Finding my 6th Great Grandfather, James Cavanaugh

I am a Cavanaugh. Out of all the names that I research, Cavanaugh is the one I most want to take way back. The country of origin is likely Ireland, though I haven’t made it there yet in my backwards-through-time journey. Over the last few years, however, I have made some fantastic discoveries that revealed two additional generations of the Cavanaugh family as far back as the early 1700s in Virginia.  

For many years, the earliest Cavanaugh in my tree, and those of other researchers that I corresponded with, was James W. Cavanaugh, born in 1818 in Kentucky. He is found in federal census records, first in Bedford County, Tennessee in 1850 and then in Wright County, Missouri in 1860. The 1850 record shows an older woman named Elizabeth Cavanaugh, born in Virginia about 1794, living in the household. No relationship was stated, but my guess was that this must be his mother. There was also a young girl listed; Elizabeth Louallen, age nine, who was born in Indiana. Louallen? I’d never seen that name before in my research and it was a mystery. Search after search ended with no results.

About six years ago, I located a marriage record that broke through the brick wall. Polly Ann Cavanaugh married Noah Llewelling on 29 June 1837 in Bartholomew County, Indiana. Other records showed the name as Llewellen. Misspellings were common in old records and it was pretty easy to see how Llewellen and Louallen could be versions of the same name. The connection between the surnames and the marriage in Indiana prior to Elizabeth’s birth were huge clues that led to even greater discoveries.  

I found an Elizabeth Cavanaugh listed as head of household in Bartholomew County in the 1840 federal census. That census didn’t list the names of other family members, just showed tick marks for each male or female in different age brackets. One particular tick mark showed a male that could be my end-of-line-at-the-time James!  

The 1840 Federal Census listing for Eliz Cavanaugh in Columbus, Bartholomew, Indiana: 

Males – 15-19      - 2  (b. 1821-1825) 

Males – 20-29      - 1  (b. 1811-1820 matches James W.) 

Females – 15-19   - 1  (b. 1821-1825) 

Females – 30-39   - 1  (b. 1801-1810 has to be Elizabeth as head of household, age off by a few years) 

Now I had an Elizabeth Cavanaugh that could be the same woman from the 1850 census, who lived in the same community where Polly married Noah Llewelling, and she had a son the right age for my James. I followed a hunch that Polly and James were both Elizabeth’s children and young Elizabeth Louallen from the 1850 census was her granddaughter.  

Several months passed before I found the next clue. It was a message board post, http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties.bartholomew/4476.1/mb.ashx ,that was a response to a query looking for information on Polly Cavanaugh and Noah Llewellen. It mentioned a guardianship record for several minors in Bartholomew County, including Polly Ann Cavanaugh and James W. Cavanaugh. Following is the full text of that response: 

Subject: Re: Polly Cavanaugh md Noah Llewellen 1837 Bartholomew, IN 
Date: Sun, 09 May 2010  
Author: Donna_Kuhlman 
Surnames: 
Classification: queries 

Found Cavanaugh estate papers in Bartholomew Co. Archives. Probate Court, February 1852. Smallwood C. Cavanaugh, guardian of James, Polly A., John, Robert H. and Nancy Jane Cavanaugh, reports that said wards have all arrived at the age of majority. A financial distribution of $48.43 each is made and he asks to be discharged. Also found were two original signed receipts for these funds. One is from James W. Cavanaugh, who signed his own name, and the other is from Noah Lewelling and Polly A. Lewelling, who both signed with an "X." This last reads: Columbus Bartholomew Cty Indiana Received of S.C. Cavanaugh guardian of the heirs [of] Philip Samuel Cavanaugh decd the sum of forty eight dollars and forty three cents it being our part of a lagacy left by William Cavanaugh late of Virginia to the heirs of James Cavanaugh late of said State in witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this third day of January 1838. Noah (X) Lewelling, Polly (X) Lewelling.  
Smallwood Cavanaugh (1806-1855) was the son of Fielding Cavanaugh Sr. Fielding and Phillip S. Cavanaugh were both on census in Fayette Co. KY in 1820, and I would suppose that they were brothers; and these documents would suggest Fielding and Phillip were sons of a James Cavanaugh of Virginia. William Cavanaugh, who money was here distributed, might have been an uncle with no direct descendants. It appears that Smallwood Cavanaugh had been appointed guardian of his young cousins, although their relationship isn't spelled out in any of the documents I found in Bartholomew Co. You might find more in Fayette Co. KY probate records.  
Donna 

