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John ALDEN (1796–1857)
His second wife Mrs Caroline ALDEN, née Cabbell (1803–1875)
His father-in-law Thomas Roffe CABBELL (c.1780–1856)
St Paul section: Row 10, Grave A18 [St Paul ref O7/P7]

John Alden was born in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire on 25 March 1796. He was the son of Isaac Alden (born c.1770) who came to Oxford as the personal attendant of Lord Edward Adolphus Seymour, who was admitted to Christ Church as a Gentleman Commoner on 31 January 1792 at the age of 16 and became the 11th Duke of Somerset the following year. On 26 May 1794, probably just after the young Duke graduated, Isaac Alden and Martha Curtis were married at North Hinksey : they were both then resident in that parish, but John’s father was described as being of Chipping Sodbury and his mother of St Aldate’s.

John was their first child, and soon after his birth his father took on the tenancy of Eastwyke Farm in Grandpont, Oxford, below.

John's sister Ann was born at St Aldate’s (probably at Eastwyke Farm) on 16 February 1797 and his brother Isaac on 30 December 1800, and all three children were registered together at New Road Baptist Chapel in Oxford on 14 July 1801. His sister Rebekah was born at St Aldate’s on 19 July 1799 (between the births of Ann and Isaac) and was registered separately at New Road Baptist Chapel on 21 September 1799.

John’s father Isaac then appears to have gone to live over his butcher’s shop in Bear Lane in All Saints parish, where John’s four youngest siblings were born: the birth of James Alden was registered at New Road Baptist Chapel on 21 July 1802, another Isaac on 11 March 1804, Martha on 19 January 1806, and Henry on 15 May 1809.

John was working as a butcher with his father (and presumably living over the shop at Bear Lane with) him when on 12 November 1827 at St Giles’s Church he married his first wife, Jane Chillingworth, and their marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal. Jane, who was born in Oxford in 1807, the daughter of John & Mary Chillingworth, who were also Baptists. They had three children:

• Henry John Alden (born in St Thomas’s parish, Oxford (probably 16 Walton Street) on 3 October 1828 and enrolled at New Road Baptist Chapel on 10 November; appears to have died in infancy)
• Sarah Jane Alden (born in All Saints parish, Oxford (probably over the shop in Bear Lane) on 19 September 1829 and enrolled at New Road Baptist Church on 30 September)
• John Alden (born in St Thomas’s parish, Oxford (probably at 16 Walton Street) on 25 September 1831 and enrolled at New Road Baptist Church on 24 November; died aged 4 and buried at that church on 4 November 1835).

John Alden moved with his wife to Walton Street (then called Walton Place) after their wedding, and set up a butcher’s shop there, probably still obtaining his meat from Eastwyke Farm. He is duly listed as a butcher in Walton Place In Pigot’s 1830 Directory.

On 21 July 1832 John Alden was appointed one of the Guardians of the House of Industry for St Thomas’s parish (which then included Walton Street). Six weeks later, on 5 September 1832 at Walton Street, his first wife Jane Alden died of consumption aged only 24, and her death was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal. She was buried at New Road Baptist Chapel on 10 September.

About a week later John’s father Isaac Alden died in All Saints parish at the age of 62, and was buried at New Road Baptist Chapel on 16 September 1832.

Caroline Cabbell was born in Maidstone, Kent in 1803 and baptised there on 7 August. She was the only daughter of the millwright Thomas Roffe Cabbell (born In Maidstone in c.1780) and Margaret Piper, who were married at Rochester on 16 January 1803. By 1833 Caroline was living at Sandford-on-Thames near Oxford.

Less than a year after the death of his first wife, on 19 August 1833 at Sandford-on-Thames, John Alden married Caroline Cabbell, and their marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal. They had the following children:

• Isaac Alden junior (born in Oxford on 2 October 1834 and enrolled at New Road Baptist Church on 2 October)
• Thomas Alden (born in Oxford in 1837/8, reg. first quarter of 1838)
• Martha Alden (born in Oxford in 1839, reg. fourth quarter)
• Rebecca Alden (born in Oxford in 1841, reg. second quarter)
• Charles Alden (born in Oxford in 1845, reg. fourth quarter)
• Edwin Alden (born in Oxford in 1848, reg. third quarter)

The younger children were doubtless also enrolled at New Road Baptist Church, but the later records are not available.

