John and Cathcart researchers:
You have the same definition of "Freethinkers" that I have: A person who forms
opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or
established belief. Freethinkers include atheists, agnostics and rationalists. It is
quite a distinguishing philosophical position for an America of the early 1800's.
I recall reading in a description by Benjamin Franklin Cathcart of his grandfather Robert
Cathcart that Robert Cathcart was a "freethinker." I have to go digging through
my files for the source, I think it was quoted in one of those old County books for
Elkhart Co., IN.
That's why in accounts about the families of James Leander Cathcart I read with some
interest that JLC was a freethinker and so was JLC's oldest son, Charles William
Cathcart.
As you noted, Freethinking is kind of an abberation among Scotts and I believe it only
showed up in a generation or two in our families - but it is another reason that makes me
think our ancestor Robert Cathcart who died 1834 in Elkhart Co. IN is somehow releated to
James Leander Cathcart who died 1843 in Washington, D. C. I believe later generations of
Cathcarts moved more to normative Christian beliefs.
I found on the web that The Avalon Project at Yale University made a big deal of the
Treaty of Peace with Tunis drafted by James Leander Cathcart in 1797- implied that the
United States was not a country created under Christian princiles - in some of its
preambles, and yet it was approved by presidents George Washington and John Adams. I
tried to find this tell tale language, in the treaty, but it wasn't all that clear to
me.
Another of James Leander Cathcart's sons who migrated to LaPorte,IN was Henry Nassau
Cathcart who became a methodist in LaPorte, IN but was expelled for his radical beliefs.
I'm glad that you think "Freethinking" is as remarkable as I do. But it
imay be another precious clue that two Cathcart branches I am following are somehow
connected.
I belong to a little band of Cathcart researches working on the family of Robert Cathcart,
naturally we run into a lot of other Cathcarts in our research and would gladly help if we
can.
yours,
Delphine Cathcart
John <jc_genealogy(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
Delphine,
Ref religion, I'm very confused. The only type of "Freethinker" I know...
- free-think-er n. A person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason,
independently of tradition, authority, or established belief. Freethinkers include
atheists, agnostics and rationalists.
would be 100% unacceptable to a conservative Presbyterian and/or Covenanter of the 18th
and 19th century. My research shows that many of my ancestors where very strict religious
folks who would almost certainly NOT accept any "freethinking." In fact, they
didn't even accept Methodists -- thought they were too "wild" in their
worshipping!
Maybe there's another kind of Freethinker to which you could introduce me. Did the
word have a different context back in the 18-19th Century? I did a quick internet search,
and came up only with the modern meaning (see definition above).
It would still be interested to continue to try and link the various lines of Cathcarts in
the US in the period shortly after our independence.
Cheers,
John
John Cathcart
S. Florida
jc_genealogy(a)earthlink.net
My Main Genealogy Website & RootsWeb Genealogical Database:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cathcart/
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=jcath
-----Original Message-----
From: Delphine Cathcart [mailto:ddc94559@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 12:04 PM
To: John
Cc: Kathy Cathcart Burke; Brunson Cathcart; Brunson Cathcart; CharlesSherwin Cathcart;
Jeff and Karlee Cathcart; Jimbo Cathcart; Lindsay Cathcart; Nancy Sherwin Cathcart; Peggy
Cathcart; Sherwin Cathcart
Subject: Double Names and Freethinking amongst our Cathcarts
Dear John:
Interestingly the custom of our Cathcarts to give
their children double names e.g. John James, John
Franklin, John Robert has added to the difficulty of
sorting them out from public records. Especially
since many are known by their second name e.g. James,
Franklin, and Robert instead of their first name
"John".
Our ancestor Robert Cathcart (Robert's first name
might have been "John", but in later life after 1810
in NY and 1820 in IN was known as Robert)whose
children known to us were born in New Jersey in the
1780's, owned property in Ontario Co., NY in 1810. In
1820 and 1830 Robert appears on the census in Wayne
co., IN. Robert's son David married Charlotte Sherwin
in Cincinnati OH in 1818 and was postmater there and
in Dayton, OH until 1843. Robert and his son James
moved from Wayne co., to Elkhart Co. after 1830.
James Leander Cathcart b 1765 Ireland immigrated to Philadelphia and traveled to Algiers,
Tripoli,Madeira and Florida before he settled in Washington D. C. and worked for the
Treasurer 1823-1843. JLC's son Charles William setled in Laporte, IN in 1821-1880.
JLC's son Henry Nassau joined his brother Charles in LaPorte in 1833 - aft 1880.
JLC's son Thomas Jefferson Cathcart remained in Washington, D. C. and worked for the
treasury till the end of his life before 1880.
Curiously in the matter of religion you mention
covenanters and presbyterians, Benjamin Franklin
Cathcart b. Wayne co., IN remembers his grandfather
Robert Cathcart as a Freethinker. Biographies mention
that James Leander Cathcart and Charles William
Cathcart were Freethinkers. I think Freethinking is a distinctive clue to their kinship.
yours,
Delphine Cathcart
Sacramento, CA
--- John <jc_genealogy(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
Delphine,
Thanks for your email. I've just perused your
submissions.
