacob Caffyn of West Grinstead.

I believe therefore that James Caffyn was born c1772 to Jacob and Elizabeth Caffyn of West Grinstead and his siblings include Thomas, Jacob, Elizabeth, Sarah, Matthew and Jane.

Sources
Will of Richard Caffyn of Goudhurst, Kent - written 1810, proved 1820

Sussex Marriage Index

Will of Jacob Caffyn of West Grinstead - written 1799, proved 1801

James Caffyn (1772-1835) - part one

Fortunately for us James Caffyn lived in Rusper in Sussex.  Fortunate because Rusper is one of the few places which recorded its residents in more detail at the time of the 1821 census.  James Caffyn is recorded as a miller living with his wife Elizabeth and his children Thomas, Harriet, Jacob, Eliza, Peter, Charlotte, Matthew and John.  The priest who recorded this information noted other details including dates of birth of the older children and that the older children were baptised sometime after their birth. It was also recorded that James wife Elizabeth died on the 19th January 1825 (confirmed in the burial register of St Marys Rusper).

Elizabeth and James married in 1794 in West Grinstead: 

James Caffyn of this Parish of West Grinstead Batchelor and Eliz:th March of the same Parish Spinster were married in this Church by Licence this Tenth Day of December in the Year One Thousand seven hundred and ninety four

As James and Elizabeth's children were baptised some years after they were born it  suggests that James Caffyn was nonconformist but converted back to the mainstream church around 1811.  This is fairly typical of the period - many Caffyns returned to the Church of England in the early 19th century.  His eldest son Thomas may not have been so keen to convert, he was about 15 years old in 1811 and wasn't baptised with his siblings but was baptised with his younger brother Matthew on the 28th March 1813.

James Caffyn died in 1835 and was buried on the 3rd August 1835 in Rusper but he had been living in Withyham; possibly with his son Thomas who was working as a miller in Withyham.  James's age was given as 63 years which puts his birth around 1772.  I have searched for his baptism without success but that is not surprising if he comes from a nonconformist - probably Baptist - family.  

There is a clue to James's ancestry as he is mentioned in the 1810 will of Richard Caffyn:

to my cousin James Caffyn of Rusper in the said county of Sussex the like sum of one hundred and fifty pounds

This is an informative will which gives lots of family connections including naming another cousin, Thomas Caffyn of Newhouse in West Grinstead.  Thomas Caffyn died around 1836 and his wife Ann can be found in the 1851 census with her daughters Ann and Elizabeth as well as her niece Eliza Caffyn.  The 1821 Rusper census noted that James and Elizabeth's daughter Eliza was living in West Grinstead with an uncle - this must have been her uncle Thomas which makes Thomas a brother to James.

More to come on James Caffyn 

Sources

West Sussex Record Office: West Grinstead PAR95 1/1/5 Marriage Register 1754-1812

1821 Rusper Census fiche (Sussex Family History Group)

Will of Richard Caffyn of Goudhurst, Kent - written 1810, proved 1820

Will of Thomas Caffyn of New House in West Grinstead - written 1829, proved 1836

1851 Census - HO107 73 3 1648

Whats in a name?

The surname Caffyn is thought to have orginated from the time of the Norman Conquest.  In simple terms the Normans who invaded could not speak English and the locals could not speak French so a combination of the two languages evolved and effected things such as surnames which were developing at around this time.

Caffyn is a derivation of the French word ‘chave’ which means bald.  It comes under the category of surnames which have developed from nicknames - descriptive terms which were used in a complimentary or derisive manner.  So we can guess that the earliest Caffyn was either bald or very hairy!

In the UK there are two forms of Caffyn which predominate, Caffyn with a Y or Caffin with an I.  Early records show that families used different versions of their surname themselves, unlike nowadays, they were not too particular.  A similar surname Kaffin is not thought to have any connection, the Kaffins are from Wales and Devon although there is an overlap sometimes such as the vicar of Horsham who was thought for a long time by many people to have a connection to the Caffyns of Horsham.  As surnames became fixed some branches of a family took to using an I whilst other branches stuck with a Y.

There are a lot of Caffins in France.  At present I have no idea if they connect to the UK Caffyns although I do have a wonderful theory as to have they may be part of the same family and it all goes back to the Tower of London.  To get any further  I will have to learn to speak French so this aspect of my research is long term to say the least.