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Re: Cavender and Glenn Miller

By JERRY CAVENDER May 16, 2000 at 01:34:43
  • In reply to: Re: Cavender and Glenn Miller
    5/14/00

Timothy..
This is my family line, and I have spent many years researching them.There is some very-very incorrect information posted on the internet and other places about my line, so you have to be somewhat careful about accepting what you find there .... but yes, the band-leader Alton Glenn Miller was the son of Mattie Lou Cavender and Lewis Edward Miller.

My Cavender line was in Vermont in the 1790s, but the Charles Cavender that you refer to (who was my gggg-grandfather) was born about 1765, instead of 1790 .It has not yet been determined exactly where Charles was born, but in 1870 census information given by 2 of his children, note him as being "native born", and certain family charcteristics noted in historic notes make me believe that he was a member of a family group of Cavenders that were in the Maryland/Delaware area since the early 1700s.There has been little information found to show how the Cavenders in that area were connected, but there is a good chance that they are descended from an ordained minister also named Charles Cavender who sailed from England to Baltimore in 1705.Many of these Maryland/Delaware area Cavenders moved into the Ohio Valley in the 1830s period.My 4g-gf Charles Cavender first appeared as a single young man living on the west bank of Lake Champlain in Clinton Co. NY, when the 1790 census was taken.About 1791/92 Charles married Deborah Davis, who was the daughter of an Revolutionary war soldier, in Ferrisburg, Addison County, Vermont, and their first son William was born there on August 29, 1793.Charles and Deborah remained in the Ferrisburg area until around 1815/16 and the data I have found shows they had the following children:William b. 1793, Elizabeth. b. abt. 1795, Deborah, b. abt 1797, Frances b. abt 1800, James b. abt. 1803,Anson (my ggg-gf) b. 1806,Bardine b. abt. 1808,Robert b. abt 1810, and Mary b. 1815.Charles died in Perry County Indiana in February, 1842 and his wife Deborah had died in Perry County prior to 1840.Bardine was Glenn Miller's g-grandfather.

William left Vermont when he was 18, and traveled down the Ohio River, settling where Cincinnati OH is now located.William worked there for a while, and saved enough money to buy 40 acres of land in what is now downtown Cincinnati from General Zachary Taylor.William's parents and siblings joined him there about 1815/16.William and the 2 elder sisters were married in Jefferson County, Indiana in 1816-17, and the entire family had relocated there prior to 1820.(William in his later years expressed regret for selling the land in what became downtown Cincinnati so cheaply.)William lost 2 wives in Jefferson County in a very short period.In late 1823/early 1824 the Cavender family (less the 2 married daughters) again moved farther down the Ohio River and settled in Perry County, Indiana.In Indiana history, the son James is the one that is credited with giving shelter to the Marquis de Lafayette after a steamboat wreck on the Ohio River.The rest of the Cavender children married in Perry County, with 3 Cavender siblings marrying 3 Davidson siblings.Bardine Cavender married Nancy Davidson there in 1830, and had several children with the son Jonathan D. Cavender (b. Aug. 4, 1833) being Glenn Miller's grandfather.{{note: Jonathan was probably named after Nancy's brother Jonathan Davidson, who married Mary Cavender, Bardine's sister}}.Bardine died young in late 1847 or early 1848.Soon after the "Great Ohio River Flood of 1832", William, Anson, Frances and their families moved to Dubois County, Indiana where later William became an associate Judge and Anson became a County Commissioner.

Jonathan married Paulina(e) Bruner in Perry County on Apr. 16, 1857, and soon afterward settled on a farm in Dubios County near to his uncles' homes.Jonathan and 'Lina' had a few children in Dubios County prior to his being drafted into the Union Army during the Civil War.Jonathan was released from service after a few months due to health problems.Soon after the Civil War ended, almost all of the grandchildren of Charles & Deborah (Davis) Cavender left Indiana and moved west, with some settling in southern Illinois, but most moved to Page or Taylor Counties in southwest Iowa, or to Atchison or Nodaway Counties in northwest Missouri ... these family members actually lived near to one another but were living near to the state/county lines.Jonathan and 'Lina' moved into Illinois for a short period, but settled in Taylor County, Iowa prior to 1868.The medical problems that Jonathan began experiencing while in the army, continued to affect him, and he died at age 41 in Taylor County on January 30, 1875.Paulina was left with several children to raise by herself, and filed many times to the U. S. Government for Veteran's Widow's benefits, but was always denied.In one of Paulina's last filings, she stated her sole means of support was a daughter who was working as a school teacher ... the school teacher was probably her youngest daughter, Mattie Lou, Glenn Miller's mother.

Glenn's son Steve has written a very interesting history of Glenn's family, which you can read at the website for the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society.The website is:
http://www.glennmiller.org/http://www.glennmiller.org/


Hope this answers some of your questions !
Jerry Cavender


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More Replies:

  • Re: Cavender and Glenn Miller
    Barbara Mahaffey 4/12/05
  • Re: Cavender and Glenn Miller
    9/07/00
    • Re: Cavender and Glenn Miller
      JERRY CAVENDER 9/07/00
      • Re: Cavender and Glenn Miller
        9/07/00
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