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Classification: Query
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Message Board Post:
Cheri....
I think I may have corresponded with you a couple of years ago, and thought I sent you
ancestral data on your Cavender gggg-grandparents at that time, but the data you have
posted here seems to have come from some incorrect genealogy data where others have taken
my research, corrupted it with incorrect data, then posted it on the internet. I will
note some corrections to your post for our Charles Cavender family below and list the
source data that I have found in a follow-up post .
The Charles Cavender b. 1750 post, that you responded to, was in regard to another Charles
Cavender who settled in and died in 1833 in New Hampshire ....his family has been well
researched, the names of his children are very similar to that of our Cavender ancestors,
and some researchers have confused our family with his. The Charles Cavender who married
Mary E. Owens was another Charles Cavender who born 1763, lived in Maryland, and they had
6 children. There were not that many Cavenders in America in the late 1700s, but it seems
that several of the Cavenders that were here, were named Charles.
All official documents that I have found (census, tax records, Perry Co. IN court records)
only list our ancestor as being Charles Cavender, not Charles Samuel Cavender. The name
Charles Samuel Cavender was recently "created" by another researcher based on
part of a statement made in 1972 by a great-grandson of Charles .... there are no known
documents that identify him as Charles Samuel .... actually the great-grandson said that
he did not know what his name was, but had heard that his name was either Samuel, or
Charles, or Will.. Family legend in most of his descendant lines state that he was of
Irish descent, however in the 1870 census, two of Charles' children (son William in
Dubois Co. IN and daughter Deborah in Jefferson Co. KY) both state that Charles was born
in America. ( I have some good reasons to think that our Charles is descended from a
Cavender family from the Maryland area, whose probable immigrant ancestor was an ordained
minister, also named Charles Cav!
ender, who sailed from England to Baltimore in 1705.... but to date I have not been able
to prove this.) None of the records from 1790 to 1840 give the exact year that Charles
was born, but from those records, his year of birth can be approximated as being about
1765. Charles appears to have been living with his son James in Troy Township, Perry Co.
IN (present day site is in Cannellton IN) at the time of his death in February, 1842, as
noted by records from the current Perry Co. IN historian. I have not been able to find
where Charles was buried in Perry County IN.
The place of birth of Deborah Davis was also noted as being in America in the 1870 census
noted above, but she was probably born in Long Island NY, since her father stated that
was where he had lived prior to his purchase of land in Ferrisberg, Addison Co. Vermont in
1786. I have approximated Deborah's date of birth from census records and probable
marriage year as being in 1771, but the actual range of years for her birth actually
varies by 5 years. Marriage records for Ferrisburg VT were lost in a fire in the early
1800s, but since Charles was shown as a single young man living on the west bank of Lake
Champlain in the 1790 census, and their oldest son William was born in Addison County VT
on the east bank of Lake Champlain on August 29, 1793, it is reasonable to assume that
they were probably married in Ferrisberg in 1791 or 92. In 1800, census records show
Charles with a wife and 3 young children living in Ferrisberg VT (not sure if spelling is
Ferrisburg or Ferris!
berg .. have seen it both ways). Communication to me from other Cavender descendants,
noted that there was some "Davis Silver" (probably a tea setting) that was
inherited by their descendants, who in the l870s moved from Indiana to Iowa.
Deborah's sister Mary Davis was married to Robert Satterly, not Deborah. Deborah
appears to have been living when the 1830 census was taken, but not when the 1840 census
was, so her death being approximated as about 1835 in Troy Township, Perry Co. IN should
be close to correct. I have not been able to find the exact date of her death or place of
burial.
The tombstone in the (Anson) Cavender Pioneer Cemetery in Dubois Co. IN for your
ggg-grandfather John L. Thomas notes his birthdate as Feb. 3, 1802 and death date as July
29, 1854. I know your Thomas/Cavender ancestors moved back and forth from Perry to Dubois
Counties IN, but I do not have any data on Frances (Fanny) after 1860 and she does not
seem to be buried with John. Census data makes Frances birthdate appear to be in either
late 1800 or early 1801 ... I have not found where or when she died or where she is
buried. The Perry County IN marriage index shows their date of marriage as being June 5,
1824, but that may be the date the license was issued instead of the actual date of
marriage. The data I have from Perry County conflicts somewhat with the Thomas data from
Dubois County ....so I am not sure if the children I have listed for John and Fanny is
correct .... I would like to know what is listed on the back of the picture. I have
copies of pictures of several !
of Charles and Deborah's grandchildren taken from the 1860s to the 1880s .... but
since John Thomas died in 1854, the picture you have of John & Frances is probably the
oldest picture of any Cavender in our family line. There is a picture of their son,
James Cavender Thomas, and his wife on display in the Perry Co. IN museum in Cannelton.