I contacted the county clerk in Bartholomew County and requested copies of the guardianship papers. I received four pages of documents, beginning with the original guardianship bond following Samuel’s death in 1837 and ending with a final accounting of the probate case in 1852. The papers confirmed the sibling relationship between Polly and James, named the other siblings and gave the name of their father, Samuel Cavanaugh. All matched the information Donna provided in the message board post. However, the papers I received did not include the signed receipts that she referenced, though the distribution amounts she listed do match those shown in the document. The pages I received all reference the name Samuel, not the full name Phillip Samuel, and there is no reference to a James or William as stated on the receipt that Donna transcribed. (A trip to Indiana to search those archives in person may be in my future...) 

10 May 1837, Guardianship Bond, Bartholomew County, Indiana

I was beginning to develop a more complete picture of the household: 

Father: Philip Samuel Cavenaugh/Cavanaugh died about 1837 in Indiana 

Mother: Elizabeth born about 1794 in Virginia 
Children: 

James W. Cavanaugh born about 1818 in Kentucky 

Polly Ann Cavanaugh married Noah Llewellen/-ing/Louallen 

Nancy Jane Cavanaugh 

John H. Cavanaugh 

Robert Henry Cavanaugh 

While offering some wonderful new information, this document (and the other three received with it) raised some new questions, too. There was no mention of their mother, Elizabeth, though in 1837 she was still living. Who was the guardian, Smallwood C. Cavanaugh? Donna mentioned in her post that he was a cousin, the son of Fielding Cavanaugh. I would need to verify this new information. Also mentioned in the document were James H. J. Glanton and Edmund Orr. I would need to research those names as well as the siblings names. And my James would be 18 or 19 years old in 1837; why would he need a guardian? Add to that some new locations to research. Fayette County, Kentucky and Virginia. Whew! 

Some research into the laws of the time period answered a few of the questions. At that time, one was considered a minor until the age of 21, so James was still a minor at 18 or 19 years old in 1837. I also learned that it was common practice then for a guardian to be named even when the mother survived. Women were not considered capable of handling finances or making major decisions concerning the upbringing of their children. This raised even more questions for me. I wondered how Elizabeth felt about having someone else come in and take over after her husband died. Was she relieved? Or, easier for me to imagine, was she angry and frustrated? She and son James travelled south to Tennessee by the late 1840s. Why did they leave? Did Polly and Noah travel with them? Was their daughter being raised by relatives following their death? I still haven't found those answers and may never know. 

I searched for records to more fully document the lives and family of Elizabeth and Phillip Samuel Cavanaugh. The first item I found was this marriage bond: 

Ancestry.com, Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954 > 004542756 > Image 511 of 712

This marriage bond showed that a Philip Samuel Cavenaugh/Cavanaugh planned to marry a Betsy Smith in Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1817. Betsy is a common nickname for Elizabeth, so that part fit. Also, the date made sense, since I knew that their son, James W., was born in 1818. The place is Kentucky, which also matched James birthplace. This was a good start! I looked for more records in Kentucky. 

