Captain John Caffery ~ On the discovery of a Caffery Family History at the Hermitage in Nashville, TN. By Ed Marsh, © February 2000

John Caffery, the grandson of Daniel and Hannah Candler, was born on the 27th of August 1756 in Bedford County, Virginia, and died in 1811 in Natchez, MS. He was the son of Elizabeth Candler (c1733-after 1791) and John Caffery (c1722-1790). As a young man he went to work for Col. John Donelson Burgess and Surveyor of Pittsylvania County, VA, and Indian agent for the Virginia Colony. Donelson settled on Iron Mine Creek and run an iron smelter (called a bloomery) near present-day Rocky Mount, Virginia.

Colonel Donelson led a bold expedition of pioneers who, in 1779, traveled down river deep into the Tennessee wilderness and settled at present-day Nashville. Young John Caffery was along on that expedition as was his wife Mary Donelson (daughter of the expedition leader). John Caffery is mentioned by name in Donelson's journal of the journey. Additionally, Donelson several times writes of, "my daughter and son-in-law."

Major John Donelson would have another, more famous son-in-law - president Andrew Jackson who was married to Rachel Donelson. John Caffery moved to Natchez Mississippi to act as business agent for Andrew Jackson. He died there in 1811.

Daniel Candler's Bedford County, Virginia will of 1765 mentions "daughter Elizabeth Cafhry." The best Candler genealogy lists that I could find in the late 1990's mentioned little more than this. My research into the Quaker records of South River Monthly Meeting uncovered an entry for Elizabeth Caffrey (she was accepted "among Friends" in 1758). There were no further entries for Elizabeth or her husband or children (but neither was there a dismissal).

Then one day, I received e-mail from a Caffery descendant who wondered if I could help identify an "Elizabeth Candler or Chandler" who married John Caffery of Bedford County, VA. My correspondent related that Caffery tradition was split as to whether she was a Chandler or a Candler. I told this researcher that Elizabeth Caffrey had joined Friends about the same time that the South River Candlers had joined. The meeting was very small and there are no Chandlers in the record books (except for Candlers who were incorrectly called C[H]andler). I told him of Daniel Candler's will - how it mentioned of Elizabeth Cafhry.

Virginia land grants and patents reveal that a John and Charles Caffery had indeed lived as neighbors beside the Candlers at South River Settlement in the 1750's. Charles Caffery's land bounded that of Elizabeth Candler's brother John. I found a deed of sale from John Caffery to John Candler. For me, this was enough evidence to assume that John Caffery had married Elizabeth Candler.

The next summer I had the opportunity to visit the Jones Memorial Library in Lynchburg, VA. The new Jones (the old one was a neo-classical structure on Rivermont Avenue) is located above the Lynchburg City Library across from Miller Park. There, I found the abstract of John Caffery's 1790 will. Elizabeth was his executrix. I was surprised by one detail. Captain John Caffery (ancestor of the researcher who contacted me by e-mail) was not listed on the will.

Why was Capt. John Caffery, b. 27 Aug 1756, not listed on his father's will? By the time his father died in 1790, he had immigrated to Tennessee. I knew that it was possible that a son, long-gone to the west, might be omitted from the will but I wanted to know for sure. Eventually I met another descendant of Captain John who sent me an extract from "The Journal of the Donelson Expedition." Let me back-track a bit.

Young John Caffery had married Mary Donelson in 1775 in Amelia County. Mary was the daughter of John Donelson (the County Surveyor and member of the House of Burgesses from Pittsylvania County, Virginia). Donelson was an Indian agent and pioneer leader who had been appointed to extend westward the survey line between Virginia and North Carolina. Donelson was one of several organizers who planned and led the famous expedition that penetrated the Tennessee wilderness on flatboats and founded present Nashville in 1779. Young John Caffery was along on that expedition and is mentioned several times in Donelson's journal. By 1782, John Caffery was back in Bedford County, VA where he was made Captian of the militia under Regimental Commander Colonel Charles Lynch.

The Donelson-Caffery connection gave me new avenues to explore, but before I had much chance, she sent me a copy of some data she had found at The Hermitage in Nashville, TN - home of president Andrew & Rachel Donelson Jackson.

After reading the material from the Hermitage, I wrote the following letter to the two Caffery descendants who helped me.

Hi ---- & ----,

If you have not met, let me introduce you. I met _______ on the net through his desire to discover the CANDLER connection behind Captain John Caffery (1756-1811) who married Mary Donelson (1756-1823). Family data said that his mother was Elizabeth Candler or Chandler. I informed him that Daniel Candler's will of 1765 mentioned "daughter Elizabeth Cafhry."

