Cathey Family Page
Welcome to The Cathey Family Page, which furnishes historical detail beyond the site index, exploring eight generations of Catheys in the line of Archibald Cathey of Managhan, Ireland.
4. Stella Cathey (Boone)‑‑Mother of Sue Blann and wife of J.M.Boone, Stella was born June 12, 1886 in Erin, TN (Houston Co.) and died in Nashville, TN. in June 1971. She had brown eyes and dark hair, and was about 5'6" & wore glasses from middle years on. She first appears in the 1900 census in Houston Co. TN as a 13 year old in the eighth grade. She married Marvin Boone in Erin on Oct.21, 1903 and together they had seven children: Oliver Boone (1905-1982), Hazel Denny (1907-1996), Margaret Moore (1910-1998), Marvin Aaron Boone (1913-1987), Doris Johnson (1919-2005), Edith Galloway (1915-2009) and Sue Blann (1926-2007). The 1930 census shows that the family had moved from Erin to Nashville, TN. Stella was a deaconess in the Nazarene Church and started Nashville’s first rescue mission in 1939, located below the Jefferson St. Bridge. Several times a month, she would observe a day of fasting and prayer and sometimes counseled people in the church. Passenger lists show that in March 1950 she traveled for 6 weeks to Southhampton, England to visit her daughter, Sue Blann and her family (MSgt Troy Blann and 2 year old son Rob), who were then stationed by the Army in England. Stella had one brother, Clyde, who died in 1959. Her parents were Levi Cathey (sometimes spelled Cathy) and Laura Hooper.
5. Levi Smith Cathey‑‑Levi Cathey, father of Stella, was born in Montgomery Co, TN. East Park area (Clarksville) on Nov. 3, 1860. He was reared there, then moved to Houston Co. for most of the rest of his life, working as a saw miller making axe handles. On Oct.31, 1936, he died (a widower) at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, while living in Clarksville, and was buried in Erin, TN. (Erin Cemetary #1 on Jail Hill in the town of Erin). Of Black Dutch descent, he had black hair, dark brown eyes and an olive complexion. He married Laura Hooper Aug.31, 1882 in Houston, TN, & had two children, Stella and Clyde. Levi's mother was Nancy Myers of TN. (1838-1906) and his father was Wiley Cathey of Stewart, TN, who was killed in the Civil War. The male Cathey line died out with Stella’s brother Clyde, who had one daughter and no sons. Nancy Myers Cathey: Levi’s mother, Nancy, or Nann, was born Oct.8,1838 in TN (d.Feb.6 or 7,1906) and first married Burrell A. Hancock (b.1832) of Montgomery Co. at around age 15. They had at least one child, David Hancock, born in 1854/5 before Hancock died ca.1858 (5 year-old David appears in the 1860 Stewart Co. TN. census living with a remarried Nancy L.Cathey). Montgomery Co. records show that Nancy L.Hancock next married Wiley Cathey on Oct.12, 1859. Levi was born the next Nov. (1860) and his father died in 1863. Nann Cathey next remarried in Montgomery Co. on July 17, 1865 to James Thomas Buckingham (1826 or 1831-1915), who was born in Stewart Co. TN and buried in the Meyers Cemetery on the South Side of the Cumberland River. They had a son named (John) Henry (b.1866), Levi’s half‑brother, a daughter Minie (Maggie), and several other children (Alice, Wm.Aristotle, Thomas Edgar & Sarah). Nann is listed on Rootsweb as Nannie Lucy Cathey.
6. Wiley (Willie) Cathey --The father of Levi Cathey, Wiley (Wily) was born in 1829, probably in Stewart Co., the eldest of six children of George and Eliza Cathey. His siblings were Archibald (1832-1907), William George Cathey (1836-1916), Mary Jane (b.1828) & Rebecca E. (or A.; b.1830) Cathey. On Ancestry.com I have 8 autosomal DNA matches to Archibald Cathey, 2 matches to Rebecca and 4 matches to William George Cathey. In 1852, Wiley married Nancy E. Wynn). They had two children, Verilla & Minerva, before Nancy died on Oct.13, 1858. Wiley next married the young widow Nancy L. (Myers) Hancock in Montgomery Co., Oct.12 or 13, 1859 and moved back to Stewart Co.TN. The 1860 Stewart Co. census shows the couple with Wiley’s two young children and Nancy’s son David Hancock, all the children between 4 and 5 years of age, living near Wiley’s parents, George and Eliza. (Both Wiley and his father are listed as farmers.) Levi Cathey was born late in 1860, just after the census was taken. Wiley enlisted in the Confederate army on Dec. 25, 1861 and served as a private in Co. "H" 50th Tennessee Infantry and died in January 1863 as a CSA soldier. Three other soldiers in his unit died that same month. Wiley’s military record shows that he was captured at Ft. Donelson on Feb.16, 1862. Evidently he was released and rejoined his regiment which was taking an active part in engagement on Chickasaw Bayou near Vicksburg, Mississippi in late December of 1862 and remained at Port Hudson, LA, from Jan.7 to May 2, 1863. The Confederate army records show that by Jan.12, 1863, Wiley was too ill to serve, due to dysentery and chronic diarrhea and was thus furloughed from Vicksburg to the Academy Hospital in Chattanooga where he died on Jan. 21, 1863. Records show that Larkin Hooper, his son’s future father-in-law, was also in the same unit.
