Surname Saturday: Cafferty

It's still Saturday in my time zone, so I'm not late with this week's surname post yet.  We alternate back to my ancestral lines again this week with  on of my closer lines.  This week we'll look at my Cafferty ancestors, beginning with my great grandfather, Samuel Warren McCafferty.

The Cafferty line is mostly a New Jersey line.  I should know more about this line, but I just haven't spent the time on this line as I have with other lines.  Samuel Warren McCafferty, also sometimes referred to as Warren Cafferty, was born on 23 November 1882 in Allentown, Monmouth County, New Jersey.  In 1906, he married Cora Rae Holmes; a family legend makes a connection between Cora and Oliver Wendell Holmes, but I have yet to find the actual link.  They had four children together, three of them born in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey.  The family appears in the 1920 U.S. census for New Jersey in Camden County.  Samuel died in 1954.  He is the only person on this line that I've seen referred to with the McCafferty surname, and that is sourced to an interview that I was able to hold with my grandmother in the early 1980s.

Samuel's parents were Augustus Robbins Cafferty and Laura Amanda Ford.  Augustus was born on 7 October 1852, and Laura was born in 1854; both parents were born in New Jersey.  Augustus was listed in the 1870 U.S. census as an apprentice blacksmith with his parents in Washington Township, Mercer County, New Jersey.  Augustus and Laura were married on 1 January 1881 in Hamilton Square, Mercer County, New Jersey.  They had four children by the time the family was counted in the 1900 U.S. census in Upper Freehold, Monmouth County.  Their children were: Jessie Ray Cafferty (M; b. 26 Oct 1881), Samuel Warren McCafferty (above), Laura Cafferty (F; b. between 1883 and 1888; d. young, probably before 1890) and Laura Augusta Cafferty (F; b. 27 July 1890; also known as Gussie Cafferty).  Augustus and three children (Warren, Jessie and Gussie) are listed in the 1900 U.S. census; Augustus's wife Laura was not listed with the family in that census.  Augustus died on 9 March 1904 in Allentown, while his wife Laura survived him and died on 31 March 1924 in Trenton, New Jersey.

Augustus was the third child born to William I. Cafferty and Rebecca Larrison.  William was born on 17 December 1823 and Rebecca was born on 27 October 1824, both in Monmouth County, New Jersey.  They were married in Allentown on 12 February 1845 and they had eight children: Sarah Augusta Cafferty (F; b. 21 March 1846; d. 14 Aug 1846), Lydia F. Cafferty (F; b. 8 May 1850; d. 9 Oct 1938), Augustus Robbins Cafferty (above), Samuel C. Cafferty (M; b. 3 Dec 1854; d. June 1939), William Cafferty (M; b. June or July 1856; probably d. before 1860), Henry L. Cafferty (M; b. 9 June 1856; d. 8 Aug 1856), William T. Cafferty (M; b. 10 Feb 1860; d. 20 March 1901) and Anna Cafferty (F; b. 24 Dec 1863; d. 10 July 1927).  The elder William appears in the 1860 U.S. census with Rebecca, four children (Augusuts, Lydia, Samuel and William) and two apprentices (William Holoway and Abram Wilbur).  His occupation in 1860 was coach maker.  The family appears again in the 1870 U.S. census, this time with William as a farmer in Washington Township; he is listed with Rebecca and five children (Anna, Augustus, Lydia, Samuel and William).  The elder William died on 20 March 1901.  I do not have death information for Rebecca yet.

William I. Cafferty is my current brick wall on the Cafferty line.  The next steps for research on this line are to find William's parents.  Also, the 1900 U.S. census mentioned above for Augustus Cafferty shows their next-door neighbor was one Charles R. Cafferty with wife Frances, son Clarence and daughter Emma.  It seems exceptionally likely to me that Charles was somehow related to Augustus, but I don't know where the connection lies; so another avenue of research is to learn more about Charles and his family.  In a family vacation way back in the early 1980s, I remember my parents taking me to Allentown, New Jersey, and pointing out a few houses where my family lived, but I don't have any of those details right now.

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