Dear Friends,
I recently made some progress on finding the ancestors of Adeline Johnson
Cavanaugh, the lass who married my ancestor John C. Cavanaugh in 1836 in
Alabama, and then moved to Louisiana with him, where the couple has many
descendants. I had previously gone to Autaugua County Alabama and found some
tantalizing leads, but no real success.
Then recently I happened upon a Cavanaugh vertical file here in my local
genealogy library in Baton Rouge, and was delighted to discover some ancient
columns written for the Leesville paper by Mr. John Cupit. Although the
column does not give any primary evidence, it gives me some ideas about how
to proceed from here, and I am hopeful some of you may recognize this work
and connect me to it more firmly than Cupit has done.
What Cupit says it this: Adeline's father was James Johnson, a descendant of
Captain James Johnson of Virginia, himself a son of Captain James Johnson who
fought in the Revolutionary War and was related to Albert Sidney Johnson.
Cupit says Captain James Johnson was the son of Robert Johnson who got a
patent for 2150 acres in Virginia in 1681, and speculates that is related to
Chaplain James Johnson from Isle of Wight County, Virginia, a member of the
Virginia State Convention in 1778.
I have not nailed any of this down to my satisfaction, but it is certainly
fascinating. Can any of you shed any further light, or does anybody
receiving this list live near enough to Virginia or Alabama to do some
primary research?
Thanks,
Michael Cavanaugh
P.S. If you aren't signed up to the Cavanaugh mailing list on
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ask me how and I'll send you the directions for signing up.