7. George Cathey Jr. --The father of Wiley Cathey, George Cathey Jr. was born Feb.12, 1804 (date on grave), either in Mecklenburg, NC or Stewart Co., Tennessee, the youngest of four known children of George Cathey Sr. (ca.1762-1840). George probably married around 1827, as his first child, Mary Jane, was born in 1828. Geroge's wife, Eliza (surname uncertain), was born around 1811 in Tennessee (per censuses) and died before 1880. Together they had the following 5 children: Mary Ann (1828-1844; m. David Wilson), Wiley (1829-1863), Archibald (1832-1907; m. Isabella Langford), Rebecca Ann (1834-1907; m. Drew Augustus Wynns), and William George (1836-1916; m. Margaret Vickers). George first appears as a head of household in Stewart Co. TN in 1830 with wife and male and female under 5. (The surname of both George and his father is spelled "Cathers " in the 1830 census.) In the 1840 Stewart Co. census George and his wife appear with 4 children; George is 30-39 and his wife 20-29. The 1850 census shows George Jr. as a farmer born in North Carolina. but the 1860 and 1870 censuses say he was born in Tennessee and that his wife, Eliza, was also born in Tennessee. The 1850 census shows in his household: George Cathy (age 47), Elisa Cathy (37), Archibald Cathy (28), Wily Cathy (21), William Cathy (14) and Emily Warford (9). The 1870 census shows George as a farmer at age 66 with 60 year old wife, Liza (surname unknown), living with 16 year old granddaughter "Veroniel" (Verilla) Cathey, 32 year old Thomas Wyat (listed as hired hand) and three young Wyat children. George died in Houston Co. TN on Jan.8, 1877 and was buried in Hill Orchard Cemetery, Tennessee Ridge, Houston Co.TN (per Find-a-grave). Please go to the bottom of the page to see a discussion of Eliza Cathey's possible surname: Duffell.
8. George Cathey Sr. -- The father of George Jr., George Cathey was born ca. 1766 in Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina (near Charlotte). I estimate a 1766 birth year, based on the 1830 Stewart Co. TN census which shows the male head of household, George Sr., as age 60-69; thus he was born in the decade of the 1760s and his first known child was born in 1792. George's father, Andrew Cathey, was married to a wife named Martha (Thompson?). Mecklenburg County land records from Sept.28 and Oct.24, 1764 list Andrew Cathey's wife as Martha. She apparently died soon afterwards, for a Jan.15 and 16, 1767 land transaction shows that Andrew has remarried a widow named Rebecca Armstrong (ca. 1730-ca.1788), possibly as early as 1765. George's first child is named Rebecca and he doesn't name a daughter Martha. Andrew Cathey's will of 1786 states:
I also give to my beloved wife an honorable maintenance off the land I now live on and in the home I now live in as formerly enjoyed and the use of all ... shall be for the use of my widow and my son George while my widow lives and then to be divided equally as above, but in case any of my children should marry during my widow's life, she shall have the freedom to give them such things as she shall see they stand in necessity for. I give and bequeath to my beloved son, George, one young bay horse that goes by his own name and 180 acres of land I now live on, but in case my son George thinks proper to dispose of said land, he is hereby authorized to dispose also of all my land I now live on, and pay his brother Andrew and Archibald in proportion for the remainder. I also give to my son George 500 acres of land on the Western waters. [ie. land in Stewart Co. Tennessee].
To me, this implies that at the time of the will George is unmarried and living in his parent's home helping take care of his soon to be widowed mother and upon her death will inherit the farm. If this is so, then his date of birth is probably around 1765-67 and he would be about 20 years old at the time the will was written. From this it would follow that he married between 1787-1791. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any marriage or other record that reveal the name of his wife, who, according to census dates, probably lived from ca. 1767 to the mid 1830s. She appears with George in the 1820 and 1830 census and is not mentioned as living by the time her husband wrote his will in 1840.
