Troy Town Stories

The development of Troy Town (and Star Hill and New Road) at the end of the eighteenth century would have led to an increase in the population of Rochester.  Star Hill However, it is not easy to demonstrate this. There was no counting of the population, at local or national level, at this time. Historians wanting to know the population need to use sources created for other purposes. Lists of taxpayers or ratepayers give the names of householders or the owners or occupiers of land, not of individuals.  Star Hill Parish registers list baptisms, marriages and burials. (Nearly) everyone who died in England was buried. Not every one was married, and not every child was brought to church to be baptised. The most complete and easily accessible parish registers in England are those of the Church of England, but by the end of the eighteenth century increasing numbers of people were not members of the Church of England but of one of the dissenting churches, such as the Methodists, or we...

Local and family history research have changed immensely within the last generation or so. Some of us remember heaving the index volumes around at St Catherine's House (it was good exercise), or winding through reels of microfilm at Portugal Street, or scribbling furiously in record offices, trying to get down the maximum amount of information in the time available. Now, many resources are available online. Many are free. Many more are accessible through sites offering paid subscriptions. The cost of a subscription to a site such as Find My Past is more than offset by the saving in the time and expense of travelling to a record office, and being able to work at any time of day or night. Most of the research for this blog so far was done online. Principal sources used include: Parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials from Find My Past Local newspapers from Find My Past Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills from The National Archives (free to access) Edward Hasted's ...

The blog so far has taken the story of Troy Town up to the death of Jacob Cazeneuve Troy in 1798.  (The family, or whoever recorded an event in a parish register, used various spellings of the name. In this post, I have used throughout the version they settled on finally.) The aim of this post is to recap the story up to 1798 in chronological order. In 1685, Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes, whi ch since 1598 had a guaranteed a degree of freedom of worship and freedom from oppression to French Protestants or Huguenots.   Following the Revocation, and the consequent persecution, many Huguenots took refuge in England. Some, who were silkweavers, settled in Canterbury or Spitalfields, east of the City of London. Others were engaged in business or finance.  Jean, or John, Cazeneuve came to England from the island of Oléron on the west coast of France sometime before 1696. John married Ester or Esther Brodu or Brodeur. They had children baptised in Westmins...

According to John Cazeneuve's death notice in the Kentish Gazette on 5 August 1791, he was 'for many years a [wine?] and brandy merchant of this town [Chatham], but had retired from business'. He was 64 years old. His baptism date was 29 September 1726, so he must have been nearly 65 at his death. In his will, John described himself as a gentleman. John Cazeneuve had at least £7,000 invested at 4% in Consolidated Bank Annuities, issue of 6 April 1780. Consols, as they were known, were Bank of England stock, a means of managing the National Debt. Subscribers or investors lent their money to the government and received an annual return or annuity. Consols were popular with cautious investors, as they received a safe and guaranteed return of between 3% and 5% on their invested capital, depending on when they invested. These interest rates were low; much greater returns could be obtained on other investements such as canal stock, but canals were also much riskier investments. J...

John Cazeneuve was survived by his wife Esther and one son, Jacob, who was baptised in Chatham in 1703. Esther Cazeneuve n ée  Brodu died in 1746.  A Prospect of his Majesties Royal Navy Lying at the several Moorings at Chatham, 1680-1730 From the British Library archive On the left is St Mary's church as it would have been when the Cazeneuves knew it. The church has been much altered and rebuilt over time.   Jacob Cazeneuve married Susanna. The marriage has not so far been discovered, so her name, and whether she too was of Huguenot origin, is unknown.  The marriage must have take place in or before 1721, as Jacob and Susanna's eldest (known) child was baptised on 17 November 1721. If Jacob was an infant at his baptism in 1703, he must have been married very young. Average age at first marriage for men in England in the past was around the mid-twenties.  The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, Cambridge While most children were b...