Show ContentsCadge History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The ancient name of Cadge finds its origins with the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. It comes from a name for a jailer, or prison guard; people who had been prisoners. The word cage means prison, and denoted one who either worked there or was incarcerated there. If applied to a jailer, the name is occupational in nature meaning worker at the prison. If applied to a former inmate, it is a nickname.

Early Origins of the Cadge family

The surname Cadge was first found in Cambridgeshire where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Cadge family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cadge research. Another 51 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Cadge History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cadge Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Cadge family name include Cage, Cadger, Cadge and others.

Early Notables of the Cadge family

More information is included under the topic Early Cadge Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Cadge migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Cadge surname or a spelling variation of the name include :

Cadge Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Edward Cadge, who settled in Virginia in 1620. This same Edward Cadge maybe the ancestor of the notable John Cage of Virginia
  • Edward Cadge, who arrived in Virginia in 1624 aboard the ship "Marmaduke" 1


  1. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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