George Cathey Sr. is listed in "Goodspeed's History of Stewart Co. TN" as being among those who settled on Long Creek 6 miles southeast of Dover about 1803. George appears on the 1806 tax rolls in Stewart Co. TN as “George Cathey Sr.” and is listed on the 1810 reconstructed Tennessee census based on tax records. He and his wife and children appear in the 1820 and 1830 census. George's third child, Archibald, states on the 1850 census that he was born in Tennessee and George Jr. first states on the 1850 census that he was born in North Carolina in 1799, but then in 1860 and 1870 says he was born in Tennessee. So 3 out 4 of these censuses imply that George Sr. had already moved to Tennessee by 1799, if these two sons were born there. (George's oldest daughter, Rebecca, was born in North Carolina in 1794 according to the 1850 census.) That George no longer appears in the 1800 North Carolina census, also suggests that he may have been in Tennessee by that time. (There is evidence that some of Andrew Cathey's children moved to Georgia for a few years in the 1790s before coming to Tennessee, George Sr. possibly among them.) George died in Stewart Co. in 1840, at the age of about 74. His will of March 31, 1840 indicates that he owned at least four slaves whom he bequeathed to his four children: Rebecca Kirksey (1792-1859), John Cathey (1795-1846), Archibald Cathey (1799-1855) and George Cathey Jr. (1804-1877).
Other George Cathey marriages: There are a number of marriage records for various individuals named George Cathey during this period but all of them can be fairly confidently identified as being other Georges than my George Cathey Sr. who settled in Stewart Co. TN. Two possible wives of George Sr., often cited in on-line trees, bear mentioning. Marriage bond records from Mecklenburg, NC show a marriage (or intention to marry) between George Cathey and Martha "Patsy" Wilson (ca.1770-1804) on April 7, 1804 (North Carolina Marriages, 1759-1979) and there is also a later Mecklenburg marriage bond between Patsy Wilson and George Cathey dated April 7, 1807 (North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011). Since all of my George Cathey's children were born by 1804 and records place him in Stewart Co. rather than in Mecklenburg Co. NC by 1806, the 1807 marriage of my George Cathey to Patsy Wilson back in Mecklenburg can be ruled out. In Boyd Cathey's book, Cathey History and Genealogy, he lists George Cathey (1778-1860) of Mecklenburg Co., son of John Cathey and Esther Barber, as marrying Patsy Wilson, having no known children, and then in 1842 George marries a second wife, Malinda Ticer. (When I contacted Boyd before his death he told me that he had not sufficiently researched my particular Cathey line.) Another marriage record of note is between George Cathey and Eleanor Honer Armstrong and takes place in Stewart Co. on Aug.1, 1805. This is George Cathey (1776-1840), son of Josiah Cathey, grandson of Andrew Cathey's brother, George (1724-1801) and thus a cousin of my George Cathey Senior. This cousin George and Eleanor later moved to Williamson Co., Tennessee where, after George's death, his widow Ellen Cathey appears in the 1840 & 1850 censuses in Williamson County. One further person often confused with my George Sr. is Capt. George Cathey (1755-1840) of Mecklenburg Co. NC, who married Margaret Jean Chambers and settled in Missouri where he died in 1840.
9. Andrew Cathey -- The father of George Cathey Sr., Andrew Cathey was born ca. 1721-22 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and died in Mecklenburg Co. NC in 1786. In his 1786 will, Andrew names his children as: Andrew Jr. (ca.1762-1824) who married Mary Ann Purny, then Jane; Archibald (ca.1764-1823) who married Agnes Nancy Sloan; Eleanor ("Nelly"; ca.1765-1824) who married John Lightfoot; George (ca.1766-1840); and Rebecca (ca.1767-1830) who married John White. The date of birth of the five children born in the 1760s is estimated by means of later census reports but the birth order is uncertain. Evidence suggests that they may all be children of Andrew's second wife, Rebecca. (In his will Andrew also mentions (step) sons Robert and James Armstrong, thought to be older children of his second wife, Rebecca (the widow Armstrong). Andrew's first wife, Martha, may possibly be the mother of Archibald and Andrew Cathey Jr., depending on when they were born.
Mecklenburg Co. NC land records for Andrew Cathey from Sept.28, 1764 and Oct. 24, 1764 list his first wife's name as Martha. Subsequently in a Jan.15 & 16, 1767 Mecklenburg land transaction Andrew's wife's name is given as Rebecca, his second wife. This indicates that any children between Andrew and Rebecca would necessarily have been born after August 1765. I show a number of DNA matches through Rebecca to children: George, Eleanor, Rebecca Cathey and Robert Armstrong. (An interesting handwriting error has led some to imagine that Andrew named his wife "Maretha" in his 1786 will, but he doesn't actually give his wife's name in the will. In the misunderstood passage the supposed name runs off the page and actually reads: "I give and bequeath unto my well beloved wife one bay "mare/tha(t)" go by her own name and her saddle and bridle.") Rebecca's surname is not given in the sources but she is believed to be an Armstrong because in his will, Andrew Cathey mentions two "sons" with the last name of Armstrong, which suggests that Rebecca was the widow of an unknown man named Armstrong who was the father of her two older children, Robert and James Armstrong. Though unproven, this seems the most likely explanation.
