Nicholas Cady, of Watertown

Biography

From “Descendants of Nicholas Cady of Watertown, Mass. 1645-1910” page 10 Archive.Org

Family

No lettered tablets mark the last resting place of Nicholas Cady and his wife Judith; their only monuments were their children, whose successful and honored - careers testified to the wealth of mental endowment inherited from their parents.

Children of Nicholas and Judith Cady, b. Watertown, Mass.:

1. John, b. Jan. 15, 165o/1.
2. Judith, b. Sept . 2, 1653.
3. James, b. Aug. 28, 1655.
4. Nicholas, b. Aug. 2, 1657; d. Jan. 21, 1657/8.
5. Daniel, b. Nov. 27, 1659.
6. Ezekiel, b. Aug. 14, 1662; probably d. young, as we hear no more of him.
7. Nicholas, b. Feb. 2o, 1663/4.
8. Joseph, b. May 28, 1666.

Disputed Origins

"Cadys of Devonshire ...In 1892 Prof. Daniel Cady Eaton of Yale University and the compiler of this work engaged Mr. J. J. Howard, Maltravers' Herald, an English expert, to search the Registers of Northam, Abbotsham and Bedford on the western side of Devonshire County, Eng., for evidence of Cades or Cadys in that locality. The result was that he copied from the various registers about 900 names of Cadys and the allied families of Rowe, Hooper, Strange, Lawrence and others, with whom they had closely intermarried since 1540. The earliest name in the list is that of William Cade, bapt. in Northam, Devon County, Nov. 10, 1540, but his parents are not given. A list of his children followed in due time. As our search failed to find any trace of Nicholas Cade..."

"Cades of Derbyshire. Cade is the name of a very old Derbyshire family, and is to be found in the early Parish Registers of Chesterfield, Eckington, Barlborough, Staveley, etc. The Pedigree Register of June, 1909, just received from London, gives an extended and interesting list of descendants of ]ohn Cade, who in 1327 was one of the six inhabitants of Eckington assessed at 60s for goods. The record extends from 1327 to about 1800. The above citations are given to show that the Cadys were not limited to a single locality but were dispersed from an early date in many of the English counties, of whom a goodly number were honored by the bestowment of coats of arms for valor or other deeds deemed worthy of royal favor." [No mention of a Nicholas.]

"Migrations of Cadys to America. James Cade, who settled in Hingham, Mass., 1635, was bapt. May 16, 1611, the son of Christopher Cade, bapt. Apr. 10, 1583, son of James Cade, bapt. ]une 29, 1552, all natives of Northam, County Devon, Eng. The younger, James Cade, married Aug. 21, 1633, Margaret Browne of Bidford, near Northam. Their first child was Philip, born in Northam Mar. 20, 1635 [first child born after this Nicholas]. Sometime in 1635 James Cade migrated to New England, for we found he “ was the first one to draw his house lot in Hingham, Mass., Sept. 18, 1635; his lot was next to the sea, what is now Ship St., in Hingham." He was one of the 29 first settlers." [No mention of a Nicholas.]

"While we have no certain knowledge of the locality in England whence Nicholas Cady came to this country, or the exact date of his advent here, yet one or two suggestions are offered, either of which may possibly be a solution of the matter. For a time it was thought that he was a son or brother of ]ames Cade of Hingham, both of which assumptions have been disproved, for ]ames Cade was not married till 1633, a date too late for Nicholas to have been his son, and the will of Christopher Cade proved that he had no son Nicholas. The search in Devon County, Eng., failed to find a Nicholas Cady, yet he may have been born there, for the Registers give evidence that during several years no entries were made, and in a number of cases the entries were not legible, which fact leaves one with a feeling of doubt.

"Another suggestion is that he came over a minor in 1630 with William Knapp, as a carpenter's apprentice, [doubtful he was born in 1627!] for we know that Nicholas Cady was a carpenter, as was William Knapp, who came from near Bury St. Mary, County Suffolk, Eng., ... and as there were Cades at Stoken Stein in the same county at that time, it is quite reasonable to suppose that Nicholas Cady, a younger son, might have been bound out as an apprentice to Knapp, as was the custom of the time, and that he might have been allowed to migrate with his master to America, as many another scion had done. We know that Nicholas was very intimately connected with the Knapp family for some years before his marriage with Judith, the daughter of William Knapp; which fact adds force to the supposition that he might have been a member of the family as an apprentice."

From this source, it appears that there is no proof of the parentage of this Nicholas Cady.

Highway Surveyor in Groton, MA, soldier in King Phillip's War under Mr. Williams' garrison (1675-1676). After the war he returned to Groton as a constable and highway surveyor. He also served as a corporal in the miitia.

Links

• http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bobwolfe/gen/person/g6771.htm