Hi Arthur,
Thanks for the offer of putting me in touch w/ a pro. researcher in order to
further check out the "Speedwell" story. I'm not really sure of the Bailey
book's veracity, the info. was originally sent to me by someone else. Having
some of the info. professionally researched might explain the consistent
legend in my own CARDEN line that approximates it though. Maybe thru such
research we'll be able to gain some insight into our family origins 'across
the Pond'... or put such a story to rest as a 300 year old figment of
someones active imagi-
nation.
BTW, there's also 'the rest of the story", as Paul Harvey, famous U.S.
radio commentator would say.
My CARDEN family legend goes on to say that John (Joseph?) CARDEN left his
son Robert w/ relatives in VA, and sought to return to England to bring his
wife & daughter back with him to America. Supposedly he was lost with the
ship at sea and was never seen again. Thus, Robert (technically an orphan)
was raised by relatives in America. The legend also says that John
(Joseph?) Carden was either Welch or Scotch and that he was a sometimes
Shakespearean actor...
Looking forward to hearing from you... Martha Smith
Dothan,
AL, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: <CardenAE1(a)cs.com>
To: <CARDEN-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2002 11:30 AM
Subject: Re: [CARDEN-L] The "Speedwell" story
Martha writes
> According to Bailey's book -- The immigrant JOHN CARDEN is said to have
been
> born in 1602 in the borough of Hackney in London, England.
"John was a
> haberdasher by trade and operated a business with his partner, Mr. Hyde,
> who was a tailor in the city of London. Boarded the ship 'Speedwell' in
> 1635 (Nils Haag found a record that said a Joseph Curden came on this
boat
> in the same year, but no John mentioned) with his five year old
son,
> Robert. Settled on the Rappahannock River in the northern neck of VA.
The
> Cardens of East Tennessee descend from this John Carden
I had heard of the Speedwell story before, from Chuck I think, but never
in
such detail. We must have another attempt at tracing these folk in
England.
Joan Carden of Spain has now agreed to search her records to see if
she
can
find anything about John, Joseph or Robert. She suggests John and
Joseph
may
be the same if they appeared as "Jo." as is sometimes the
case. In those
days Hackney was just a village near London and only became a borough a
century or more later.
I think with the mention of a haberdasher and a tailor, it would be well
worth commissioning a professional researcher in London to look for the
Carden and Hyde names in the apprenticeship lists, freemen of the city
lists,
and Guild lists for these occupations. Would anyone like me to
recommend
someone? Can Bailey or anyone quote the source for the information? Who
is
Nils Haag?
Arthur
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