Sorry about my other 4 e-mail attachments that I sent. I did not know I
could not sent an attachment in rich text format. So I am sending the information
in the body of the e-mail. There will be several coming, so hang on! Hope
this will work for all of you. The numbers which are in parentheses refer to
the number in my SOURCE list.
Kay in MI
Descendants of Benjamin Cave I
FIRST GENERATION
1. Benjamin CAVE I (1,2) was born 1703, Windsor, County Berkshire, England.
(1,2,4,7 ) The LDS Ancestral File states he was born 1680, Windsor, County
Berkshire, England. It also states his parents were Rev. William Cave and Ann
Stonehouse, however, this is disputed information and to date has not been
proven. (1 ) Montebello Cemetery records (1 )indicate his birth date may be 1680,
which would substantiate the LDS records. Several Documents regarding his birth
date have been posted on the Cave's Cove Genealogy Website(1) and they are
included below:
1. The Mistaken Birth Date- from the book "Tombstone Inscriptions of Orange
CO, Virginia" by Margaret C. Klein- 1979
"The Cave Family Cemetery which is also known as the Montebello Cemetery
located on a farm that has been in the Cave family for generations. The
eldest listed is Benjamin the first 1680-1762 husband of Hannah Bledsoe."
2. How the Mistaken Birth Date Happened: Per Barb Burner (Burner
Fam(a)aol.com).
"Wm. Porter Cave, a sea captain who married Esabella Delacy in New York.
They were living at "Montebello" in the 1850 census. Their granddaughter,
Delacy Thompson, became Mrs. Leslie Gray, and she restored "Montebello" in the
twenties or early 1930's. I talked with her in 1936 about the graveyard. It
was overgrown with ivy and the stones had fallen, so she put up a plaque outside
the graveyard and took some liberties a present day genealogist would frown
on. She did not know that Benjamin Cave (1703-1760) was buried there, but put
their names on the plaque because he was head of her family (so far as she knew
then). She had an earlier birth date for Benjamin, which later proved to be
in error. Once carved in stone, an error is hard to change, it becomes fact."
3. The Correct Birth Date: Affidavit-Orange Co, Virginia records establishes
the birth date as 1703.
Benjamin served in the military as Capt. of the Colonial Militia.1 He died
in 1762 in Orange Co, Virginia.1,4 The LDS Ancestral File records state he
died at St. Marks Parish, Culpepper Co, Virginia. 4 He was buried in Pine Stake
Churchyard; Montebello, Orange Co, Virginia. 1,5 Several Documents regarding
his death and burial have been posted on the Cave's Cove Genealogy Website1
and they are included below:
4. Where Benjamin CAVE is buried:
"According to Mrs. Deview in a letter, Benjamin and Hannah were actually
buried at Pine Stake Churchyard which no longer exists."
5. Directions to Montebellow Cemetery:
"From Orange North on Route 15 to Route 632 East 0.6 miles beyond Railroad
overpass, then Left on first farm road. Pillars are marked Montebello. You must
get permission at the house to go to the cemetery on the farm."
"Benjamin Cave came to Virginia from England in 1725. He and his
brother-in-law, Abraham Bledsoe, held patent for 1000 acres of land on Rapidan
River,1728." (2) He was a Justice and Sheriff of Orange County and a member of the
House of Burgesses of Orange County, Virginia in 1756. (1,2) He was vestryman of
St. Marks Parish, Culpepper, Co, Virginia from 1731-1740 and of St. Thomas
Parish, Orange Co, Virginia from 1740 until his death.(1,2 ) He and his family
were all of the Established Church of England." (1,2)
Several more Documents regarding Benjamin Cave posted on the Cave's Cove
Genealogy Website(1) are included below:
6. Discrepancy:
"Some have written that Benjamin Cave moved from England to Virginia in 1728
with brother-in-law (this is disputed) Abraham Bledsoe, but Benjamin married
Hannah Bledsoe (already living in Virginia) in 1720 and daughter Elizabeth Cave
was born in 1720."
7. Benjamin Cave, son of Wm and Anna (Stonehouse) Cave questions:
"It has been written that Benjamin Cave (1703-1762) son of Wm Cave & Anna
Stonehouse, was born in England and married Hannah Bledsoe. Benjamin was born,
most likely, in 1703 in Virginia. There has been evidence to the contrary,
such as his headstone stating (1680-1762-see above), and the unsubstantiated
claim that he was born to William Cave and Anna Stonehouse of England. As for the
parents William and Anna, there is no evidence supporting this claim. Anna
died in 1691 and William Cave at age 65, it is unlikely that they had another
child in 1703.
"For many years a chart assembled by an English genealogist named Tyrrell was
accepted as truth. This chart showed Benjamin as the immigrant son of Rev.
William Cave of Windsor, Chaplain to Charles II, and his wife Anna Stonehouse
Cave. Rev. William Cave's Will was cited in support. Mrs. Dorothy Brown
Thompson, long time Cave family researcher, says in her papers:
"In 1957, through the London Society of Genealogists, I succeeded
(Dorothy Brown Thompson) in getting a photocopy of this Will from the Prerogative
Court of Canterbury. The Will mentions daughters, a grandson, a deceased son
Ralph, but not any mention of Benjamin or any living son. The Will is long,
detailed, meticulous. It seems most unlikely that he would have omitted to
mention a living son even if provided for, even if estranged. At any rate, he did
not; so Tyrrell's reference was false. Benjamin's deposition 1758 shows he was
born 1703, which further disproves this parentage: Ann (Stonehouse) Cave
died 1691." (1)