Connie Street
Kathy Robertson
Connie, Helen is quite mistaken. I have never attempted to sort our the
18th century Cavitts of Pennsylvania nor do I plan to do so. As I noted
in my posting yesterday, my interest in Cavitts is limited to the
activities of Mary Cavitt Armstrong (1777-1857), her siblings and their
predecessors. That lineage is: through Mary's father Richard
(1749-1819) and unknown mother to Richard's his parents, Richard
(c1707-1757) and Catherine Whitley to the traditional senior immigrant to
America, Moses Cavitt (c1684-1750+), I'm after some sense of the social
and economic environments in which Mary Armstrong and her American
predecessors lived.
Your reference to Richard and Catherine Whitley Cavitt and the listing of
their children per Egle (your posting of January 23) coincides precisely
with my own data. One fact I did not have was the maiden name of
Richard's wife. I was also pleased to note that you recognized that the
Alexander Cavitt of massacre fame was miserably misidentified in Mrs. E.
B. Cavitt's book. Mrs. Cavitt also has the wrong Moses Cavitt at King's
Mountain.
Kathy, mathematics alone rules out the youngest son of Patric Cavet as
the father Mary, Moses, Andrew et al, if you accept Patric's birth date
as 1735. Consider the fact that son Richard was - at minimum - Patric's
11th child. Let's say he married his first wife in 1755 and their 8
children were born an average of two years apart. That would put first
wife's death around 1771. Assuming he married Mary Porter the following
year and their children were two years apart, Richard - their last -
would have been born around 1778, The Richard who sired Mary, Moses and
Andrew had to have been at least 25 years older.
Quite apart from that, I think my documentation is air tight. There is
not a shadow of a doubt that the Richard Cavitt (wife unknown) who lived
in Sumner County, TN, from c1786 to 1719, was the father of the following
ten children: Joseph, Mary (Armstrong), Richard, John, Moses, Elizabeth
(James or Jones), Peggy (Young). Sarah (Maxwell), Andrew and James. All
are named and are identified as siblings in litigation which found that
their father had incorrectly distributed the assets of the estate of
Richard Cavitt Jr. (a son who died young and unmarried) among the
latter's sibling heirs. [Microfilm, two documents, Lawsuit #3116, Sumner
County Archives, Gallatin, TN]. Most of Richard's children are again
mentioned in the litigation involving Richard and his son Moses.
[Microfilm, 13 documents, Lawsuit #6469, #L13504, #13152, Sumner County
Archives]
There can be no doubt that the Richard Cavitt who lived in Sumner County
from about 1786 to 1819 and died in Madison County, Alabama, was the
brother of Michael Whitley Cavitt (1747-1821) who died in Sumner County,
Moses Cavitt (1742-1802), who died in Knox County, TN, on land inherited
from brother Alexander, and Alexander Cavitt (1745-1793) who was killed
by Indians in Knox County. Articles of Agreement entered into 10
December, 1798 by brothers Moses, Richard and Michael Cavitt as to the
division of the estate of their brother Alexander. Page 66, Minutes,
Knox County Court of CP & QS. See also the plea of Moses Cavitt's wife
Agnes and children Richard, John, Rebecca (Hollowly), Susanna
(Shoemaker), Moses and Thomas. Minutes, Cavitt v Hutchings, Tennessee
Superior Court, District of Hamilton, 1807. (State Archives, Nashville,
TN).
I have no proof that Richard, Moses, Michael Whitley and Alexander were
sons of Richard (1707-1757) and Catherine Whitley but they, together with
siblings John (1736-1764), Mary (Clark) b 1744 and George (b1750),
correspond with the list offered by W. H. Egle in his "Notes and Queries
Historical & Genealogical" (V1 pg.90). Land transactions in Botetourt
and Tazewell Counties of Virginia, then in Sullivan and Knox counties of
NC/TN involving, Moses, Alexander and Richard seem to substantiate
Egle's statement that all of the children of Richard and Catherine except
John, moved to Sullivan County. They did indeed - but by way of
southwestern Virginia - the natural migration route from Pennsylvania.
Maybe I've missed something, but I've seen no sources listed for the
story of the seven Cavitt brothers and the dates and circumstances under
which they came from Ireland to America (including the contention that
the later arrivals brought their aging father, Moses, with them). I
assume it's all unsubstantiated tradition.
Indirect and circumstantial evidence is about as close as I can get to
proof that the Richard Cavitt who took up land in Madison County, AL,
around 1810 was the eldest son of Moses(1742-1802) and Agnes Cavitt.
But first, it is important to note that the deposition given 19 August,
1834 in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama, by Richard Cavitt pursuant
to his application for a military pension, does NOT indicate that
Richard's father, Moses, was killed at King's Mountain or otherwise
failed to survive the War. The misreading of this document greatly
exacerbated the genealogical errors made by Mrs. E. B. Cavitt's family
historians in "Some Tracings...."
Evidence that the Moses Cavitt whose wartime exploits Richard Cavitt of
Madison County referred to was, in fact, the brother or Alexander,
Richard and Michael Whitley is indirect. Both the 1834 deposition of
Richard of Madison County, and the 1807 statement in Cavitt v Hutchings,
indicate that Richard, son of Moses, lived for a time in Roane County,
TN. Further, I found a partial transcript of the Will of Richard Cavitt
of Sumner County in the Huntsville Public Library in which Richard Cavitt
of Madison County, AL, is referred to as "my nephew." A search of County
records at the court house turned up the estate inventory of young James
Armstrong, the grandson who accompanied Richard from Sumner County, TN,
to Madison County (in Orphan's Court, of all places!) but no Will for
Richard.
I have either verbatim transcripts or photocopies of handwritten
originals of all of the above mentioned documents.
Does any of this help?
Jack Bryan
___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at
http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]