I think one day I'm going to have to start up a DNA
study to start linking
Cathcarts here in the US. For most of us, things
get too "fuzzy" to
accurately follow lines around the mid 1700s. My
Cathcart line definitely
comes from County Antrim in N. Ireland. Before
that, there are family
stories/histories/destroyed letters and such, which
allude to a connection
with the Ayreshire area of Scotland. The religious
practices (Covenanter &
Presbyterian) of our early ancestors also connect us
to Scotland.
Unfortunately, I still haven't found any definitive
links. Maybe we'll
figure it all out at some point!
Parts of my Cathcarts did settle in Indiana; but
nearly all in the area
around Bloomington. I have heard of James Leander
Cathcart, but don't know
of any connection of him and his line to my line.
He is certainly an
interesting subject, though!
If you'd like more information about my early lines
of Cathcarts and
historical & religious background, please visit my
website:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cathcart/cathcart.html
From this page, you can explore the Early Cathcarts,
and find info on
religion/history, County Antrim info, census
enumerations, timelines,
document transcriptions... Well, just explore, maybe
you'll find something
of use!
I also update my GEDCOM on the RootsWeb ("jcath"
database) & GenCircles
("Carolina Cathcarts") websites. I assume that you
found me from my
GenCircles submission. The RootsWeb link is below
my signature block on
this email.
Cheers,
John Cathcart
S. Florida
jc_genealogy(a)earthlink.net <mailto:jc_genealogy@earthlink.net>
My Main Genealogy Website & RootsWeb Genealogical
Database:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cathcart/
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=jcath
<
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cathcart/>
-----Original Message-----
From: Delphine Cathcart [mailto:ddc94559@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 8:00 PM
To: CATHCART-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Fwd: J.L.C. Sherwin
Dear Charles Hunter and Cathcart Researchers:
Here's an email from Charles Hunter a cousin who's
working on the connection of our clan with James
Leander Cathcart. So far I have not been able to
define the link, but there is plenty of
circumstantial
evidence to indicate it is there.
Please go to
www.gencircles.com and get more details
from the trees for James Leander Cathcart and David
Cathcart that I have posted there. So far I have
not
been able to connect them, although I strongly
suspicion they are linked.
It is not mere coincidence that our David Cathcart
got
his postmaster appointments in Cincinnati and Dayton
during the time James Leander Cathcart was in
Washington, D. C. and lost them when James Leander
Cathcart died in 1843. In the early days of our
country public posts such as postmaster weren't the
result of civil servie exams - they were awarded
based
on patronage and who you knew. I believe David
Cathcart and James Leander Cathcart were blood
relatives of some sort, and James Leander used his
contacts with the politicos in Washington, D. C. and
secured the appointments as postmaster for his
nephew.
Several of James Leander's sons including Charles
settled in LaPorte, Indiana. I believe that David
and Charlotte named their
son Charles b. 1830 Ohio in honor of James Leanders'
son who settled in
LaPorte.
References to Nancy Brunson Cathcart going to
LaPorte
may have been visits to the children of James
Leander
Cathcart in LaPorte.
I hope that Charles Hunter looks at the trees on
www.gencircles and
gets in touch with me with his information. I would love to be of
help. I hope he sends a draft of the report he is writing.
Delphine Cathcart
1825 O Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
916 491 0017
--- charles hunter <hunter.charles(a)comcast.net>
wrote:
> Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 14:12:37 -0700
> From: charles hunter <hunter.charles(a)comcast.net>
> To: "Cathcart, Delphine" <ddc94559(a)yahoo.com>
> Subject: J.L.C. Sherwin
>
---------------------------------
Hi,
Genevieve Garst gave me your e-mail address. I
think
she already sent you the version of the biography of
James Leander Cathcart Sherwin I'm trying to
organize.
The updated part that you can probably help me out
with is:
J.L.C.#8217;s parents were William Sherwin and
Martha
Mulloy. One of Martha#8217;ssisters, Charlotte,
married a David Cathcart who had an uncle, father
(thereis no record or a marriage though) or possibly
a
brother, James Leander Cathcart (Navy pension number
12413 Rev. War). This relative had been captured
bythe British in the Revolutionary War, escaped from
a
prison ship in New YorkHarbor, and rejoined the
fight.
He continued to serve in the U.S. Navy,and was
captured by the Barbary Pirates in Algeria and held
for 11 years. I#8217;m not sure if he was ransomed
(the USA did ransom some 200-300 prisonerin 1805),
released by the U.S. Navy or if he escaped, but he
did
return toTripoli as an Consul General of the U.S. at
Algeria, Tunis and Tripoli for9 years, then at
Madeira
for 9 years then Consul at Cadiz for 3 years.
Hereturned and was Agent of the U.S. in Louisiana
for
one year then moved toD.C. He must have been held
in
high esteem by William and Martha as theynamed their
second son after him (their first son was named
Justice).
What is the relationship between David and James?
Can
you think of anythingI should add?
If you are interested, I can e-mail you all 6 pages
of
the bio I have compiledso far.
Chuck Hunter, great-great grandson of J.L.C. Sherwin
==============================
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