I met _______ trying further to track down this illusive connection. I was delighted when I found out that Capt. John Caffery had traveled on the famous Donelson Expedition to found a Colony in TN. During my years at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, I would travel home to Virginia by way of 1-40 eastward out of Nashville, then on through Wilson and Smith Counties (where several Candler went to live in the early 1800's). I used to stop and read about Major Donelson and his protege Andrew Jackson; of Jackson's building his marvelous home - The Hermitage.

So it was that eventually I received an envelope that contained data (that came from the Hermitage) compiled by a descendant of Captain John Caffery and Mary Donelson. Mary Donelson Caffery died and was buried at the Hermitage in 1823.

The title of this essay was "The Caffery Family 1737-1900, Part I" by Col. Charles S. Caffery. It provides a jig-saw piece that perfectly matches the long and hard search I have made into the life of Elizabeth Candler Caffery of Bedford/Campbell County, VA.

I cannot tell you how excited I am. Col. Caffery's essay states many questions about the mother of Captain John Caffery. The Col. could not conclusively answer these questions and could not prove that she was a Candler because:

1] some old records had said C(h)andler

2] he could find no record of the Caffery/Candler marriage

3] and no "tradition" was preserved that could prove the case.

On the other hand, he did collect a good bit of circumstantial evidence that made him conclude that Elizabeth Caffery was indeed a CANDLER before marriage. I found much of the same evidence that he found, plus lots more linking the Candlers to the Cafferys.

This Christmas, I collected many land records on Candler's mountain that showed the Cafferys living among the Lynches, Candlers, Moormans, Anthonies, etc. I found records where John Candler appraiser was working with John Caffery on an estate settlement.

I also found the records of Caffery marriages in Bedford County that Col. Caffery mentions in his essay. He says that these are listed as Quaker marriages. Actually he is wrong, but the mistake is understandable because the early Bedford County marriages are listed in the American Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy, v.6 - Virginia.

Col. Caffery has a lot of data on Major Donelson of this area who would become so instrumental in the settling of TN. He provided a lot of data about your John Caffery's life in the Bedford County area and his marriage to (possible elopement with) Mary Donelson. He talks about the Iron founding business. Fishing Creek basin where the Candlers and Cafferys first lived would become the center of Lynchburgs Iron Foundary which led that city to be the first in America (according to local history) to thrive on this manufacture. It certainly led to a large railroad business.

Here are the facts that I have found:

1] Quaker records show that an Elizabeth Caffrey joined Friends in 1758.

2] A 1761 grant on Lynches Creek to John Candler that says, "beginning at Charles Caffery's corner white oak."

3] This is the neighborhood where the Quaker Meeting began where Elizabeth Cafhry joined in its 2nd year.

4] Another 1761 grant to William Candler shows that he and his father, Daniel, lived nearby their brother John.

5] Daniel Candler's will of 1765 says, "daughter Elizabeth Cafhry."

6] John Caffery, in 1771, recorded a grant on a south branch Beaver Creek - Candler central.

7] In 1781, another grant on Beaver Creek mentions neighbors who are mentioned on Candler grants. This also mentions Treasury Dept. Land warrants (probably for military service).

8] Charles Caffery, Jr. has a 1777 grant in the same neighborhood.

9] A1783 grant to John Candler says, " John Candler assignee of David Booth, who was assignee of John Caffery."

******************

Col. Caffery writes,

"John and Mary Caffery, in 1782, conveyed 200 acres of land to John Candler and the name appears in other places too..."

"There is also a Candler's Mountain, VA..." "The Caffery home on land on both sides of Beaver and Possum Creek has passed from the memory of his descendants and neighbors and there is no way of ascertaining the facts."

[Yes indeed there are ways! Possum and Beaver Creek heads are dead center on the Candler homestead.My gg-grandfather, John W. Candler (1796-1859) - grandson of John Candler - had a cabin on this very spot. Last summer, I stood beside the chimney of that cabin and took a picture of my dad and his cousin, both Candler descendants.]

"In 1754 John [Caffery] at about thirty was appointed constable of Bedford County."

"In 1755, Charles, Jr. was appointed surveyor of Lynch's Road from Possum Creek to Beard's road. This road was later extended through Randolph Bolling Road to Thomas Ferry Road."

[I found a Caffery grant that was on Bolling Road near Thomas Ferry.]

"John died in 1790 at about seventy and Charles in 1808 at about 80. They willed their goods to children who remained in VA but that patrimony was pitifully small."

*****************

I don't know if it is generally known by Caffery researchers that John Caffery, Sr. married Elizabeth Candler "for sure" but I think we can now begin saying so.

Back to Elizabeth Candler

Back to Tennessee Candlers