Whilst I am digging into other leads kindly provided by members I thought I'd start this thread. One which has been hanging for over 40 years, and has stumped many Cadd family historians. I cannot see that Rootschat has been called into the case - so here goes!
John Cadd married Catherine Mason in Edgcott, Bucks, in 1743. Catherine's family is traceable in the village back a few generations.
We do not know where John came from.
They founded a family in nearby Hillesden, scene of a notable Civil War siege at the village church which still bears the bullet marks in the door. No Cadd is connected with the village before them.
Within a generation John and Catherine's children - and there were many - spread to neighbouring Preston Bissett, where their youngest Joseph is presumed to have had a relationship with a spinster Mary Howell in 1778. Their child Joseph Cad Howell is my direct ancestor. After the birth nothing is found recorded of both their fates.
The enigma is where did John Cadd come from.
Back in the 1970s I had copies of the early IGI microfiche - remember them? Issues in counties they revealed Cadd families prior to 1740 in Bourton-on-the-Water, Ashleworth, Bideford, and the earliest in the 1500s in Poughill, Devon. Some are also recorded in London.
There are no documnented links to John Cadd who turns up marrying in a sleepy Buckinghamshire village.
The family is vast - with cadet branches emigrating to Australia, then some on to America to become LDS Pioneers, one even marrying the father of Wyatt Earp in later years! Extensive research - and here I thank my distant cousin Robert Heaven who published a book on the family diaspora some 40 years ago - has not cracked this case.
But that was before the Internet.
Can Rootschat crack it?
Many thanks
