This is to inform those of you who downloaded Ellen Burnett Cavitt's
book, "Some Tracings of Cavett-Cavitt Family History 1725-1965," which
Rita made available, that investigation of the lives of Andrew Cavitt
and his father, Richard, is continuing. My interest in these two -
principals in the core line in Mrs. Cavitt's book - is somewhat
peripheral. A book I'm writing has to do with an Armstrong family into
which Mary Cavitt (another of Richard's ten children) married. But in
the process of gathering data on Mary's descent, I've become fascinated
by her wacky father and her free-wheeling brother.
As valuable and interesting as E B Cavitt's book may be, its portrayal of
Andrew's pre-Texas years is as wildly inaccurate as its information about
his antecedents and the family environment in which he grew up. It is a
fact that the unstable behavior of his father, Richard Cavitt, forced his
children to seek redress in court more than once (lawsuits 3116, 6061,
6469, 13505, Sumner County, TN, Archives - microfilm). A climactic
quarrel set some of his children against each other and was resolved only
when Richard died in exile after disinheriting them all (Minutes,
September Term, 1819, Madison County, AL, Probate Court). The portrayal
of this man as a wise patriarch who convened a family council in order to
discuss matters of particular importance is one of the most egregious -
and ironic - pieces of fiction in Mrs. Cavitt's book.
Equally preposterous is the book's depiction of a vigorous, enterprising,
upstanding young Andrew Cavitt. Andy was, indeed, able and ambitious,
but hardly the paragon of rectitude and virtue the book describes. In a
word, this guy was a rogue.
Shortly after being named in a divorce action as the live-in companion of
another man's wife and possible father of her child, (see Sumner County
Archives, Lawsuit 10039 - 3 documents, microfilm), Andrew and his uncle
Michael Cavitt were arrested in January, 1819. Michael was and charged
with possessing and attempting to hide dies and equipment for the
counterfeiting of Spanish milled dollars. The boxes containing the
equipment were said to have belonged to Andrew who was charged with their
ownership and with conspiring with his uncle to conceal them. A number
of documents, including grand jury indictments, are on microfilm in
Sumner Archives under Lawsuits H 6075 and 10104, as is Andrew's petition
to the court for a change of venue.
From 1819 to 1834, only four facts concerning Andrew's activities
have
been proved: in 1820, the young blacksmith paid taxes for the last time
on his 100 acres in Sumner County, TN; in April, 1821, he married his
second cousin, Ann Cavitt, in Madison County, Alabama; in November, 1825,
he contracted to buy two lots in the little town of Bolivar, in
newly-established Hardeman County, TN; in December, 1834, the well-heeled
young farmer set out for Texas at the head of a substantial entourage
which included his wife, seven young sons and twenty slaves.
Obviously, Andrew experienced considerable financial success in the
fifteen years following his arrest. How did he do it?
First, did he beat the counterfeiting rap? Slated for trial in Gallatin,
Sumner County, Andrew's lawyer complained to the court in March, 1819,
that "so much publicity has been given by the prosecutor & others to
circumstances calculated to incriminate him (and) that such a degree of
prejudice exists in the public mind...." that he couldn't get a "fair and
impartial trial" in Sumner, or for that matter, in neighboring Robertson
and Davidson counties.
To date I've been unable to determine whether Andrew and his uncle
Michael ever stood trial. The eleven microfilmed documents in Sumner
Archives which relate to the case are all dated between 14 January and
the "March term of the circuit court of said (Sumner) county," 1819.
I've scoured Sumner Archives for further information and found nothing.
The case must have been remanded to another court in March. But what
other court and where, and what was the outcome?
The Sumner County Grand Jury indictment was signed, "Thos. Washington,
attorney general of the seventh district in said (Tennessee) state."
Does this suggest that trial was to be held in a State judicial district?
If so, where was the seventh district seated and where would its records
be? Or could the reference have been to Federal district court?
Counterfeiting then, as now, must have been a federal offense. Spanish
milled dollars were legal tender throughout the United States in 1819.
So where would such federal records be?
Another clue needs to be tracked down: contemporary local newspapers
surely carried the story if the arrest and trial (if any) of Andrew and
his uncle received the widespread publicity claimed. The Tennessee State
Library and Archives told me that they have on microfilm every issue of
the "Clarion and Tennessee Gazette," (published in Nashville), for the
years 1818 through 1821. Hopefully, Helen Donald is going to crank up
the microfilm reader for me while she's in Nashville next week.
Several other newspapers were published in Nashville and in Sumner and
Robertson counties in 1819 and 1820. Any suggestions as to how to
identify them and locate copies?
I mentioned previously that Richard Cavitt departed Sumner County a short
time before he died. His acrimonious lawsuit against his son Moses, in
which all eight of Moses' siblings eventually became embroiled, was still
grinding on. The embittered Richard went to live with a nephew and
namesake in Madison County, Alabama, Grandson James Armstrong, eldest
son of Mary Cavitt Armstrong, apparently went along with the old man to
look after him. Richard died there in the Summer of 1819. His Will,
probated in September, 1819, left the anticipated proceeds of his Sumner
County lawsuit to his nephew, Richard Cavitt of Madison County.
The Cavitt book, "Some Tracings......," correctly identifies Richard
Cavitt of Madison County, Alabama, as the father of Ann Cavitt who
married her second cousin Andrew. The book's story of Andrew and Ann's
first encounter is fairly plausible, but it seems much more likely that
they met at a funeral. Probably none of Richard Cavitt's children
traveled to Madison County for his funeral, but Estate records show that
eight months later, his daughter Mary Cavitt Armstrong went there to bury
her son, James. Mary's younger brother Andrew would have been a logical
person to have accompanied her on that arduous journey. Thus Andrew and
Ann might have met in March, 1820.
No land purchases by Andrew Cavitt are to be found in Hardeman County
Deed Books other than his acquisition of the two lots in the little town
of Bolivar. Clearly he must eventually have had extensive holdings
elsewhere in the County to have reached the level of prosperity he
displayed by 1834. Land records may be lacking because Hardeman County
was not organized until 1823 and Andrew may have arrived there as early
as 1820. The area was then was part of the Tennessee's unincorporated
"Western District," a k a "Indian Lands." Does anyone know whether
land
records exist for the Western District of Tennessee, and if so, where?
Do you suppose Andrew bought a few thousand acres of choice farmland
directly from the Indians with shiny new Spanish dollars? Naaaah!
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
Jack Bryan