18 December 2022. In previous posts I presented evidence suggesting John and William Causey, both deceased 1723-1724, of Dorchester County, Colonial Maryland may have descended from Henry Coursey of the Isle of Kent. I now propose and present research strongly suggesting that John Causey, son of Nathaniel Causey of Charles City and the Jamestown Colony of Virginia, most likely divested his 200 acre inheritance of the land called Causeys Cleare and migrated to the Province of Maryland. My challenge to you is to read and decide whether there is sufficient evidence to conclude this thesis.
Documenting the Causey Decendancy Virginia to Maryland
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3 responses to “Documenting the Causey Decendancy Virginia to Maryland”
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Thank you for this. My family, the Cacys, settled in Queen Ann /Kent, Maryland, and Delaware in the 1600s. James 1 “Cassey” was granted 500 acres of land in QA in 1694. His will of 1713 and names a brother “Joseph Cassey, sons John and James, and a daughter Elizabeth. His son, James 2 Cacy died in 1757. The Cacy families were prominent farmers and local politicians. I am wondering if the Cacys and Causeys are related. James 2 Cacy had sons Joseph, James. Othniel, John, and Samuel?
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Dear Elizabeth,
As you know, names were spelled phonetically until well into the late eighteenth century. But, the way our surname was pronounced then, say in 1700, has probably not changed much. My Causey name is generally pronounced “kaw-see”. Cacy could have been pronounced “Kay-see” or “kaw-see”. So how is that name pronounced Now? Let me know if I can help in your research. Ray-
I cannot say for certain the pronunciation since it was my grandmother who died before I was born. I’ve heard it pronounced Kay-see, but not in native dialect. In England in 1600s language was heterogenous, settlers may not have easily understood each other. Isolation in early probably led to even more rapid vowel shifts and rapid development of regional accents.
“Au”sound shifted between middle and Early Modern English. We still have it in words like aunt “ Ant” or “Ont” My NY family was my Ant and my maine family was my Ont Earlier English/regionally “Au” pronounced like “gauge” with a hard A.
Phonetic spelling from 1690s and 1710s was Cassey and Carsey” with spelling variations in the same documents. Cacy and Cacey spellings were consistently used after the 1750s. There were also “Caseys”listed, so they probably sounded different.
If Cassey/Carsey/Causey is the same family, then with the vowel shift occurring, au may have been a long “A”Causey being Kay-see. I’d guess because we also find the Carsey/Coursey variations, the “au” was a long drawl with a soft r sound. So both Causey and Cassey was pronounced Cahhr-see or Cahh-see. In the the 1750s, the “au” sound shifted. In the QA Cacey/Cacy branch adopted a short “a” sound, Cass-see rhymes with “Sassy”. The Causey branch likely took on the more modern Caw-see sound.
By the 1800s, the Cacy family started moving north to NY or NJ, where the harder A sound was more prevalent (Aunt being Ant). As the family adopted the dialect, Cacy sounded like Casey.
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