William Cafferata
His bride was Elizabeth Waterworth, who was some
5 years younger than her new husband. She was born in St Helens, Lancashire in 1817, the daughter of a draper, John
Waterworth. Like the Cafferatas, the Waterworths were a Catholic family and Elizabeth’s brother James
was a priest. His parish was that of Newark and Elizabeth was listed as
living with him at Old Hall, Millgate on her marriage certificate. A sister,
Margaret Waterworth also lived with James and witnessed the marriage along with
Sarah Brown. The occasion of his marriage may have introduced William to the
town he later made his home.
The newlyweds returned to Liverpool and set up home together, but over the next few years they would move fairly often as both their family and William’s business interests grew. In 1841 William and Elizabeth lived in Great Orford Street, near what is today the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral. The Cafferata household, as recorded by the 1841 census, is of definite interest – they were affluent enough to have two servants and William had an apprentice, 16 year old Alexander Russell, living with him. It is also noteworthy that one of the servants, Ann Rice, was only 7 years old, and that her brother Thomas, aged just 5, was also living with William.
Elizabeth would have been around 3 months pregnant with her first child when the census was taken, and James Waterworth Cafferata was born at the end of the year, on the 21st December. Eight more children followed, and their places of birth show how the family relocated. Another son, William Madden, was born in Oxton, on the Wirral on the 26th August 1844 and a third, Redmond Parker, was born in Liverpool on 6th January 1847.