I tend to think of my CUTTS and MOODY lines in parallel as they lived in pretty much the same area, and from what information I have, lived very similar lives. However, the CUTTS are predominantly from Derbyshire and the MOODYs are predominantly from Nottinghamshire. There is a fair amount of boundary hopping, but the lives of the two families remained separate until Herbert CUTTS married (Henri)Etta MOODY in 1891.

All the CUTT and CUTTS families of the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border areas are probably descended from Ralph and Elizabeth (nee AMRIE) CUTTS of North Wingfield, who married in 1630. If you are interested in researching CUTT(S) of that area, I recommend Brian Johnson's CUTTS records pages [External Link] and searching the archives of the Rootsweb CUTTS list [External Link]. Then subscribe! There are a lot more knowledgeable and infinitely helpful people out there who have this family "in the bag".

History

Brian Johnson and I are descended from a branch of this family that Brian had helpfully traced back to a Robert CUTT. More recently, other researchers have found that Robert was the executor of his brother, John CUTT's, will (1679) and John has a North Wingfield christening record that definitely names him as Ralph and Elizabeth's son. Robert had two wives (Grace then Ann), and eight children, christened in North Wingfield from 1663 to 1690. The mothers of the elder children and the younger children are clear, but due to the way the christenings of the middle children were recorded, Brian (and therefore lazy old me) can't be sure which woman is their mother. One of Robert's sons is called Ralph, which reinforces the idea that Robert is the son of Ralph and Elizabeth.

The family seem to be very much tied to the North Wingfield area, although there are one or two escapees. For example, Robert's great-grandson Abraham CUTTS married in Nottinghamshire and his branch are centred around Sutton-in-Ashfield.

Similarly, Abraham's cousin, George CUTTS married a Rebecca CHARLESWORTH in Bolsover, although she's not currently connected to the CHARLESWORTHs I've been collecting.

Another notable event is the marriage of Ann CUTT (the granddaughter of Robert) to a Henry CUTT, who may be a cousin, in 1735.

My Connection

I am descended from Rebecca CHARLESWORTH & George CUTTS. Their son George married a Frances FOX who had a son, William CUTTS, in 1832 - four years after George died. Now, it's easy to judge without knowing the circumstances, but it's one of those strange little facts of life that tends to give me a "start as you mean to go on" feeling. It's a shame I didn't know about that before I had to deal with her daughter, Mary, from who I'm descended. Why? Because Mary had a total of seven children "born out of wedlock". Like I said, I shouldn't judge, but it's definitely amuses me to be the descendant of a fallen woman. Thanks to Mary and her MOODY parallels, I'm thinking about collecting them!

Mary's son George - who muddied the waters by claiming a father, John, on his marriage certificate - worked his way up from servant to farm bailiff, before turning up as a labourer at a coal mine in 1901. His son Herbert, named after an uncle, married into the MOODY family.

Files

• Descendency Narrative [PDF]
  Last updated 22/02/2010

Related Families

Families who married into, or were married into by, the CUTTS:

ALISON,
ASHLEY,
ASHMORE,
BURN,
CHAPMAN,
CHARLESWORTH,
CLAY,
CUTT (maybe related),
DEAN,
DYSON,
FOX,
GOODALE,
HAY,
HIBBERD,
HOPKINSON,
JOHNSON,
KIRKHAM,
LINACRE / LINAGER x 2,
LUDLUM,
MARPLES,
MAYFIELD,
MOODY,
RILEY,
SPRAY,
STEVENSON,
STRAW,
TOMLINSON,
TOPHAM,
WEIGHTMAN,
WILSON