Henry Caswell: Emigration to America

Written by Peter Tipton for the St Peter's Church Millennium Exhibition, 2000

Although Henry Caswall retained his living as vicar of Figheldean in England, he appears to have emigrated to America at a very early age. A Henry Caswall married Mary Chase Batchelor of Bethel, Windsor, Vermont on 14 Oct 1830 in Knox County Ohio, when he was only 20 years old. The vital records of the State of Vermont record the birth of Mary to Benjamin and Betsy Batchelor on 8 Mar 1807 at Hartland Township in Windsor, Vermont.

The problem for the researcher is to verify whether the American Henry Caswall is one and the same as the Henry Caswall born in Yateley, son of Robert Clarke Caswall, Yateley's vicar. There are several reasons to conclude that they are the same person. When Mary Chase Caswall died in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Canada on 8 Oct 1886 her obituary stated that she was the widow of the Rev Henry Caswall, vicar of Figheldean. Secondly one of Henry & Mary's sons was named Robert Clarke

Caswall, after his grandfather, and a daughter was called Henrietta Burgess Caswall, after Henry's mother's maiden name. Henry and Mary Chase Caswall appear to have christened two daughters in England at West Lavington, his father's parish. Birth certificates have been ordered....

What then was Henry doing in America? As an Anglican clergyman he was presumedly working for the Protestant Episcopal Church, formed after the American War of Independence. How did he come to visit the Mormon leader and try to discredit him in 1842?

The first Mormon mission to England arrived in Liverpool on 22 July 1837. Within eight months they had converted 2,000 people, and appear later to have been particularly succesful in Wiltshire, where Henry, his father and brother had their parishes. The Church of England became alarmed at the large number of conversions and emigration to the States. Given that Henry Caswall was greatnephew to the previous Bishop of Salisbury, and spent most of his time in America, there would be a reason for Henry to attempt to discredit Joseph Smith, the Mormon leader. Whether Henry personally made the decision to visit Nauvoo in 1842, or whether he was directed to do so by the Bishop, we do not yet know.

Henry Caswall & Mormonism