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Hi Linda,
Wonderful to hear from you. Yes, it sounds like we're cousins. I do not
have any solid documentation about William Sr. coming over from Ireland.
But I have been told throughout my life (40 yrs old) that our family, the
Cains, came over from Ireland "when the land was poor". No one seemed to
know exactly when this happened or the names of the brothers who came over.
I used to think "when the land was poor" meant that they came over during
the Irish potato famine. But it now seems that they came over well before
that time.
My great grandfather, Robert, used to tell stories of the two brothers
smuggling aboard a ship bound for the United States. I have not heard that
story from anyone else. But he was emphatic about its authenticity.
Norris Taylor Cain, Jr. (lives in Lake Charles, Louisiana) is the one who
gave me the name of one of the brothers. He also is a descendant William
Cain, Sr. -> Abel Cain -> Isaac Thomas Cain -> Isaac Taylor Cain -> Norris
Taylor Cain Sr. He told me that William Cain Sr. came over from Ireland in
1798.
Presumably the story goes something like this: William Cain Sr. was born
abt. 1765 in Ireland. He had at least one child there, Abel, and
immediately sailed for the U.S. perhaps within months of Abel's birth. (At
the time I wrote earlier to the CAIN-L@rootsweb list, I was thinking that
Abel was born AFTER they arrived in the U.S. Now I think he may have been
born before they left Ireland.) They arrived somewhere on the east coast,
probably either North or South Carolina, and migrated to Georgia.
Jerry Mace, a possible descendant, recently wrote me and made the point
that "a lot of families migrated to Georgia from North Carolina back in
those days because Georgia opened up a lot of free land for settlers."
Since Abel is repeatedly shown in the census reports that his birthplace is
South Carolina, my hunch is that they landed in South Carolina from
Ireland. William Cain Sr. and Abel are living together in the 1820 census
of Richmond County, Georgia. You know where they are in the 1830 and 1840
census. Abel and family are in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana in the 1850
census, in Polk County, Texas in the 1860 census, and in St. Martin Parish,
Louisiana in the 1870 census.
Up until very recently I only knew about sons Abel and William, Jr. Jerry
Mace told me of Michael and Richard Abner Cain (1804 - 1879) who married
Elizabeth Daniel. I wonder if Richard Abner is the same person as Allen.
"Abner" and "Allen" could easily be mixed up on a census report.
Abel had six sons and two daughters that I know of with wife Ellen
Charlotte Clark.
I would love to correspond with your further, and would be happy to give
you any information that I have. Unfortunately I do not know any more about
Richard Abner Cain.
Thanks for writing, Linda. Please stay in touch. If you have any more
information on William or any of his family, I would love to hear it from
you.
Ricky L. Cain
Charlottesville, Virginia
rlcain(a)sprynet.com
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