In the 1820 Federal Census there is a Phillip S. Cavanaugh in Fayette County, Kentucky:  

Males –under 10     - 1  (may be James W., born 1818, age 2) 

Males –26-44          - 1  (Phillip S., putting his birthdate between 1776 and 1794) 

Females –under 10  - 2  (one of these may be Polly Ann) 

Females –16-25       - 2  (one may be Betsy, putting her dob bet. 1794 and 1804) 

The only name shown was the head of household and that was almost always the eldest male in the house. One of the females is a near match with the Elizabeth in Bartholomew County, Indiana in 1840 (born between 1801-1810) and does match the Elizabeth in Bedford County, Tennessee in 1850 (born about 1794). I'm not too concerned that the ages are different in 1840 and 1850. That was actually very common. Census takers didn't record which member of the household was interviewed and each person's recollection could be different. The enumerator may have even obtained the data from a neighbor if no one was home when he knocked on the door. The dates are close enough for me to believe they are the same woman. The young boy also fits with the information I have for James W. Cavanaugh. At this point I was fairly confident that I was on the right track.  

In 1830, again on the Federal Census for Fayette County, Kentucky, I found a listing for Saml Cavenaugh: 

Males – 5-9         - 3  (b. 1821-1825 may be John H., Robert Henry + ?) 

Males – 10-14     - 1  (b. 1816-1820 matches James W.) 

Males – 40-49     - 1  (b. 1781-1790, head of house, Philip Samuel) 

Females – < 5     - 1   (b. 1825-1830 may be Nancy Jane) 

Females – 5-9     - 2   (b. 1821-1825 may be Polly Ann + ?) 

Females – 30-39 – 1  (b. 1791-1800 matches Elizabeth "Betsy") 

Sometime between the date of the 1830 census and Samuel's death in 1837, the family moved from Kentucky to Indiana. Migrations during this time were commonplace, but usually happened with clusters of family members. I needed to look for those other names...Smallwood, Fielding, Glanton. 

Ancestry searches yielded several matches in census and marriage records. A Fielding Cavanaugh was listed in the Fayette County, Kentucky census records in 1810, 1820 and 1830. I found a Smallwood Cavanaugh had married a Mary Glanton in Bartholomew County, Indiana in 1833 and his family is listed there on the 1850 census. But most interesting were three marriage records from Virginia. All three were dated 1808, from old Rappahannoch and Essex County records, and all three were labeled as daughters of James Cavanaugh: 

Polly Cavanaugh married Burwell Glanton 

Phebe Cavanaugh married John H. Glanton 

Roadie Cavanaugh married Daniel M. Gaines 

A closer look at the record information showed that the marriages were derived from a deed and a copy was found in the Family History Library on microfilm. I ordered it into the local genealogy library and waited. And waited. Oh, lordy, I couldn’t wait to take a look at that microfilm. When it arrived I hurried to the library to view it. The Yakima Valley Genealogical Society Library is a fantastic local resource. I’ve been a member of the society off and on for many years and love researching at the library. But those microfilm viewers are old and don’t print copies so I took pictures of screen shots with my phone. Not as clear as I’d like, but I got copies, nonetheless. 

This document was the golden ticket. Right away, in the first paragraph, I had some answers: 

This indenture made this 20th day of September one thousand eight hundred and five between Thomas Cavanaugh, William Cavanaugh, Susanna Cavanaugh, Burwell Glanton and Polly his wife, Daniel Gaines and Roadie his wife, John Glanton and Phebe his wife, Fielding Cavanaugh, Caty Cavanaugh, Grace Cavanaugh, and Phill Cavanaugh of the one part and Turner Dixon of the other part… 

that the said Thomas Cavanaugh, William Cavanaugh, Susanna Cavanaugh, who are brothers and sister of Frederick Cavanaugh deceased and Fielding Cavanaugh, Burwell Glanton and Polly his wife, Daniel Gaines and Roadie his wife, John Glanton and Phebe his wife, Caty Cavanaugh, Grace Cavanaugh and Phill Cavanaugh who are children and heirs of James Cavanaugh another brother of the said Frederick Cavanaugh… 

The deed is for the sale of a “lott of land containing one acre” that was “known by the name of Dublin” “belonging to the estate of Frederick Cavanaugh deceased”. The acre was sold for eighty pounds (about $3400 today). Then at the end of the deed it lists the following witnesses: 