Next we look at what is known about the children's birth dates and which children are Martha's or Rachel's. The only evidence for the birth date of Archibald Cathey is the 1800 Stewart Co. TN census (which lists his age as 26-44 (born 1756-1774). The 1820 Stewart Co. TN census alone gives an age for Andrew Cathey Jr.--45 or older (born before 1776). Archibald married Agness Slone in 1793 in Mecklenburg Co. NC per marriage records (North Carolina, U.S., Index to Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868) and his first known child, Margaret, was born in 1794. If Archibald married at age 29, his estimated birth date would be ca.1764 (he might even have been born as late as the mid 1770s, depending on his mother's age.) Andrew Cathey Jr. may be the oldest sibling, possibly born ca. 1762 give or take a few years. Marriage records show that an Andrew Cathey married Mary Ann Purny in 1789 in Tryon and Lincoln Co. NC, but this might be another Andrew. His wife who was the mother of his children was named Jane and they had their first known child, Jane, in 1797, which suggests that Andrew was not significantly older than his siblings. DNA matches seem to indicate that Andrew Jr. is the son of Andrew Sr. but Rebecca wasn't his mother; thus Martha is likely Andrew Jr.'s mother--and possibly Archibald as well. On the other hand, I show DNA matches for George, Eleanor, Rachel and Robert Armstrong all coming through Rebecca (census records show ages ranges that would support these children's birth dates after 1765, except for Robert Armstrong who was born before 1764). The Evidence suggests, therefore, that Rebecca Armstrong Cathey is likely the mother of the three youngest children who are listed in Andrew Cathey Sr.'s will.
Early on, Andrew acquired a huge tract of land "on the Western waters" and in his will he bequeathed to each of his children a sizeable portion of that land which was located in what would become Stewart Co. and Williamson Co.TN. Records show that all of Andrew's children subsequently moved to the Stewart Co. and Williamson Co. area (and that helps researchers confirm that they are the same children mentioned in Andrew's will). U.S., Census Reconstructed Records, 1660-1820 show Andrew Cathey in Rowan Co. NC in 1759-60. By 1762 he is located on 200 acres in the Shenandoah Valley in Augusta Co., VA. Later Andrew and his family moved to Mecklenburg Co., NC where he wrote his will on Jan. 20, 1786. Andrew died later in 1786 and was buried near his mother at the Steele Creek Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., NC. Andrew Sr.’s parents were George Cathey Sr. and his wife, Jean.
10. George Cathey (I) --The father of Andrew Cathey Sr., George Cathey was born in Monaghan, Ulster, Northern Ireland, ca. 1692. George married Jean, who was also from Ulster (born in 1692). Some researchers believe Jean's surname was Cathey or that she had prviously married a Moffett. What is certain from her 1777 will is that her first name was Jean. In the early 1700’s George and Jean Catheyimmigrated to Lancaster, PA, where they married and had their first five children (Jean McCormick, b.1720; Andrew, b.1722; George, b.1724: John, b. 1725 & Eleanor, b.1726). Later they moved to Rowan Co., North Carolina, where five more children were born, the last one, Fanny, was born in 1739). Land records show that George received a grant of 400 acres in present-day Mecklenburg Co. NC in 1749 and 312 acres in Anson Co. (now Rowan Co.), NC in 1751 near James Cathey’s land, followed by 630 more in Anson in 1752, received from Lord Granville. A July 10, 1758 land transaction records the transfer of property from "George Cathey Sr. and wife Jean of Rowan Co." to grandson John Tool, witnessed by Andrew and Archibald Cathey (George and Jean's sons), (Anson County, North Carolina Deed Abstracts, 1749-1766, Abstracts of Wills & Estates, 1749-1795). In 1752, various heads of Cathey households received 7 land grants totaling 3,752 acres. The Cathey Settlement (also known as the Irish Settlement) was located west of present Salisbury, NC. It is described in great detail by author Robert W. Ramsey in his book Carolina Cradle. George, the “planter of Anson County,” died ca.1765 in Rowan Co., NC. His widow, Jean Cathey, then moved with most of her children to Mecklenburg Co. NC. where she died on March 12, 1777. She was buried at the Steele Creek Presbyterian Church next to her unmarried son, Archibald, who also died in 1777. Her extensive will shows her to have been a person of strong Christian faith, with a fairly large estate and a number of slaves and horses. The parents of George Cathey Sr. are thought to be John Alexander and Ann Cathey.
11. John (Alexander) Cathey -- The father of George Cathey Sr., John Cathey was born ca. 1660 in Clones Parrish, Monaghan, Ulster, Ireland. His wife, Ann, was also born there in 1670. (Some researchers suggest that her surname may have been Johnson, but without providing supporting evidence). The couple immigrated to America where John died Sept.13, 1743 in Paxton, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He left a will which names his wife Ann and also lists "her two children, George Cathey and Jean Cathey." (This suggests that Ann may be a second wife; some think her first husband was named Archibald.) John goes on to mention in the will a son named Alexander and a daughter named Elinor Morehead (whom he bequeaths "five pounds and 14 shillings"..."if she comes to the country"). John's will therefore identifies Ann as George Cathey's mother, but leaves open the question of whether George's father may have been Ann's first husband. There is little firm evidence with which to further trace this Cathey line in Ireland.
