Person:Theodore Cary (1)

Biography

In ‘The Devon Carys’, Volume I,^S1 its author, Fairfax Harrison (1869-1938) devotes its Chapter XII (pp. 260-284) to the CAVALIERS OF COCKINGTON, which includes a section (pp.263-264) on the life of George Cary (1578?-1643), the father of Theodore Cary (1624-1683), whose life he describes in a section entitled 'The Emigrants' on pp.278-279. Here I have omitted the footnotes but added paragraph separations, where there are none in the original.

V. THEODORE, born in 1624 and educated at Oxford, must have gone out to Barbadoes in 1647 in the first Royalist exodus. This migration of Cavaliers to a comparatively small colony was of such a character that it immediately colored the population of the islands, fully justifying Clarendon's statement that "the principal Planters upon the Barbadoes had been officers in the King's army, or of manifest affection to him, and always looked upon as of his Party." Theodore Cary was then doubtless involved, as much as an enthusiastic youngster might be, in all the plots and counterplots following the declaration of Barbadoes for Charles II and its ultimate submission to the Commonwealth: he was certainly there in 1655 when Cromwell's expedition conquered Jamaica from the Spaniards. At all events he thenceforth made his career in relation to Jamaica.

Thus we find him there in 1661 in command of the ship Frederick, in 1664 negotiating with the Spaniards at San Domingo, and later appointed "judge admiral" of Jamaica. Meanwhile another Devon man, Thomas Modyford, had been a large figure at Barbadoes, was responsible for the surrender of that island to the Commonwealth, was protected after the Restoration by his kinship to Monck, Duke of Albemarle, and in 1664 became governor of Jamaica. In 1665 Modyford organized an expedition to raid the neighboring Dutch islands. The lieutenant-governor, Edward Morgan, was in charge and Theodore Cary went as second in command. They had several small schooners and a force of 319 fierce, undisciplined, and lawless bucaneers. While landing on St. Eustatius under fire "the good old Colonel" Morgan, who seems to have been something of the figure and habit of life of Sir John Falstaff, died of the excitement and the heat, when the command devolved on Colonel Theodore Cary. He compelled the Dutch to capitulate St. Eustatius and the adjoining island of Saba, and planned to go on to the conquest of Curaçao, but his men, gorged with booty and liquor, refused to follow and he had to return to Jamaica. Modyford reported that his failure to take Curaçao was due to Cary's "too easy disposition," which, considering Modyford's own reputation, probably means that he was not bloodthirsty enough for the kind of service expected of him. He was succeeded by one who was never accused of gentleness, the notorious Henry Morgan, nephew of "the good old Colonel," who duly captured Curaçao, and became the terror of the Spanish Main.

In 1667 Theodore Cary was "his Majesty's Advocate General" of Jamaica. He had a grant of land in Jamaica and there married Dorothy Waite, but in the end "dyed without heyrs." A correspondent of the Gentlemans Magazine (February, 1864) gave the remains of a mutilated and undated monumental inscription found at Spanishtown, Jamaica, on a stone bearing the Cary arms, which, restored, reads as follows:

Colonel Theodore [Cary] one of the sons of [George Cary of] Cockington House [Devo] nshire, brother to Sir Henry Cary, a Judge.  »

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} Harrison, Fairfax. Devon Carys, Vol. 1 (New York: De Vinne Press, 1920), Chapter XII - pp. 263-264, 276-279.

