The births and marriages mentioned in the next few paragraphs all took place in Claines which is a northern suburb of Worcester. It would seem that Esther KEYESS's mother was born Sarah TOMKINS and that in 1787 she (Sarah) married James KEYS. She had 7 children over the next 16 years but for the first, third and fifth of these the father in the baptism entry is shown as James KEYS and for the seventh the father is shown as James CASH. It is not clear whether by then she had remarried, was living with James CASH as if married or whether James KEYS changed his name to James CASH (but why would he do that?). I have assumed that James KEYS and James CASH are the same person for the charts. It looks like that for whatever reason between 1798 and 1803 the whole family changed their surname but not all to the same name!

For the other three children, no baptism entries were made at the time, but there are entries written in suitable gaps of the register as the result of Affidavits sworn by Sarah in 1828 (who was then Sarah PUGH having remarried in 1810). For instance in the margin alongside baptisms for 1790 the entry reads:

Hester daughter of James & Sarah Cash born in June 1790. Entered upon an Affidavit made by Sarah Pugh the mother of the said Hester Cash by a former husband before HY Wakeman Esqr a Magistrate for the County of Worcester this 14th day of July 1828.      J W Wakeman, Minister.

But why on earth should Sarah feel the need to swear these Affidavits and what was the purpose of them? The baptism register for Claines has quite a number of Affidavit entries like this around 1790-1800 but I have never come across them in any other parish. Could it be that the erstwhile minister was a bit negligent about recording details of all his baptisms? Note that the Affidavits do not state that the children were baptised at the time (although at least one other such entry I noticed did). And why so long after birth? The youngest was aged 28 and the other two already married.

So the list of children and their dates is as follows but when they grow up they change their names!!

1788	James KEYS		I have assumed that this is the James KAYESS who married in London in 1821. See the other note attached for this life.
1790	Hester CASH	[Affidavit]	Calls herself Esther KEYESS on marriage in 1817 in London
1792	Joseph KEYS		Calls himself Joseph CASH when he marries in 1825 and in 1841-1881 Censuses
1794	Sarah CASH	[Affidavit]	Calls herself Sarah KEYESS when she marries in 1830
1798	Nathaniel KEYS		Calls himself Nathaniel CASH when he marries in 1837 and in 1841-1871 Censuses
1800	Elizabeth CASH	[Affidavit]	KEYES in 1851, CASH when lodging with Nathaniel in 1861, KEYES when lodging with him in 1871 but KEYESS at registration of death and on burial
1803	Ann CASH		Married as Ann KYESS in 1832; she signed as KYESS. Her step-father, George Pugh, was one of the witnesses.

Joseph CASH married in 1825 and in 1851 was a farmer of 57 acres living at Kings Norton (a few miles south of Birmingham). By 1861 he was farming 200 acres.

Nathaniel CASH married in 1837 and in 1851 was a brewer living in Birmingham.

Sarah CASH married Thomas LAKIN in 1830 and at the time of the 1841 Census, Emma MAPLE, a daughter of John & Esther aged 12, was visiting them at Alveston near Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1851 Thomas & Sarah were living in Farnborough (between Leamington Spa & Banbury). By 1861, Thomas had been widowed and his housekeeper was Esther MAPLE, another daughter of John & Esther. Note that LAKIN was the middle name of the eldest son of James & Amelia MAPLE.

In 1856, Emma MAPLE married her cousin William CASH, eldest son of Joseph CASH and in 1861 William & Emma were living next door to Nathaniel.

In 1851 Elizabeth KEYES was cook at the vicarage in Farnborough (see above). In 1861 she is shown as Elizabeth CASH sister of and housekeeper to the widowed Nathaniel (now a warehouseman). In 1871 he is still a warehouseman but Elizabeth KEYES is at the same household with no relationship or position given. Nathaniel died in 1873. Elizabeth's death in 1877 was registered at Kings Norton as KEYESS and her burial was under the name KEYESS. There is one other piece of information relating to Elizabeth KEYESS: the Shakepeare Trust at Stratford-upon-Avon holds some solicitor's papers relating to the conveyance of a property at Alveston in 1849 & 1868. This is the area where the Lakins lived in 1841. I have inspected these conveyances but they did not seem to provide any useful information. The property was bought for £200 and sold for £200 but it would seem that Elizabeth never lived there; it was occupied by Benjamin Lane and his family throughout the period and Elizabeth sold it to his daughter Elizabeth Lane. Presumably it was bought as an investment.

I have found no trace of William Dumbleton & Ann (née KYESS) following their marriage in 1832.

It is apparent that the family was quite close. The names remain a mystery. Were James KEYS and James CASH the same person and if so why did he change his name? Why did Joseph & Nathaniel end up as CASH and Esther, Sarah & Elizabeth as KEYESS? Why did the girls go for KEYESS rather than KEYS? The boys might well have changed to CASH if the 'man of the house' was now CASH - but if so why didn't the girls?

In searching the internet for people called KEYESS at the relevant time I have found only two others that I have not eliminated because of transcription errors:

• Johanna KEYESS was married at Bishops Cleeve in 1766. Bishops Cleeve is 20 miles+ south of Claines.
• Mary KEYESS married William JOHNSON in London in 1793. This is significant because William JOHNSON was the name of one of the witnesses at the marriage of John MAPLE and Esther KEYESS and comparing signatures in the marriage registers I am convinced it is the same William JOHNSON.

This suggests that the spelling KEYESS was based on that used by Mary.

I think the most likely situation is that the family changed their name from KEYS to CASH for whatever reason some time between 1798 and 1803 but that in adulthood the girls wanted to revert to KEYS most of them preferring the spelling used by Mary.