In 1837 the part of Walton Street where the Aldens lived became part of the district chapelry of the new St Paul’s Church.

In Robson’s Directory for 1839 J. & T. Alden were listed as butchers at Stalls 3 & 4 at the bottom of the covered market; but by 1841 John Alden was listed on his own as a butcher at 13 Walton Place (now 16 Walton Street). At the time of the 1841 census John Alden was living at that address with his wife Caroline and their children Isaac (7), Thomas (3), and Martha (2), plus his daughter Sarah (11) from his first marriage, and two butcher’s assistants and two servants. In that year he was one of the twelve Oxford tradesmen who acquired the freehold of Croft Hall, Headington’s first Baptist church, on behalf of New Road Baptist Church.

In 1843 there was a Christmas Show of Meat in Oxford’s Covered Market, and Jackson’s Oxford Journal reported as follows on John Alden’s stall, indicating he kept animals on other farms:

Mr. JOHN ALDEN — A large quantity of excellent ox beef; two superior calves, fed by Mr. Blake, of Stanton Harcourt, and obtained the first and second prizes at Oxford; an excellent show of real down and other mutton, including 6 fine half-bred sheep, bred and fed by Mr. Graham, Great Tew.

On 7 October 1848 it was reported that John Alden supplied meat for the Bicester Workhouse at 5½d per pound.

In 1851 John (55), now described as a butcher employing three men, was living at 13 Walton Place (now 16 Walton Street) with his second wife Caroline (47), his daughter Sarah (21) from his first marriage, and the six children from his second: Isaac (16), who was a butcher’s assistant; Thomas (13), Martha (11), Rebecca (9), and Charles (5), who were at school; and Edwin (2). Caroline’s father Thomas Cabbell (71), a widower described as a retired millwright, had come to live with them, and they had two servants (a journeyman butcher and a housemaid).

His daughter from his first marriage was married in 1853:

• In 1853 in Oxford (reg. third quarter), Sarah Jane Alden married James Hall.

Mrs Caroline Alden’s father died in 1856:

† Thomas Roffe Cabbell died at 13 Walton Place (now 16 Walton Street) at the age of 77 on 4 December 1856 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 7 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

His death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 6 December 1856 read: “Dec. 4, at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. John Alden, 13 Walton-street, Thomas Roffe Cabbell, in his 78th year, much respected by all who knew him.” The parish register states that he died in Walton Place, which seems to have been in transition towards being renamed Walton Street at this time. .

John Alden died in 1857:

† John Alden died at 16 Walton Street at the age of 62 on 9 April 1857 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 13 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

His death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 11 April 1857 read: “April 9, at his residence, 13, Walton-street [now 16 Walton Street], Mr. John Alden, in his 63rd year, deeply lamented by all who knew him. He lived a Christian, and died in peace.”

His will was proved at the Prerogative Court at Canterbury on 18 May 1857. His executors were his brother Henry Alden, who was an Oxford printer and the founder of the Alden Press, his wife Caroline, and his eldest son Isaac.

His wife Caroline remained at 16 Walton Street after her husband’s death. Her son Isaac was married in 1858:

• In 1858 at Oxford (reg. second quarter), Isaac Alden married Harriet Elizabeth Kemp.

At the time of the 1861 census Caroline Alden (57), described as a butcher, was the head of the household at 16 Walton Street. Her five unmarried children were still living with her: Thomas (23), who was a butcher, and Martha (21), Rebecca (19), Charles (15), and Edwin (12). They also had a housemaid.

Four more of her children were married in the 1860s:

• On 23 July 1863 at the George Street Chapel, Martha Alden married George Jones, an Oxford builder, and an announcement was placed in Jackson’s Oxford Journal;
• In 1866 (second quarter) in Oxford, Thomas Alden married Emma Thornton, the daughter of the prominent nonconformist bookseller Joseph Thornton;
• In 1868 (second quarter) at Shipston-on-Stour, Charles Alden married Harriett Drury.
• In 1869 (third quarter) in Oxford, Rebecca Alden married Thompson Cooper.

