Although my CANTWELL is not the oldest yet mentioned, the information people are sharing
can lead to meeting others who are researching in the same family.
My oldest documented Cantwell is Thomas Cantwell, born October 4, 1798 in Brooks Co. West
CA, died March 20, 1867 in Olivesburg, Ohio. He married Arey Buckingham and they had
nine children, one of whom is Margaret Cantwell who married David Jaques, who would be my
gggrandfather.
My Thomas Cantwell is the child of William Cantwell who was born in Ireland about 1750
I have a copy of a book entitled "Generations of the Upright" written by Edward
Norton Cantwell in 1911 which documents this family and although it isn't entirely
accurate in parts, it does provide good clues for research.
At one point in this book it says "The facts seem to be that Margaret O'Brien was
the daughter of a family of great wealth, that William Cantwell was a journeyman
shoemaker, that owing to parental objection, the young couple ran away, took passage for
America and were married on shipboard by the captain".... it was impossible to prove
marriage on account of the death of the captain and the loss of the ship's log."
I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who may be working on someone in this
branch of the family. AMELIA aseaton(a)tcsn.net