   « His (John Cary's) youngest son was that GEORGE CARY (1578?-1643) who was intended by the Lord Deputy to take the place of his own lost son of the same name but by his "unrulye caryage" forfeited his opportunity to be the sole heir. Nevertheless, under the final settlement, he inherited Cockington on his father's death and there he lived for many years, and there he was buried in 1643, passing on the estate intact, contrary to the expectations of his uncle. He had married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Seymour, Bart, of Berry Pomeroy, near Totnes, and a great-granddaughter of the Protector Somerset.(fn)
   When in July, 1643, he died,(fn) he left a large family of children.(fn) The eldest son, SIR HENRY CARY (1613-1665), was then thirty years of age. ...
   ... [ cont'd on p.276 ]
   ... In support of the application of Sir Henry Cary of Cockington for composition there was filed (fn) a deposition by one of his servants that on June 15, 1646, there were living with Sir Henry, at Cockington, his mother and the following named brothers and sisters: Robert, Edward, John, Theodore, George, Walter, James, Francis, Elizabeth, Bridget. The Visitation of Devon of 1620 gives the children living when that record was made as Henry, Robert, Edward, Francisca, Elizabeth, and John, the last named "aet 3 menses."(fn) It follows that all the younger brothers and sisters who were living in 1646, viz., Theodore, George, Walter, James, and Bridget, were born after 1620; and this is confirmed by the entry of the matriculation of the oldest of them, Theodore, at Queen's College, Oxford, in 1642, when he gave his age as eighteen;(fn) and by the earliest entry of the family in the surviving parish register of Cockington, (fn) namely, for 1629, reading: "Bridgett Cary, the daughter of George Cary, Esq., and Eliza, his wife, was bap: the 20 of January." One of them must then have been born every year from 1624 to 1629. It seems clear that the Francis of the deposition of 1646 was intended for the daughter Francisca born 1617, who appears in the Visitation pedigree, and not a son Francis born 1628, as the misprint has heretofore led us to conjecture.(fn)
   ...
   V Theodore, born in 1624 and educated at Oxford, must have gone out to Barbadoes in 1647 in the first Royalist exodus. ...
   [ see Biography above ]
   ... In 1667 Theodore Cary was "his Majesty's Advocate General" of Jamaica.(1) He had a grant of land in Jamaica and there married Dorothy Waite, but in the end "dyed without heyrs." (2) A correspondent of the Gentlemans Magazine (February, 1864) gave the remains of a mutilated and undated monumental inscription found at Spanishtown, Jamaica, on a stone bearing the Cary arms, which, restored, reads as follows:
   Colonel Theodore [Cary] one of the sons of [George Cary of] Cockington House [Devo] nshire, brother to Sir Henry Cary, a Judge.  »
   Source:Harrison, Fairfax. Devon Carys
   The full Vol. I may be accessed here: archive.org

2. ↑ Nichols, John Gough, ed.: The Herald and Genealogist, Vol. VIII. London: R.C. Nichols and J. B. Nichols, printers to the Society of Antiquaries, 25, Parliament Street, Westminster. 1874. p.84-85, p.97.

   « BRANCHES OF CARY, OF COCKINGTON, TOR ABBEY, AND FOLLATON, CO. DEVON. (p.81--128)
   ...
   (pp.84-85) ... Sir George Cary was enabled to make large additions to the fair estate derived from his father and his first wife, and, at the time of his death, his rent-roll must have been one of the amplest in Devonshire. ...
   A large portion of these possessions, including the manor and mansion of Cockington, fell to the share of his namesake and adopted heir George, the youngest but one of the sons of his brother John Cary of Dudley, co. Stafford.
   This George Cary married Elizabeth, a daughter of the now ducal House of Seymour. The contents of a deed printed in the Appendix show that, in early life at least, George Cary displayed tendencies to extravagance, which excited his uncle's misgivings. He nevertheless handed down the Cockington estate, at his death in 1643, to his eldest son and heir, the gallant but unfortunate Sir Henry Cary.
   ... »
   Page 97 contains TABLE VII.—Carys of Cockington. This pedigree has the descent from "George Cary, of Cockington==Elizabeth (Seymour)." - in which their eleven children are shown (as in the table, sons are listed first, and numbered here: 1-8, daughters following: 1-3):
   1. "Sir Henry Cary, of Cockington; æt. 7 in 1620; lost Cockington 1651; High Sheriff of Devon 1643."=="Amy, dau. of Sir James Bagge, of Saltram, co. Devon; bur. at Cockington 16 June, 1652."
   2. "Robert, LL.D. born at Cockington; æt. 6 in 1620; Archdeacon of Exeter 1662; Rector of East Portlemouth, Devon; bur. there 19 Sept. 1688."
   3. "Edward, æt. 5 in 1620; living 1653."
   4. "John, aged 3 months in 1620."
   5. "Col. Theodore, died 1683, æt. 63; monument in Spanish Town, Jamaica; mar. Dorothy, dau. of . . . Wale, m. 1676."
   6. "George, a Captain of horse; living 1660."
   7. "Walter"
   8. "James"
   1. "Frances, æt. 3 in 1620; died 1634."
   2. "Elizabeth, æt. 2 in 1620."
   3. "Bridget, bapt. at Cockington 20 Jan. 1629."
   .... »
   Pages 84-85 accessed at: archive.org
   Table VII on p.97 accessed at: archive.org
   The Herald and Genealogist, Vol. VIII. London: R.C. Nichols and J. B. Nichols, printers to the Society of Antiquaries, 25, Parliament Street, Westminster. 1874. Edited by John Gough Nichols, F.S.A. Hon. Member of the Societies of Antiquaries of Scotland and Newcastle-on-Tyne, Corresponding Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society.

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} 'Richard Seymor - Hartford 1640', a paper read before the Connecticut Chapter Daughters of Founders and Patriots of Amercica At Norwalk, Conn., February 13th, 1903 by Mrs. Maria Watson Pinney, Derby, Conn. p. 18.