By 1871 Caroline’s eldest son Isaac was the head of the household at 16 Walton Street, and Caroline herself (67) and her youngest son Edwin (22), who was a shopman, lived with him and his wife and six children.

Caroline’s daughter Mrs Martha Jones died on 22 August 1874 at the age of 34, and was buried in the grave next to this one:
see her separate grave for more information about Martha and her three sons

Mrs Caroline Alden died early the following year:

† Mrs Caroline Alden née Cabbell died at Worcester Street at the age of 71 on 14 January 1875 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 18 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

Caroline’s youngest son was married five months after her death:

• On 21 June 1875 at Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berkshire, Edwin Alden married Clara Goulding.

The Alden family Butchers business founded by John’s father Isaac Alden still survives. The Alden Press, set up by his brother Henry, went into administration in 2008.

---

Only surviving child of John Alden and his first wife Jane

• Sarah Jane Alden, Mrs Hall (born 1829) was living at 18 Walton Street in 1861 with her husband James, who was a carpenter & joiner, and their children Emma (6), Henry (4), and Mary (1), plus a housemaid. They were still there in 1881 with Mary (21), Frederick (17), who was a cabinet maker’s apprentice, and William (14) and Albert (9), who were at school. Mrs Sarah Jane Hall died at 17 Walton Street at the age of 52 on 17 January 1882, and is buried in a separate grave in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery (Row 7, Grave A19)

Surviving children of John Alden and his second wife Caroline

• Isaac Alden junior (born 1834) was a butcher living at 4 South Parade, Summertown in 1861 with his wife Harriet and their children Sidney (2) and Evelyn (eight months). By 1871 he was the head of the household at 16 Walton Street, his parents’s former home, and he and Harriet now had six children: Sidney (12), Kate (9), Ernest (7), Percy (5), Howard (4), and Lewis (1). His mother Caroline and his youngest brother Edwin were also living with him. In 1881 Isaac (46), described as a butcher employing four men and one boy, was living at 16 Walton Street with his wife Harriet (50) and six children: Sidney (23), who was a butcher’s clerk; Evelyn (2), Ernest (17), who was a butcher’s shopman; Percy (15), who was a pupil teacher, and Howard (14), Lewis (11), and Cyril (9), who were at school, plus a servant. At the time of the 1891 census Isaac (57) was paying a visit to his daughter Evelyn and son-in-law Herbert Barnet in Aston, Warwickshire. In 1901 Isaac was still a butcher at 16 Walton Street, where he lived with his wife Harriet, their unmarried son Sidney (41), who was a clerk, and their grandson Herbert Guy Burnet (7). In 1911 Isaac (76) and Harriett (80) were still living at 16 Walton Street with Sidney (51), who was a clerk, another grandson Hugh Alden Barnet, and a servant. Isaac Alden died in Oxford in 1921 at the age of 86. His son Sir Percy Alden became a social worker, land reformer, and radical Liberal Party politician.
• Thomas Alden (born 1837/8) was a butcher living at 228 Essex Road, Islington in 1871 with his wife Emma and a servant. They were still there in 1881, when their niece Kate Alden (19), a student at Bedford College, was living with them. By 1901 Thomas (63) had retired, and he and Emma, with Emma’s sister Lydia, were living at Ingleside, Headington with one servant. Thomas Alden died at The Farm, Old Headington at the age of 68 on 1 March 1906. His effects came to £27 4s. 9d., and administration was granted to his widow Emma, who died in 1925.
• Rebecca Alden, Mrs Cooper (born 1841) is hard to trace after her marriage in 1869.
• Charles Alden (born 1845) was a grocer, living at Brighton Road, Reigate in 1871 with his wife Harriett and their daughter Ada Emily Alden (2); the latter was their only child, and died later that year. In 1881 and 1891 Charles and Harriett were at the same address, presumably living over their shop. Charles died there at the age of 52 on 28 July 1898. His effects came to £408, and probate was granted to his widow Harriett.
• Edwin Alden (born 1848) and his wife Clara had no children. In 1881 Edwin was a master grocer employing one boy and living with Clara at 6 Devonshire Terrace, Croydon. By 1891 they had moved to 294 London Road, Croydon, and were still there in 1901. Edwin Alden died at that address on 13 February 1911. His effects came to £3,004 12s. 11d., and his executor was his wife Clara.