IV.  JOHN CAVERLY, SR.   c. 1722 - 1810
(Peter I, Peter Gerardus, Jean)

John Caverly/Cavalier was born to Peter I and Jane (Haviland) Caverly at Oyster Bay, NY on Long Island indicated by the little red arrow on the map below.  In The Carpenters in America, 1657-1901 on page 126 we find “Mercy Carpenter, born ?, daughter of Joseph, married John Caverly, ship carpenter of Musketa Cove, Long Island.”  On page 514 of Genealogies of Long Island Families, Vol. I, reference is made to John Caverly along with his father-in-law Joseph Carpenter, Benjamin Stanton, and John Latting purchasing a large tract of land which had been part of the Lewis Morris Patent in Ulster County.  They all moved there in 1753.  On the map to the left that area would be just west of Milton on the Hudson River.  They probably would have traveled about 110 miles from Long Island Sound and up the Hudson River (a.k.a. North River).  They established a settlement called Lattingtown which can be seen on the next page.  The area was heavily timbered, suitable for ship building and a convenient to the New York City market for wood to be used for fuel and building.

In 1763 the New York Hgwy. commission records of Roads Laid Out 1722-1795  reads "...An Act for Clearing Mending and Further Laying Out Publick Roads...at request of inhabitants of Eastermost part of Lattin Town of the District of the precinct of Newburgh..laid out One Publick Road...Four Rods in breadth Beginning at Elijah Lewises Landing, ..near small brook then....to school house by Kings Highway,  then along Old Road leading south of Thomas Nolston and Thomas Woolseys dwelling houses, then along Old Road until it comes to John Cavilirs, then along the lane ...until it comes into the Kings Road in Lattintown....in the year of our Lord 1763.”

In April 1775 a convention was held at New Paltz to elect delegates to a Provincial convention..  The committee of New York drew up and signed a pledge to stand by the resolutions of the Provincial Congress.  This plege was to be presented to all freemen, free-holders and inhabitants of New Marlborough..  Those who signed the Articles of Association were for the American cause and those who refused were understood to support the King.  John Caverly is listed as one of the forty-four who refused to sign.  Then in 1777 we find John Caverly on a List of Exempts for Ulster Co., NY under Capt. Jacob Wood for the amount of 3 pounds, 12 shillings.  Since he was over the age of 50 he did not have to actively serve in the militia for the American Revolution but evidently had to pay the noted fee.

After Marlborough became a town, a path master list was drawn up on April 1, 1788 assigning the number of days each man had to work to maintain the road in the area of his responsibility.  For Section 20, John was assigned to work 4 days, while his sons John Jr., Philip Sr., and William were assigned 2, 3, and 2 days respectively.

In the first U.S. Census of 1790 for Ulster Co., Town of Marlborough, NY John Caverly, Sr. is listed as having 3 males over the age of 16 and 5 females in his household.  The 1800 census shows:  Caverlie, John, 2 males under 10; 1 male between 26 & 45; 1 male over 45;  1 female bet. 10 & 16; 1 female bet. 16 & 26;  1 female bet. 26 & 45;  1 female over 45.  And the 1810 census shows:  Caverly, John, pg. 128, 1 male under 10;  2 bet. 10 & 16;  1 bet. 26 & 45;  1 over 45;  2 females under 10.  He must have had one of his sons and his family living with him.

John Sr. died in 1810.  In File Box 7 of Ulster Co. Surrogate’s Office are Letters of Administration of 1811 to sons Philip and John Caverly who were trying to settle the estate since there wasn’t a will.  After taking a complete inventory of the personal estate they applied for the right to sell the property so they could pay off the debts of their father.

Although Lattingtown had been a thriving community with a number of businesses, the Baptist Church pictured on the right is about all that remains.  Once the steamboats started plying the Hudson, most businesses moved closer to the river or died due to a shift in population.

The History of Ulster Co. New York by Nathaniel Sylvester shows that a John Caverly served as town clerk for the Town of Marlborough for the year of 1810.  This probably would have been his son John Jr. as the elder John would have been in his eighties.