The Catheys trace back at least to the Lowlands of Scotland in the 17th century. The Catheys were some of the early settlers of Ulster in the 17th century. It has not been determined whether or not the Catheys were planted as part of the 1610 plantation program approved by King James or whether they settled in Ulster prior to that time. Y-DNA studies indicate that descendants named "Cathey" do not share DNA with descendants named "Cathie". The first known person with a Cathey surname was Alexander Cathey, born in the period 1635-1650. Among the early Cathey settlers arriving in America from Ulster was James Cathey, born ca.1685 in Ulster, Ireland, who has been documented in Cecil County Maryland in 1718. (James may possibly have been George Sr.’s brother). John Cathey, son of James, arrived between 1746 and 1751. Most of the Catheys in the United States descend from James, John and George Cathey. The migration path of James Cathey has been well documented. Records prove that James Cathey moved from Maryland into Lancaster Counter, Pennsylvania in the early 1730's. During the late 1730's, the Catheys had moved into Augusta County, Virginia, to what was called "The Beverly Manor". A land grant dated 13 August, 1743 from the "Colony and Dominion of Virginia" to James Cathey gave him 1,350 acres of land on the Shenandoah River. James Cathey had migrated to Anson County in the Colony of North Carolina by the late 1740's. The portion of Anson County in which they settled became Rowan County in 1753. The Cathey Settlement or "Irish Settlement" was located west of present Salisbury, North Carolina, where James Cathey (d.1757) had settled by 1749.
Discussion of Eliza Cathey's surname: Some identify George Jr.’s wife's as Eliza F. Carter (born in 1813 in Georgia. and died in 1891 in Houston or Wilson Co. TN.) however there is a 1842 Henry Co. TN marriage record which lists O. W. Davis as the husband of Eliza F. Carter. There is also a widowed mother-in-law, Eliza Cathey (b.1820 in Tennessee), in the 1870 Dickson Co. TN census with the family of Blunt and Lucinda Baker as well as a widow Eliza Cathey (b.1800 in Georgia) in the 1860 Humphreys Co. TN census living with several Comens and Wrights (she may be Eliza Carter of Georgia. and may be the widow of another Cathey as George and his wife Eliza are still alive in 1870). My George and Eliza Cathey appear concurrently in the Stewart Co. TN 1830-1870 censuses. George died in 1877 and Eliza died before 1880. FamilySearch lists George's wife as Eliza Jane Cloyd, but records show she married John C. Marshall in 1830. Each of these Elizas can be ruled out as Eliza, the wife of my g-g-g-grandfather George Cathey of Stewart Co. TN.
Eliza's surname was likely Duffell There is strong inferential evidence that connects Eliza's family with the Duffell family. The 1840 Stewart County, TN census shows that the next door neighbor of George and Eliza Cathey is Allen Duffell (1795-1848), whose household includes a wife (Susan McCarroll) and two young girls (1 is o-5 years old, the other 5-10 years old). According to the 1850 census these two young females may be Mary B. Duffell (Anderson) and Delila Paralee Duffell (Proctor). Allen has died by the 1850 census, and in 1860 George and Eliza Cathey's household shows 23 year old son, William, and a 22 year old female (b.1838) named Nancy Duffell (possibly a daughter of Allen, who died in 1848?). By 1870, Nancy no longer appears in the Cathey household (she has probably married) and George and Eliza Cathey are living with 16 year old Verillia Cathey, daughter of their deceased son, Wiley (who was killed in the Civil War in 1863), as well as widower Thomas Wyat (listed as a laborer) and his 3 young children.
If we look at Allen Duffell (who is about the age to be a sibling of Eliza Cathey) in the 1830 census, we see that he is in Williamson Co., TN, next door to John Duffell Jr., who is probably Allen's father. John was born ca. 1765 likely in Guilford Co. North Carolina and died in Williamson Co. after the 1830 census. John is listed in Franklin, Williamson Co. TN in the 1820 census with a number of family members including 2 males age 16-25 (Allen's age is 25 in 1820) and 1 female age under 10 (Eliza's age is about 9 in 1820 and John Duffell is not known to have any other daughter that age).
I have numerous DNA matches with the Duffell family (though John Duffell Jr.), the largest matches being to Allen Duffell, Eliza's Cathey's next door neighbor and probable brother (or half-brother). 12 of the Duffell DNA matches to Allen and his siblings have verified trees establishing that they are real matches with Eliza Cathey through the Duffell line. (The trees of two of these matches also trace to George and Eliza's son Archibald Cathey,and one of these trees shows a separate lineage from Emily Jane Duffell, Allen's sister.) The DNA matches along with proximity of the Duffell family with the Eliza Cathey family indicates that Eliza Cathey's maiden name was almost certainly Duffell.
