26, Stocks Gardens Stalybridge Cheshire.
SK15 2RD
4 / 11 / 2000

Dear Cousin Mike,
At long last I think I have assembled the relevant information showing how I am related to Ellen Caswell, daughter of Henry Caswell of Wootten Rivers, Wilts.
Caleb Gideon Hunt married Ellen Caswell on December 27th 1890 in the Wesleyan Chapel in Pewsey. This was the first of his three marriages. The full details are on the enclosed copy of their Marriage Certificate. Its a pity its a Registrars copy - a copy of the certificate of his second marriage shows a clear signature done with a steel pen nib. As you can see he was a soldier at the time - by 1909 he was a market gardener. I think that in his family there was a tradition of army service. Though his father, John, is listed as being a farrner, he had been a soldier in Ireland, probably around 1840, bringing a wife, Elizabeth, back to live at Greenhill near Swindon. She was there as a widow in 1881 with Caleb and his brother Enoch. She died around 1910 leaving the farm to Enoch. Earlier in oral family history someone fought in America - on the English side, of course.
They had eight children - I have not done any research on them, though, as I knew some of them, I can give you some facts.
John - died in Canada around 1912.
Florence - married Percy Smith, an ANZAC, in 1919. They went to Riverstone, N.S.W. Australia where they successfully reared poultry - and a family.
Henry - married Florence Reynolds, worked on the railway and grew beautiful vegetables on his allotment. I think he had 5 children, two of whom are still alive. Joyce is over 80, crippled with arthritis/rheumatism and living in a residential home in Swindon. She is one of the most cheerful people I have met and a pleasure to be with. John - her little brother lives in Australia having emigrated around 1954. He is now 68 and has a wife and family. He is also a Baptist lay preacher.
A twin to Henry who died at birth.
Charles - was a ships purser. He married Elsie and they had 2 sons, Charlie and Leslie. When my father and I visited him in the 1950s and 60s he was a widower living in Totton, Southampton.
Belinda Ellen - who died as a baby.
Edgar George, my father, bom 2nd July 1900 in Swindon.
Another baby - may have been called Ellen - who died.
Ellen Caswell Hunt died when my father was 7 - so probably in 1907 - of puerperal fever. My father had vivid memories of her as an excellent cook - she made 7 Christmas puddings every year - each one a bit smaller than the next. Caleb Gideon died in Swindon in June 1926.
After the death of his mother my father seems to have been passed round the relatives some of whom he liked. His mothers sister, Ethelene (Caswell) was one. She married someone called Lee and they had several children. I think I met them all, staying in both



Great Bedwyn and Crofton with 2 of them. The husband of Rosalie even offered me a job as the village school mistress - I didn't think I'd got enough experience at the time so I said "No, Thank you." But they were very nice people.
By the time he was 14 my father had left home. His father's new wife had produced children and he did not want to become a nursemaid. After a spell in the Royal Navy - most of which he spent in Hasslar R.N. Hospital recovering from flu followed by double pneumonia and empyacmia - ( it was the 1919 'flu epidemic) - he began to use his knowledge of Steam Traction Engines. He drove one from London to Leeds in 1922 before joining the West Riding County Council first as a steam roller driver, progressing to a Barber Greene, the heavy new plant used in major road repair. In Yorkshire he was not known as Edgar but Jim - this became amusing when I heard my cousin Joyce in Swindon call him Uncle Edgar while my mother always called him Jim. He died in Sprotbrough near Doncaster in November 1970.
On May 5th 1928 he married Winifred Hannah Sykes of Doncaster. She was an Audio-typist at Bumetts Wagon Works - Doncaster was then a major railway engineering town. Of course, being 1928, after marrying she became a housewife instantly. They bought a house in Springwell Lane, Doncaster. She died in March 1952, aged 50.
They had one child (me) on August 2nd 1932. They christened me Sheila Winifred Rosemary. lnl934myparentsboughtandmovedintoahouseinSprotbroughwherellived until I moved here in 1971. Even after I was married I was referred to a "Jim Hunt's daughter." lwenttoBishopGrossetesteCollegeinLincolninl950. Itwasthenknownas LincoInTrainingCollegeforWomanTeachers. Herel trainedasaPrimarySchoolTeacher, I did not give up teaching after I married, continuing off and on until I retired in 1 992.
I married Roger Holmes of Doncaster on August 12th 1958 in the village church in Sprotbrough which is old - the North Porch was added in 1666 to an older building. He was also a Primary Teacher but he progressed to deputy head in Doncaster then to head in Mossley, Lancashire in 197 1. This was when we moved to our present home in Cheshire.
Michael, our first son, was bom in Doncaster on March 6th 1966. He is still living
with us. He is a freelance musician, playing church pipe organ every Sunday in 2 churches, theatre organ in various places where they are preserved, electronic organ and keyboards in clubs and for all kinds of functions - I don't think he's done a Barinitzva yet!
Daniel, our second son, was bom on January 23rd 1973. He is now a management accountant working for Yorkshire Electricity in Leeds having been to Nottingham University where he studied Economics and having also passed the exams set by the Institute of Management Accountancy he could sign himself as B.A., C.I.M.A. He now lives in York, an old city which he likes very much - and so do I ! Though at this moment it is suffering from a certain amount of flooding after the heavy rains which parts of the country are now reeiving. Fortunately his flat is on higher ground than some of the houses in the city.
I haven't done much more research into Caleb's family - I might manage that when I find out which regiment was in the Barracks Le Marchand in 1890. It is obvious that Henry
Caswell was dead by 1890 hence the move to Hugomont Farm, Collingbourne Ducis - (some lovely names in Wiltshire.) I'm sorry I can't find any blacksmiths or bakers in the family now - though my cousins tell me that I bake a good Christmas cake.
At the moment I'm pressing on with the study of my grandmother, Elizabeth Abbott and her family. They came from villages outside York so the records are easier to access - a train ride to York and a morning spent reading the parish records on microfiche - then a look round the city at the history or the shops. Next visit will be to scan Shipton between !730 and 1800.
I hope all this is of use to you - if there is something missing please point me in the right direction and I will try to fill in the gaps. I know all this isn't relevant to your data base but I included it to help to make the characters alive and real people. This means that you can extract as you want provided that you get the vital facts correct - as I'm sure you will.
The enclosed is a small donation to your research fund and to help the postage costs of the Caswell Register.
Best wishes on your further research. If it is of any interest to you, my father told me never to pick watercress that was not growing in fresh water - I wonder who told HIM that?
I wonder if you have come across the hymn tune "Caswell"? I found it while I was scanning through a hymnal. It is a Victorian tune - not written by a Caswell. If you are interested I can send you a copy of it.
Sorry to have kept you waiting but as you know it sometimes takes a while to gather documents together .
Best wishes and regards from

Your Cousin Sheila