We only know of four children for John, and Mercy (Carpenter) Caverly:  Philip Sr., John, Mercy, and William but there may have been others.

There is a generation V page for Philip Sr. that follows.

John Jr. remained in the area and married his cousin Mercy Carpenter.  They had eight children:  Carpenter, Amy, Gilbert, Sareptia, Mary, Cecelia, John T., and Phoebe.  Carpenter, born Nov. 1790, married Maria Staples, and died in Wyandotte Co., OH on Feb. 26, 1865.   Amy was born about 1792 but had died before 1858 as she is not mentioned in her mother’s will of 1858 (Ulster Co. Wills, Book 9, page 205 at Kingston).  Gilbert was born Oct. 4, 1796 and married Zeruiah Rand some time before 1830.  They remained in the Marlborough area and had one son Lewis.  Gilbert died Sept. 12, 1873 and his wife died Oct. 26, 1865.  They are buried at Riverside Cemetery in Marlborough, NY.  Sareptia, born 1808, married Joshua Brooks and they had two children.  Mary, born June 22, 1803, married Charles B. Wygant some time in the early 1820s and had at least six children.  They seemed to have moved to Ohio, then to New Jersey, then back to Columbus, OH where he died in 1877 and her death date is unknown.  They are buried at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Columbus, OH.  Cecelia born about 1815, married Josiah Carpenter and had two daughters.  She is named as a widow in the previously mentioned will of 1858.  Nothing is known about son John T. except that he died in September 1832.  Nothing is known about Phoebe except she is mentioned in the will as being the wife of John McPhail.

Mercy, daughter of John Sr., was born Sept. 3, 1775 and married Reuben Nichols in 1796.  They had ten children:  Benjamin, Esther, Amy who married Ike Divine, Peter who married Lucretia Carpenter, Ephraim, Abigail who married Orrin Day Beers, Phebe who married Charles Townsend, John who married Mary Ann Townsend and second Charlotte Moses, Ira who married Esther Mullen, and Amos.  After their marriage, they settled for several years near Newburg, NY.  In the early 1800s they moved to Hastings Co., Ontario but returned to the Marlborough area in 1816 where Reuben set up a shop as a saddler and harness maker.  After a few years, the family moved to Sullivan Co., NY where Reuben had purchased a farm and cultivated it until 1837.  He sold the farm and headed for DeKalb Co., IL where his son John had moved two years earlier.  According to the biographical write-up in a DeKalb County History, “They made the journey overland, driving through, and were on the road six weeks.“  Rueben was born May 23, 1770 in Dutchess Co., NY and died May 5, 1844 in DeKalb Co., IL.  Mercy died there on Sept. 6, 1851.

The History of Ulster County, New York by Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester lists John’s son William Caverly as having signed the Articles of Association in 1775.  One was supposed to be 16 years of age to sign so he would have had to have been born by  1859.  Land records show that his wife’s first name was Sarah.  William Caverly, miller, is a witness on an 1802 will for Ichabod Olmstead of the Town of Marble in which a daughter Sarah is mentioned.  Perhaps this was his father-in-law.  The 1800 US census for Marbletown, Ulster Co., NY shows that William and Sarah had 2 boys  and 2 girls all under the age of 10.  After 1802 they disappear from Ulster Co., NY and it is thought that they moved to Canada.  But there is no record of them in Frontenac or Hastings Counties of Ontario where many of the other Caverly families settled.  There is an ad on page 1 of the Oct. 5, 1803 issue of the Ulster Plebeian to auction off  “two certain lots of Land, and the Dwelling-house, Grist-Mill, Saw-Mill, dams, and other buildings thereon erected, situate in Marbletown, upon both sides of the Ronduit creek”.  The notation at the bottom states that Simon Helm had sold these premises about six years ago to William Caverly who has defaulted on the mortgage.

michigan@thecaverlys.com

If you would like to view the PDF format click here
It may take a minute or two for the page to load.