Major William Hunter Cavendish

William Hunter CAVENDISH

• Born: Abt 1740, Ireland
• Marriage (1): Jane MURPHY on 13 Jun 1780 260
• Marriage (2): Alice MANN
• Marriage (3): Alice McCLINTIC on 10 May 1804 in Bath Co., VA 813
• Died: 1818, Bath Co., VA about age 78

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Biography

William Hunter Cavendish (c. 1735–1818) Came to Virginia from Ireland about 1756/1760. He was an American politician. He represented Greenbrier County in the Virginia House of Delegates 1790–1799 and 1802–1803, where he was affiliated with the Federalist Party.[1]

• Military: American Revolution: Patriotic Service, VA.
• Occupation: Lawyer/Farmer.
• 1794 Trustee of Washington University, Virginia, USA

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Family

Family 1. Mary McCOY, b. Abt 1735, VA d. Abt 1779, VA (Age ~ 44 years)

Children

1. Mary CAVENDISH, b. Abt 1775
2. Jane CAVENDISH, b. Abt 1779 d. 4 Dec 1828 (Age ~ 49 years)
3. William Hunter CAVENDISH, Jr. d. Bef 30 Apr 1794, Greenbrier County, VA [now WV]

Or - children of the second wife

Family 2. Jane MURPHY d. 1800, Greenbrier County, VA [now WV]
Marriage 13 Jun 1780 Greenbrier County, VA [now WV] [1]

Jane married William Hunter CAVENDISH on 13 Jun 1780.260 (William Hunter CAVENDISH was born about 1740 in Ireland and died in 1818 in Bath Co., VA.)

1. Sarah "Sally" CAVENDISH+
2. Margaret CAVENDISH+
3. Andrew CAVENDISH+
4. Rebecca CAVENDISH+

Family 3. Alice MANN, b. 5 Nov 1762, Botetourt County, VA d. 11 Feb 1858, Bath County, VA (Age 95 years)
Marriage 10 May 1804 Bath County, KY [2]

Notes

Married 1st to Mary Elizabeth McCoy widow of John Thomas Williams and had by her a daughter Catherine Cavendish wife of Adam Crismore

http://www.meadowbluff.com/greenbrier/21414.html

Info from DAR PATRIOT INDEX:CENTENNIAL EDITION:

• CAVENDISH, William Hunter b c 1750 IR, d 1828 VA, m 1. Jane Murphy, 2. Alice Mann, Patriotic Service, VA.*

Info from THE CAVENDISH HISTORY printed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1961:

• William Henderson CAVENDISH was born in Ireland about 1740 and came to America between 1756 and 1760 with his mother and two sisters. The story is that he was eligible for the House of Lords in Parliament and that his mother had been sent to Ireland before his birth so that in case the child was a boy that he could become a member of Parliament direct from Ireland. However, on growing up his sympathies were so pro-Irish that is was thought advisable to get him out of the country. They settled in Virginia on the James River not far from Lexington. The place where they settled is still known as the Cavendish Farm. William Henderson Cavendish's sisters married and from one of them decended George W. McClintic, recently Judge of the United States District Court of Southern West Virginia and the Arbuckles of Lewisburg and Glenville.

William Henderson Cavendish was a quarter-master general during the Revolutionary War 1778-82. He was appointed on the first board of visitors of Washington College, Lexington, Virginia in 1796. The proof of this is contained in Laws of Virginia, page 44, chapter 41 - "An act for erecting Liberty Hall academy into a College". This act was passed December 21, 1796 and names the board of visitors among whom is William H. Cavendish of Greenbrier. The duties of the board of visitors were to appoint the president and professors, remove and suspend the same for a good cause, fix their salaries, make inspections, and have control of all property belonging to the college.
William Henderson Cavendish served in the Assembly of Virginia 1802-1805 with the exception of two years when he was the sheriff of Greenbrier County at which time he lived in Lewisburg. The Cavendish vs. Fleming case on record at Lewisburg decided in settlement of an estate of which he was administrator. He lived for some time in or near Lewisburg, but returned to Virginia where he died. He was twice married. His first marriage was to Alice Mann. His family came with him west of the mountains and most of them remained there. He left five children of whom we have a record: two sons and three daughters. One daughter, Mary Cavendish, married Isaac Callison, August 27, 1798. Another daughter, Jane Cavendish, married Joseph McClung, May 1804. The third daughter, Rebecca Cavendish, married Alex McClung, January 25, 1816. One son, Willim Cavendish, a lawyer, was the first clerk of Kanawha county and practiced law in what is now West Virginia. One instance on court record is of his pleading a case in Point Pleasant. He married Jane McCoy, Feb. 6, 1794 but left no children. The other son of William Henderson Cavendish was Andrew Cavendish. From him descended those who bear the name of Cavendish of whom we have any knowledge.*

https://www.frostandgilchrist.com/getperson.php?personID=I40639&tre...

(1) Love, Graydon Smales, "William Cavendish," in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, Family Heritage, 1997, pp. 42-43:

That William Hunter Cavendish was connected to the aristocratic House of Cavendish in England was a fact that was freely discussed among people in early Greenbrier County. He served several terms in the Virginia after the Revolution of 1776 and ran the Greenbrier Commissary during The War for American Independence from the British Empire.

Tradition has it that this Lord Cavendish came to the Colony of Virginia with his mother and two sisters from England. A thorough search of shipboard records by this researcher could find only one Cavendish before the mid eighteen hundreds. That was Margaret Cavendish, who was probably his mother. Early shipboard records did not record the names of children nor women, unless they were unaccompied by a husband. If this was his mother, she came on the convict ship - Litchfield - in 1752.