Smallwood Coghill 

Thomas Coghill 

Lewis Spindle 

Robert Gibson 

I have filled in some bits and pieces of the stories of these Cavanaugh, Glanton and Gaines families since I stumbled onto this deed. The migration patterns to Kentucky (Fayette and Woodford Counties) and then on to Bartholomew County, Indiana in all of the families closely match that of Philip Samuel Cavanaugh and his family. There is still much work to be done. That witness named Smallwood Coghill was either related somehow or just a very good friend of Smallwood's father and I'm working to figure that out. I'm also curious if Frederick Cavanaugh naming his acre "Dublin" might be a clue to the Ireland connection. Were the Cavanaughs originally in America as indentured servants? I want to look for other land transactions in Virginia up to 1800. I have an entire book on Fayette County, Kentucky that I've just started reading. Simple historical research to learn about events happening in these places at the time my ancestors were there can add to the stories. I hope for many more years of health so that I can continue researching and see where it leads. 

But, for now, this is my Cavanaugh line: 

(first name unknown) Cavanaugh, b. abt. 1725 (my 7th great grandfather)


Children of Cavanaugh, 1725-?: 

Frederick Cavanaugh, b. abt 1755, d abt 1805 
Susanna Cavanaugh, b. abt 1755 
William Cavanaugh, b abt 1755 
Thomas Cavanaugh, b abt 1755 
James Cavanaugh, b abt 1755, d bef 1805  




Children of James Cavanaugh, 1755-1805: 

Rhoda Cavanaugh, b abt 1775, d 1821 
Fielding Cavanaugh, b abt 1778 
Caty Cavanaugh, b abt 1780 
Mary "Polly" Cavanaugh, b abt 1782, d 1839 
Grace Cavanaugh, b abt 1783 
Phoebe Cavanaugh, b abt 1784 
Philip Samuel Cavanaugh, b abt 1785, d 1837 




Children of Philip Samuel Cavanaugh, 1785-1837: 

Female (first name unknown) Cavanaugh, b abt 1817 
James W. Cavanaugh, b abt 1818, d 1866  
Polly Anne Cavanaugh, b abt 1820, d abt 1849 
John H. Cavanaugh, b abt 1822 
Robert Henry Cavanaugh, b abt 1823, d 1851 
Nancy Jane Cavanaugh, b abt 1825 




Children of James W. Cavanaugh, 1818-1866: 

William S. Cavanaugh, b 1847, d 1900 
Martha Ellen Cavanaugh, b 1849, d 1918 
Nancy J. Cavanaugh, b 1851, d 1894 
Sarah Anne Cavanaugh, b 1854, d 1913 
Lucy C. Cavanaugh, b 1855, d 1914 
Henry Newton Cavanaugh, b 1858, d 1922 
Jackson Lee Cavanaugh, b 1863, d 1941 
John Harrison Cavanaugh, b 1865, d 1936 
(name unknown) Cavanaugh, d bef 1900 




Children of William S. Cavanaugh, 1847-1900:

 James E. Cavanaugh, b 1868, d 1936 
John Houston Cavanaugh, b 1870, d 1954 
Mary M. Cavanaugh, b 1871, d 1872 
Arminda C. Cavanaugh, b 1873, d 1874 
Flora B. Cavanaugh, b 1875 
Thomas H. Cavanaugh, b 1877 
Joseph E. Cavanaugh, b 1879 
Emma Martha Cavanaugh, b 1881, d 1972 
Susan T. Cavanaugh, b 1887, d 1977 
Margaret S. Cavanaugh, b 1890, d 1986 




Children of John Houston Cavanaugh, 1870-1954:

Lexon Charlie Cavanaugh, b 1891, d 1949 
Elmer Diamond Cavanaugh, b 1893, d 1957 
Arthur Virgil Cavanaugh, b 1895, d 1988 
Orvel Burgess Cavanaugh, b 1897, d 1991 
Zona Ruby Cavanaugh, b 1901, d 1991 
Opal Edna Jane Cavanaugh, b 1906, d 1946 


Then Art's son William Virgil Cavanaugh,
William's son William Carl Cavanaugh,
and then me.