I have two descents from the Orange County, VA, family.
1. male line:
? David CAVE Sr., d. 1756, Lay reader at the old Orange Church near
Ruckersville, per Slaughter ("The Cave Family," pg. 123), who names a
son Robert in his will (see discussion below). Is David Sr. a
brother to Benjamin Sr.? Per W.E. Brockman, “Orange Deed Septmber
22, 1768, Benjamin Cave to Samuel Brockman, 13 pounds for part of
tract Brockman bought of Abraham Mayfield which said Cave recovered,
gave him good title to 176 acres.” Mayfield was David’s son-in-law,
as shown by his will.
? Robert CAVE. Named in David’s will, he could just as easily be an
uncle to the Robert named below. I’m going to arbitrarily attach my
Robert Cave of Cavesville here (on the theory that four Roberts could
easily have been compressed into three -- and the exact relationship
to Benjamin Sr. misrepresented -- in the “modern” remembrance of the
ancestry by my great grandfather), principally based on the
following: (1) the statement by Catherine McClellan (an early Cave
genealogist disparaged by VA Cave genealogist Col. "Charlie" McCall
as having an ‘overvaulting’ desire to establish kinship) that “Dr.
Robert Cave of St. Louis, dec’d., once told someone that he was
descended from Robert Cave of Orange Co., a brother of
Benjamin” [See: ltr. of 13 Feb. 1929 to Rella Bright Evans, West.
Hist. Mss. Coll., U. of Mo.], and (2) that, following the suggestion
of Mrs. Orville DeView (a TN collaborator in the Cave research of
Mrs. Dale M. Thompson of Kansas City MO -- also a genealogist of the
Cowherd family), it would seem that David’s apparent land holdings
would fit with the Robert Cave who established “Ellerslie” at Lahore,
Orange Co., VA.
Robert CAVE of "Cavesville." b. abt. 1782; md. 1806 Orange Co. to
Lucy BRADLEY, d/o Geo. Sr.; d. abt. Sep. 1852 Orange Co. A
Cavesville tavern license, Orange Co., 28 July 1817 & renewed 26 May
1828, is documented in the Sparacio's book, "Pamunkey Neighbors."
“Cave’s P.O.” appears on a ca. 1850 Lewis von Buchholtz state map.
It is about 1/4 of the way from Ruckersville to Barboursville, on the
road. That puts it on present U.S. Hwy. 33 about 1 to 1-1/2 miles E
of Ruckersville, just beyond Rte. 610 (the antecedent of which
appears as a trail on this same map). And that, in turn, suggests
that Cavesville was no more than a mile W of the county line, but
definitely in present Greene Co. In 1820, Robt. Cave’s land bordered
that of Mary Rucker, and was near the lands of Joel & John Rucker,
and Thomas Eddins. When her estate was settled in 1825, it was done
by Robert & Joseph Cave, and Thomas Eddins. Her coffin had been made
by Wm. Eddins, and her attending physician had been Dr. Whitelaw.
Her estate had 3 gallons of whiskey for sale. [Orange Co., VA, Will
Book 6, pgs. 66-7 & 402-3.]
[Despite my hypothetical linkage of Robert (~1782-1852) to David's
Robert and to David CAVE Sr., others have maintained, even quite
recently, that this line descends from Benjamin Cave Sr., the Burgess.]
Robert Preston CAVE of "Ellerslie." b. 18 Sep. 1814; md. 1836 Orange
Co. to Sarah Frances LINDSAY, d/o Reuben; d. 1 Jan. 1861 Orange Co.
His father was named in his marriage license. We also have a copy of
the father’s permission for his son to marry; it is dated from
“Cavesville.” Although Cavesville has not been linked, to my
knowledge, to a specific place, it is known that when Landon Lindsay
sued his relatives over an estate, he asked the Sheriff of Greene
County [In Dec. 1838, it was newly created from Orange Co.] to
produce “Robert Cave Jr., and Saley, his wife,...to answer a Bill in
Chancery....” Then, in depositions for the Lindsay case, one is
taken in Sept. 1841 from Pritchett’s Tavern in Stanardsville, Greene
Co. I wonder if the tavern and the village might have originated in
Robert Cave’s tavern at Cavesville, 1817-28 ? In 1832, Robert Cave
purchased a tract of just under 340 acres of land, upon which he
built "Ellerslie." My personal suspicion is that he would not have
acquired the means to buy this land and build the mansion he did
through farming alone, but that his father had established a tavern
on the road leading from Orange C.H. through then-western Orange (now
Greene) County to the mountains and beyond. The selling of whiskey
and the renting of shelter for the night could have provided the
"stake" that Robert P. needed. [“Those CAVEs never darkened [the]
door of Montebello and never were interested in it.” --Col. Chas.
McCall to Mrs. Orville DeView, 3 Feb. ‘60]
Rev. Robert C. CAVE, a/k/a Dr. Cave. b. 13 Feb. 1843 Orange Co.; md.
15 Jan. 1863 Richmond to Sarah Frances DANIEL, d/o Wm. Travers Sr.;
d. 23 June 1923 St. Louis, MO. Disciples of Christ minister; founded
the Non-Sectarian Church of St. Louis after 1889 split in church.
Edward Powell CAVE, corporate CEO. b. 26 Nov. 1880 Hopkinsville, KY;
md. 1909 St. Louis to Ralpha E. MOLL; d. 28 Aug. 1957 at MI summer home.
Edna Daniel CAVE. b. 1912; md. M.L. SEYFFERT 1943; d. 1995.
M. Gordon SEYFFERT (me)
2. female line:
Benjamin CAVE Sr. of "Montebello." (~1703-1762). [A brother of
David Sr.?] Md. Hannah BLEDSOE.
Hannah CAVE (1748-1817). Md. Capt. Uriel MALLORY.
Susannah MALLORY (1770-1840). Md. Oliver TERRILL.
Dr. Uriel TERRILL (1793-1885). Md. Janet Urquhart LOVELL.
Mary Julia TERRILL (1822-1893). Md. Wm. Travers DANIEL Sr.
Sarah Frances DANIEL (1843-1924). Md. Rev. Robt. C. CAVE.
Edward Powell CAVE
Edna Daniel CAVE SEYFFERT
M. Gordon SEYFFERT
Gordon in KCMO