   « ...
   "Mathew Hatch made declaration that Elizabeth Cary, the relict of George Cary of Cockington, and mother of Henry Cary of Cockington, in Devon, Knight, and sometimes called Elizabeth Seymour, also mother of Robert (of whom Westcote's Devonshire, page 511 states, married Christin, daughter and heir of Wm Strechley, Esq.) also mother of Edward, John, Theodore, George, Walter and James, sons, and Frances, Elizabeth and Bridget, daughters of the above George and Elizabeth, were all living and in good health."
   This is dated June 15th, 1646.
   .... »
   Accessed at: archive.org
   Note: Although the writer of this does not say so, this "Mathew Hatch" must be the servant of Sir Henry Cary, referred to in Devon Carys, Vol. I, p.276. (See reference source #1. above)

4. ↑ Ancestry.com. Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database on-line]. p.247.

   « Cary, 'Theod,' s. George, of Cockington, Devon, gent. QUEEN'S COLL., matric. 29 April, 1642, aged 18; of corpus Christi College 20 May, 1642, brother of Robert 1631.
   ... »
   Accessed on 20/07/2019 at: ancestry.co.uk

5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library > 'MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS', p. 21 & 37-38.

   PARISH OF ST. CATHERINE.
   THE CATHEDRAL.
   « THE cathedral church of St. Catherine stands in the southeast part of St. Jago de la Vega,* more commonly called Spanish Town, and occupies the site of the Spanish church of the Red Cross, which, together with an abbey, and another church, called the White Cross, was destroyed, at the capture of the town by Venables, in May, 1655.
   ...
   HERE LYETH THE BODY OF COLONELL THEODORE CARY, ONE OF THE SONNES OF COCKINGTON HOUSE IN DEVONSHIRE, BROTHER TO SR HENRY CARY CAPTAINE OF HIS MATIES FORT AT PORT ROYALL, ONE OF HIS MATIES COUNCIL, AND ONE OF THE JUDGES OF THE GRAND COURT IN JAMAICA. HE DIED JUNE 26th 1683 IN YE YEARE OF HIS AGE 63.
   HE was also brother to Robert Cary, author of Paleologia Chronica, born at Cockington.
   For an elaborate and interesting genealogy of this family, see the Herald and Genealogist, from which periodical the following is extracted :
   " William Cary of this family had a daughter, who was married to Dr. William Helyar, and was buried in Exeter Cathedral, July, 1607. Dr. Helyar was a divine of some eminence, and claimed (I presume through his wife) kinship with Queen Elizabeth. At any rate he was her Majesty's chaplain, and probably through her, if not directly from her, received his other important preferments. He seems to have been a great pluralist in an age of pluralism, and enjoyed a prebendal stall both at Exeter and Chester, the archdeaconry of Barnstaple, the treasurership of Chelsea College, and various livings in Devon and Somerset. He died in 1645, and was, I think, buried in Exeter Cathedral ; but at East Coker, in Somersetshire, he founded an almshouse and built a handsome residence, Coker Court, which his descendants have occupied in succession to the present day. The archdeacon's eldest son, Henry Helyar, formed a second connection with the Cary family. According to the Visitation of Somerset, 1672 (confirmed by Cole's Escheats), he married in 1621, Christian, daughter of William Cary of Clovelly, co. Devon, and by her had several children, amongst whom was Cary Helyar, who migrated as a merchant to Jamaica, and there died, in 1672, aged 39. His monument is in the church of Spanish Town in that island, and in the same church is another to Colonel Theodore Cary, 'one of the sons of Cockington House, co. Devon, brother to Sir Henry Cary, a judge of the Grand Court.' He died in 1683, aged 63, and was therefore contemporary with Cary Helyar; and, it is not unreasonable to conjecture, was related to him. There can be little doubt that Colonel Theodore Cary was one of the younger sons of George Cary of Cockington, of whom Prince says, that his 'youngest sons became soldiers of fortune, and died, I think, beyond the seas, without issue.' This last statement is perhaps open to question, as the MS. I have quoted records the marriage, in 1676, of Colonel Theodore Cary with Dorothy Wale; and, in 1679, of Penelope Cary with Thomas Edward.
   The immediate cause of the rapid rise of the Cary family is to be found in its close connection with Queen Elizabeth. William Cary (second son of Thomas Cary of Chilton Foliot) married Mary Boleyne, sister of Queen Anne, and aunt of Queen Elizabeth. From this marriage descended the Earls of Dover and Monmouth and the Barons Hunsdon while from Sir John Cary, William's elder brother, came the Viscounts Falkland, whose fame is well preserved in the annals of our country."
   B. M. Slab; Arms, On bend three roses, a mullet. in sinister chief for difference. »
   Accessed on 21/07/2019 at: jamaicanfamilysearch.com