John Duffell Jr. (son of John Duffel Sr.) is the likely father of Allen and Eliza (both may have been born in Williamson Co., TN; Allen Duffell's son, Joseph Alf Duffell, states in the 1880 census that both of his parents were born in Tennessee). Records show Allen married Susan McCarroll in 1821 in Williamson Co., TN (Tennessee, U.S., Marriage Records, 1780-2002). (Williamson Co. TN was formed in 1799 out of Davidson Co. TN which was formed in 1783 out of the large western section of North Carolina.) As John Duffell Jr. and Allen Duffell were both in Williamson Co. in 1811 when Eliza was born, it is likely that Eliza was born there and met her future husband, George Cathey, from nearby Stewart Co. (county formed in 1803) shortly before their marriage ca. 1824. After John died in the early 1830's Allen and his family moved next door to Eliza Cathey, in Stewart Co. TN, where they appear as neighbors on the 1840 Stewart Co. census (they were probably neighbors for about 15 years from mid-1830s until Allen's death in 1848). It is not clear whether Nancy Duffell, who was living with the Cathey's in 1860, was Allen's daughter or was related in some other way to Eliza Cathey. I have not found Nancy on either the 1850 or 1870 census or in marriage records. (There is a Nancy Martin of the right age to be Nancy Duffel in the 1870 Stewart Co. census, married to a George Martin, but this couple disappears from Tennessee after that.)
Duffell or Duffield? There is a Dec.9, 1790 marriage record of John Duffell and Elizabeth Frame in Augusta County, Virginia (Source citation for Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1660-1800) and some family trees list Elizabeth Frame as the wife of John Duffell who came to Tennessee from Guilford, North Carolina. While the marriage date is just before John's first child is born in Tennessee, the Virginia location is problematic. John Duffell's first child, William, was born ca. 1791 and his second, Ennis, was born ca.1793 in Tennessee, per the 1860 census. Tennessee Genealogical Records on Ancestry.com shows that on Nov. 15, 1790 John Duffell of Davidson Co. NC sold horses to William Brown (during the period prior to 1794 when much of Tennessee was Davidson Co., NC). The document further states that John's wife is named Elizabeth, but doesn't give her surname or clarify whether her husband is John Duffell junior or senior. However other records show that John Duffell Sr. first married a wife named Mary then divorced her and remarried Elizabeth Hanna in North Carolina before coming to Tennessee. So the 1790 record above most likely places John Duffell Sr. and Elizabeth Hanna in Davidson Co. in 1790. This means that John Duffell Jr. could have gone to Virginia when his father first moved to Tennessee and 0nly joined him in Tennessee after the 1790 marriage to Elizabeth Frame. A few records do place a John Duffell in Virginia where the Frame family lived. A April 13, 1808 record from Kanawha County, Virginia (now part of West Virginia) has the court recommending various individuals for militia appointments, including: “John Duffell, Ensign, a New Company.” (Tennessee. Military Records 1839–1865 on FamilySearch) An 1809 military record, also from Kanawha County, VA states that "John Duffell Refused to qualify to Commission," meaning John declined to accept the post for which he had been nominated. Kanawha. One further record is a land deed, again from Kanawha Co., in which John Duffell signs as a witness for a transsaction by David Frame, Elizabeth Frame's father. Although the document isn't dated,one on the following page is from 1806. (Court Records 1803–1819 on FamilySearch).
These records establish the presence of a John Duffell in Virginia not long after the 1790 marriage involving John Duffell and Elizabeth Frame. But if Eliza Duffell Cathey's father, John Duffell, was fathering children in Tennessee during the same time period, we would have to speculate that his militia duties required spending some time in Virginia and Tennessee. Another piece of evidence could support this but finally gives us a name of John Duffell Jr.'s wife: Amanda. On June 10, 1818 in Nashville, West Tennessee District, U.S. Circuit Court an ejectment lawsuit (a legal action to regain possession of land) was filed which had as one of the plaintiffs, "Ensign John Duffell and Amanda his wife" as well as others, all listed as "citizens of the State of Virginia." (Tennessee. Military Record 1839–1865 on FamilySearch) If John had married Elizabeth in 1790 (their first child was born in 1791) this 1818 record would imply that she died and John remarried a second wife named Amanda. The record of the births of John Duffell Jr.'s children actually suggests a second marriage, since Allen, John's fourth son, was born ca. 1795 (the 1820 and 1830 censuses indicate Allen was born between 1790-99 and he married in 1821). The next child born to John was Eliza ca. 1810-11. (There may have been a son Joseph born around 1809). Such a gap usually suggests a remarriage, so Amanda is probably a second marriage, regardless of the Virginia question. I have 22 DNA matches to the Frame family and a Frame named John William Frame (1771–1841) moves from Virginia by 1810 to County, TN (the same area where John Duffell lived). All of this supports the possibility that John married Elizabeth Frame in VA in 1790, but it does prove it and requires John to have gone back and forth from Virginia to Tennessee.
