The Huffey Family
To start with - perhaps the title is incorrect. Maybe it should be "Hoffey Family", at least that's
how it all started. Or to be more precise, that's as far back as I have managed to get with the
Huffey/Hoffey family in a direct line and with that name.
I have managed to trace some of the spouse's families farther back in time. Edward Hoffey IV
married Sarah Orvis in Rattlesden in 1763. Her great-great-great-great-grandfather,
Barthelemewe Orvis was born about 1535 in Rattlesden.
Church records were not kept until 1538. The Mandate of 1538, formulated by Thomas
Cromwell, instructed every parish to purchase a "sure coffer", the parson to have one key, a
churchwarden another. The minister was to enter into a book every marriage, christening and
burial at which he officiated, the entries to be made after the service on Sunday with a
churchwarden as witness. This book was then to be kept in the newly acquired parish chest.
There are approximately 1500 parishes in which register entries begin as early as 1538. In
practice the entries were usually made on sheets of paper and written up in a book in 1598.
Since July 1, 1837, copies of entries of birth, marriages and deaths have had to be deposited at the
General Registry Office, now at St. Catherine's House in London. A birth certificate gives the
place of birth, the parents names and occupation of the father, the maiden name of the mother,
their address, and details of the informant. A death certificate gives the name, address, age and
cause of death, and details of the person who submitted the information. A marriage certificate
gives the date and place of the marriage, the names, ages, occupations, marital status of the
couple, and the names and occupation of the parents.
This was definitely NOT the norm when the minister entered the information into the parish
register. Sometimes all that was recorded was that "Edward Smith was baptised July 1, 1637".
Other ministers took the trouble to record the maiden name of the mother. The amount of
recorded information varied enormously, parish to parish, minister to minister.
Of course, the task of recording reliable and accurate information was compounded by the fact
that even into the 19th century many people could not even read or write. They literally did not
know how their names were spelled. Consequently, it is not surprising that many surnames were
corrupted over the years. First names were easy, every literate minister knew how to spell John
or Elizabeth. How about Causan? That was the first name of my great-grandfather. His name
should have been spelled Colson as he was named after his grandmother's maiden name. Instead,
the Colson name was spelled Causan, Colston, Causton, Cawston, Coulson and probable
numerous other ways.
And, of course Hoffey. Illiteracy was also the reason that it was corrupted to Huffey, Huffy,
Huffee, et al. Which brings us back to Edward Hoffey.
Edward Hoffey married Mary Gabb on 25 April 1693 in Combs, Suffolk, England. Mary who
baptized on 24 September 1662, Combs, Suffolk, England, was the daughter of Giles and Ann
Gab (another corruption). Edward appeared out of the blue. He was not baptized in Combs. In
fact, I have not been able to trace him or his family. Who was he? I don't know. I have not been
able to find any real traces of Huffeys or Hoffeys prior to 1693. The occasional ones that show
up in transcripts or lists have so far, on examination of the original parish records, turned out to
be transcription errors. Combs is located about 12 miles west of Ipswich, a thriving sea port. It
could be that Edward came in on a boat from the Continent (Europe). The Huffey name does
turn up in 19th Century Pennsylvania, U.S.A. as German immigrants (the Amish community). I
personally favor the theory that the name Hoffey is just another corruption. Hovey is a relatively
common name (at least, compared to Hoffey) in East Anglia in the 16th & 17th century. Huffey
also shows up in Manchester, England in the 19th century as Irish immigrants.
There are, of course, many things that I do not know definitively about the family. Some of the
information has been presented as the most probable, based on the information available. Trying
to ascertain events that took place 300 years ago, without the benefit of a computer database, is
difficult to say the least.
For example, one little mystery is:- which Edward married Martha Driver, nee Jennings? The
available information is conflicting. At the time of the marriage between Edward and Martha,
Martha had already been married (1704 to Francis Driver), had seven children by Francis and one
"base born" child after his death. So she was at least about 35 years of age at the time. Edward
II was baptized in 1693 and was about 30 years of age. He was described as a "singleman", but
two years later, posed as Martha's father when she bigamously married John Bishop. She must
have been one good-looking woman, even after have given birth to nine children, or Edward must
have looked very old for his years. Maybe that was the effect that Martha had on men. The other
rationale would be that it was Edward I who married Martha. Your choice. I think that it was
Edward II, in spite of the "age / father" stuff.
I hope you have as much fun reading this as I have had in researching the Family, in spite of the
continuing frustration. Maybe that's part of the attraction.
February 2010
David John Causan Huffey
Youngsville
North Carolina
U.S.A.