Re: South Carolina Caves - Benjamin's Ancestors
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In reply to:
Re: South Carolina Caves
James Brian Cave 12/17/06
Be careful about the ancestors of Benjamin the Burgess. Please read the following:
The Tyrrell Chart and The Ancestry of Benjamin Cave, Burgess of Orange County, Virginia
The following is a verbatim excerpt from a letter written November 23, 1968 by Mrs. Dale M. (Dorothy) Thompson of Kansas City, MO. Mrs. Thompson, now deceased, was of the line of Benjamin the Burgess and sought for years to determine his ancestry without conclusive results. She has some rather negative remarks concerning the author of the Tyrrell Chart and his claim to have determined that the parents of Benjamin the Burgess were Rev. William Cave, Canon of Windsor and his wife Anna Stonehouse. The excerpt...
"You asked about the Tyrrell chart. Early in my CAVE researches, I kept hearing of this genealogical chart, which seemed to be so much venerated and quoted from. Later I learned that some early Cave-descendant, in the line of Benjamin's daughter Hannah Mallory, had employed an English genealogist named Tyrrell to trace the family. Tyrrell wrote a book on his own lines which is in the New York Genealogical Library, and he appears to have been a person of some reputation, but I regret to say I think he was too willing to please his patron. I finally got a photocopy of the chart from the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia. It gave the long line of Cave descent from the Conquest (which is probably as accurate as such things can be at this date, though it names only the heir or a few brothers, in each generation, and is not by any means complete). It brought Benjamin down from a branch of the family which lived at Pickwell in Leicestershire, stating that Benjamin was the son of the Rev. William Cave, who was a Canon of Windsor and a Chaplain to Charles II. This man was real enough; I have several of his books, and one written in collaboration with Jeremy Taylor. His prefaces are delightful, and he was a most learned man, writing mostly about early Church history. I should like so much to claim the Rev. William Cave! ...
"The regrettable fact however, is that Benjamin the Burgess appears to have been born in 1703 (deposition in Orange Co.) when the Rev. Wm. was 76 years old (he died in 1713) and his wife Anna Stonehouse was dead (she had died in 1691). Presumably Tyrrell found an eminent man whose death-date might have made it possible for him to have been Benjamin's father, if the matter were not inquired into carefully. What I blame Tyrrell for which condemns him utterly, is that he indicated on the chart that proof of Benjamin's parentage was in the will of the Rev. William Cave. After years, working through the Society of Genealogists in London, I succeeded in getting a photocopy of the full will of the Rev. William, from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. There is not the slightest excuse for what Tyrrell said. The will is long and detailed; he mentions daughters, a deceased son Ralph, a bequest to families of indigent ministers - it goes on for pages, and it is quite readable - it is not necessary to be able to read the "Court hand" to get it all. Tyrrell simply collected his fee and made his client happy, but I deplore his historical conscience and his common honesty."
More Replies:
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Re: South Carolina Caves - Benjamin's Ancestors
Sue ASH 3/10/07
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Re: South Carolina Caves - Benjamin's Ancestors
Jim Cave 3/11/07
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Re: South Carolina Caves - Benjamin's Ancestors