In the meantime there is another separate individual named John L. Duffield who lived near the Frame family in Augusta, Virginia around 1790. He was born there in 1767, appeared on the 1810 census in either Kanawha County, VA or Cumberland Co. , VA (there are two John Duffields listed in different counties) From 1820-1830 he is in Nicholas Co., VA (where other Frames are also listed in the census), in Braxton Co. VA in 1840 and he dies in 1851 in Duffield Cemetery, McHenry, Illinois. He is sometimes confused in on-line trees and DNA matches with John Duffell of Tennessee and because of his proximity to Augusta Co. VA around 1790 John L. Duffield is considered to be the person who married Elizabeth Frame by contributors to FamilySearch and Wikitree websites. However the marriage record--both the original handwritten version and the transcribed name in marriage lists--state that the groom is "John Duffell," not Dufield. Nevertheless the spelling of the names may have been interchangeable in some records of the time. Further analysis of my DNA matches to the Frame family shows that the majority of them were of the Virginia Duffield lineage. As a result, I lean very slightly toward the John L. Duffield--Elizabeth Frame interpretation as the more likely. This relieves John Duffell Jr. of Tennessee of needing to temporarily reside in Virginia ca. 1790, but it does not eliminate the 1818 Nashville record that names John Duffell's wife Amanda and also calls him an Ensign and associates him with co-plaintiffs from Virginia. Records establish that John Duffell served in Captain Birdwell’s company of Tennessee militia in 1812. Tennessee and Virginia militia often crossed lines, working together, for instance in the Northwest Indian War (1790–1795) and War of 1812. So, even without the 1790 Duffell-Frame marriage, John Duffell Jr. seems to have had some business in Virginia while he lived in Tennessee, but this would mean that the name of Allen Duffell's mother (John's likely first wife) remains unknown. The 1818 record makes it likely that Eliza Duffell Cathey's mother was named Amanda and her father was an Ensign,John Sr, his father (d.ca.1810) was before him during the Revolutionary war.
The known children of John Duffell Jr. are: William R. (1791-1840), Margaret "Peggy" (b. 1792), Ennis (1794-1860), Allen (ca.1795-1848), possibly Joseph (ca. 1807-1865) and Eliza (ca.1811-before 1880) who married George Cathey.
Below is a timeline showing how Eliza Cathey fits with the Duffell family, followed by more about John Duffell Jr. and his presumed father, John Duffell Sr. of Guilford Co., NC:
Duffell Timeline:
Ca. 1745 John Duffell Sr. born probably in North Carolina,
1765 –John Duffell is born likely in Guilford Co. North Carolina
1777- John Duffell Sr.is an ensign in Capt. Thomas Flack's NC Militia Co. (Revolutionary War)
1778-John Duffell 1778 Guilford Co. NC land sale (This is John Sr. as John Jr. is not yet 21)
May 16, 1787 –John Duffell land grant in Guilford, North Carolina
1788 John Duffell is on a Davidson Co. NC/TN jury (John Sr.?)
1790 –John Duffell of Davidson Co. NC/TN sold horses to William Brown
1793 –John’s son, Ennis Duffell, per 1860 census, born in Tennessee
1794 - John Duffell Sr. sells a slave named Esther to John Duffell Jr. in Davidson Co. NC/TN
1795 -John’s son, Allen Duffell, born in Tennessee
Feb.4, 1804 –George Cathey Jr. born in Stewart Co, TN (b. in TN per 1850-70 census)
1805 - John Duffell and John Duffell Sr. in 1805 tax records
1810- John Duffell Sr. sells a horse and is married to a wife named Elizabeth
(He is about 65 and probably dies soon afterwards before 1820)
Ca. 1810-1813 Eliza (Duffell?) Cathey born in TN per 1860-70 census (per 1850 census born in NC)
1812- John Duffell (likely Jr.) in list of Davidson Co. Capt. Birdwell’s militia (War of 1812)
John Duffell (Sr.) sells 100 acres of Davidson Co. TN land, granted to him by State of TN in 1811
July 13, 1813- John Duffell Jr. marriage bond for daughter, Margaret “Peggy”, and John Fisk in
Williamson, TN
1818- Ensign John Duffell and his wife Amanda are co-plaintiff's in a land dispute in Nashville, TN
1820 -John Duffell Sr. & wife (Amanda) in Franklin, Williamson, TN census
George Cathey-Dickson, TN 1820 census
1821 –Allen Duffell married Susan McCarrell in Williamson Co. TN
ca. 1824 George Cathey Jr. married Eliza (their first child born in 1825) in Dickson or Stewart Co. TN
1830 –Allen Duffell & father, John Duffell, appear in the Williamson Co., TN census
(John Duffell Jr. dies in the 1830s-not in 1840 or 1850 Tennessee censuses)
1838 –Allen Duffell is on tax record in Stewart Co. Tennessee
1840 - Allen Duffell has moved next door to George and Eliza Cathey in Stewart Co., TN census
