first draft 11/4/2005
My mother Vera has always said her father's family were Catholics. All my research has come up with Church of England connections, other than a short flirtation with 'The Duchess of Huntingdon's or Dissenting Protestants' in the late 1700's. This was a charismatic movement in the Brighton area.
One of my cousins says that her mother said that the mother's father's family was Catholic, and the mother had her children Christened when their father was away working for the Merchant Navy. My other cousin tells a similar story.
I recently heard from a correspondent who turned out to be descended from my great-grandfather. She asked if I knew anything about the family converting to Catholicism. It transpired that her Cheesman ancestors were definitely Catholic, and she even had a photograph to confirm this. Allegedly at one stage there was infectious disease in the family, and the only person to visit them was a Catholic priest. In response the whole family converted to Catholicism.
Putting all these facts together, it would seem at least possible that the conversion took place soon after Cornelius Cheesman married Harriett Holland in 1864 at St. Nicholas' Church, Brighton.