The fact that she came on a ship with felons does not indicate that she was a bad person. Indeed the beaches of history are strewn with the victims of political massacres. Also, in those days of totally disenfranchised females, a man could charge his wife with a crime, send her away, and take on a new lady. The records of Old Bailey Courthouse in London, particularly the Sessions of Gaol, need to be searched to solve this mystery.

One can only speculate as to the horrors this aristocratic young mother experienced as she made her way across the Atlantic Ocean on a ship filled with cutthroats, thieves, and her three young children. Sufficient to say that young William Hunter Cavendish reflected the education and breeding of his royal background at an early age. He deposed in court documents that he was in Greenbrier as early as 1769 before the formation of the county.

In a frontier age characterized by illiteracy and crude survival, Lord Cavendish was busy dictating the deeds and wills of his countrymen to a court clerk. He witnessed the "X" marks made by pioneer men and women on courthouse documents and decided to start a school to combat the ubiquitous illiteracy of early Greenbrier residents. His compassion for others and lawyering skills made him a most respected genteleman. He accumulated a sizable plantation.

The question of Lord Cavendish's wives is still debated by his descendants. Only Church of England marriages were recognized until after the Revolution. What is well documented is his marriage to my great-great-great grandmother, Jane Murphy, on June 13, 1780. Subsequent to her death in 1800, he married the widow, Alice Mann. William Hunter Cavendish's will was probated in Bath Co., Va. in 1818.

His children were: Mary Polly (m. Isaac Callison), William H. (m. Jane McCoy), Margaret (m. Joseph McClung), Rebecca (m. Alexander McClung), Sarah (m. Thomas Brown), Andrew (m. Janet McClung in 1809).

Andrew Cavendish inherited thousands of acres from his father in the parts of Old Greenbrier that is now in Fayette and Nicholas Counties. He served in the War of 1812. Andrew's wife was the daughter of William ("Granddaddy Billy") McClung, a Revolutionary Soldier and pioneer of the area. Andrew and Janet Cavendish had thirteen children. Their oldest son, William Hunder Cavendish II (1810-1878) was my great-grandfather.

[Note by compiler: It is unlikely that the Margaret CAVENDISH described above was the mother of William Hunter CAVENDISH. She was a spinster. She was convicted of grand larceny (for stealing goods having a total value of 7 shillings), and was sentenced to transportation to America, to serve a 7-year term. See The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court, 1674 to 1913 <https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/>:

Margaret Cavendish, Theft > grand larceny, 19th February 1752.

Reference Number: t17520219-9
Offence: Theft > grand larceny
Verdict: Guilty
Punishment: Transportation

139. (L.) Margaret Cavendish, spinster, was indicted for stealing one copper tea-kettle, value 4 s. and one sauce-pan, value 3 s. the goods of Humphry Litton, Jan. 30.

++ Guilty.

Old Bailey Proceedings punishment summary, 19th February 1752.

Transported for 7 Years. 35.

Hudy Bang, Roger Wooldridge, MARGARET CAVENDISH, Peter Walker, John Scrivner, Thomas Brockley, Jerwise otherwise Jarvis Shay, John Thorne, Robert Allison, John Carr, William Rogers, Michael Ainsworth, John Martin, Francis Rowel, Richard Bulline, Benjamin Jefferys, Joseph Burgess, Thomas Barnes, Eleanor Gready, Joseph Putterworth, William Beadle, Anne Goadin, Adam Grant, Joseph Meresley, otherwise Moseley, Mary Brown, Anne Kendrick, William Foster, John Porter, William Neal, Anne Hilton, Thomas Endersley, William Mace, Elizabeth Broom, John Malone, John Lewis.]

(2) Chalkley, Lyman, The Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: 1745 to 1800 [Reprint, Originally Published, 1912], Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980 <http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~chalkley/>, Vol. II:

p. 141:

Wm. H. CAVENDISH, Attorney for Silvanus Walker, vs. George Clendennin's Heirs - O. S. 172; N. S. 61 - Greenbrier. George Clendennin died intestate, leaving Jemima (widow), children, Parthenia Meggs, wife of John Meggs; Cynthia and Margaret Clendennin.

p. 156:

Mays vs. Law - O. S. 190; N. S. 67 - Deed 9th April, 1805, by Nicholas Steel of Montgomery County, Ky., to John Steele of same place, conveys undivided part of land purchased by James Steele, deceased, from James Armstrong in Bath County on Jackson River, corner Else McClintock, alias CAVENDISH; Wm. CAVENDISH, 450 acres. Recorded In Montgomery County (Ky.), 2d September, 1805. Deed 7th October, 1806, by Henry Steele of Bath County to Edith Steele of same place, conveys his share of land descended to Henry from his father, James Steel, Sr., deceased; and also by purchase from brothers, John and Nicholas Steel. Recorded in Bath, January, 1807. [Note by compiler: William McCLINTIC's widow, Alice "Else" MANN, married 2nd, William CAVENDISH.

References

1. https://www.frostandgilchrist.com/getperson.php?personID=I40639&tre...
2. http://www.meadowbluff.com/greenbrier/21414.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hunter_Cavendish
4. https://dustyrootsandforgottentreasures.com/blog/notable-relations/...
5. http://www.meadowbluff.com/genealogy/21414.html
6. http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/william_hunter_cavendish
7. http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~azopp/genealogy/data/fam/fam00764.htm
8. https://www.frostandgilchrist.com/getperson.php?personID=I40803&tre...
9. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:William_Cavendish_%2812%29
10. https://books.google.com/books?id=WvItAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA407&ots=syrsXL... page 407
11. https://books.google.com/books?id=Vm2IAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA297&ots=G6hBnZ... page 297
12. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LZVY-YCB/lord-william-hunter-...
13. https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/d/o/r/Frances-C-Dorman/GENE1-0001.html
14. https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/ancestral-trails-2016/118094.php