Nov.27, 1848 –Allen Duffell dies in Stewart (Houston) Co. TN; John Duffell's wife died ca. 1848
1850 –George Cathey (& Eliza) in Stewart (Houston) Co. TN census
1860 -- George Cathey (& Eliza) in Stewart (Houston) Co. TN census with 22 y.o.Nancy Duffell
1870 - George Cathey (& Eliza) in Stewart (Houston) Co. TN census (no further Nancy Duffell in TN)
1877—George Cathey dies and before 1880--Eliza Cathey dies
John Duffell Sr. was born ca. 1745 and mentioned in an 1833 military pension application by John Mahuggan who recounts his service in 1777 in the North Carolina Militia Company of Capt. Thomas Flack, where he served with Ensign John Duffell. (Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 4,186 on FamilySearch) This unit, including Duffell, marched to Cross Creek (now Fayetteville, North Carolina), responding to reports of British movements near Wilmington. They later returned home when the British left. He was part of a second deployment to the same location, coinciding with the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, where the Tories (British loyalists) were defeated. A 1778 Guilford Co. NC land record mentions that the property of William Montgomery is next to the land owned by John Duffell. (Guilford. Deeds 1779–1783 on FamilySearch) . This is followed by a May 17,1778 land record in which John Duffel, farmer, is selling to Reese Porter 217 acres "formerly in Orange, now Guilford" County. The document is signed by John and Elizabeth Duffell. A 1790 record, after John has moved to Davidson Co. Tennessee (then still part of North Carolina), states that "Elizabeth Duffle" is John's "present wife" residing on the plantation on which he lives lives." Interestingly, the document is witnessed by Andrew Jackson. ( Davidson. Wills 1784–1794 on FamilSearch) From these records we can establish that John's wife was named Elizabeth and he owned land in Guilford Co. NC, previously part of Orange Co, which may be where he was born. (Guilford county county was formed from parts of Orange and Rowan counties in 1771.) On May 16, 1787 John Duffell received a land grant in Guilford Co, NC and in 1788 John is shown serving on a grand jury in Davidson Co., TN/NC, from which we can surmise that he was granted land in Tennessee for his military service and moved there in 1788.
John's only known son, John Duffell Jr. was born presumably in Orange Co. NC. between 1760-1769 (per the 1830 census), and moved to Davidson Co. NC/TN around the same time as John Sr.. John Duffell and John Duffell Sr. are both listed in Tennessee's 1805 tax records and a 1795 record shows John Duffell Sr. selling a slave named Esther to John Duffell Jr. in Davidson County in order to pay off a creditor. (While there exist no will confirming their relationship, given that they are of the right age to be father and son, are named John Duffell Jr, and Sr. and appear together in Tennessee and do business together, a filial relationship is highly probable.) A "John Duffield" appears in an 1812 Davidson Co. list of military men in the unit of Capt. Birdwell. This is probably John Duffell Jr. serving in the War of 1812, as the Duffell name is sometimes written as Duffield, Duffle, Duffil and Duffie. In 1811 when John Duffell Sr. sells sells 100 acres of Davidson Co. TN land, granted to him by State of Tennessee for military service. This is the last record of John Duffell Sr., suggesting that he died around this time. The 1820 census show only one John Duffell, age over 45, now in Williamson Co., TN (formed from Davidson County in 1799). In his household is his wife, also over 45 (her name is unknown), along with children of various ages, including a male, age 16-25 (probably his son Allen), and a female, under 10 (probably Eliza). Nearby in the 1820 census is William Duffell (age 26-45) who is thought to be John's oldest child, born ca. 1791 (married Nancy Hungerford on May 8, 1811). John Duffell appears in a July 19, 1813 marriage bond for his oldest daughter, Peggy Duffell, who is betrothed to John Fisk. Two others who are widely thought to be his children include: Ennis (1794-1860) and Joseph (1807-1865). The 1830 census shows John Duffell, age 60-69). as a widower living alone in Williamson County, next door to Allen Duffell (age 30-39) now married to Susan McCarroll with 4 small children. After the 1830 census there are no further records of John Duffell, suggesting that he died soon afterwards. The 1840 census shows that after John's death, Allen moved next door to George and Eliza Cathey in Stewart Co., TN, moving to be near his sister as we suspect. (He also appears in the 1838 Stewart County tax list.) Allen died in Stewart County in 1848 and Eliza lived on into the 1870s. Neither John Duffell Jr. or Sr. left a will. John Sr.'s parents are unknown.