Person:John Cunningham (89)

John Cunningham was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia

Contents 1 Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA 2 Records in Augusta County, VA 3 Information on John Cunningham		Welcome to Old Augusta Early Settlers Beverley Manor Borden's Grant Register Data Maps Places Library History Index
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Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA

The location of John Cunningham's land on Thorny Branch [near the Augusta/Rockingham border] can be viewed here: https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~berry/genealogy/newupload/figures/Fig35.jpg

John Cunningham was patented 400 acres of land on Thorney Branch (Augusta Patents Book 26, page 340) on 5 Apr 1749 and was also patented 230 acres on "Thorny Branch" a branch of the North River of the Shenandoah, (Augusta Patents Book 34, page 256) on 12 May 1759, as listed in the following records, :

• Page 446.--Edwin Erwin ( ) to Errowmous Dike, 230 acres patented to John Cunningham 12th May, 1769, and by him conveyed to his son Patrick Teste: John McKemy, Jr.. John Hogshead, Edward Erwin. (Note: since John Cunningham conveyed this 230 acres to his son Patrick in 1764 (as listed below), the date of John's patent was in 1759, as verified in the following record):

• Page 254.--17th March, 1778. Ronimus Teck (Tick), of Rockingham, and Margaret, to John Stuneard, of Rockingham, on Thorny Branch, patented to John Cunningham, 12th May, 1759

Disposition of Land from Chalkley's [preparing to move to SC]:

Cunningham's of Thorney Branch:

NOTE: John's property is NW of the Beverley Manor and outside the Beverley Map (so it will NOT be listed on Hildebrand's Maps)

• Page 408.--21st September, 1763. John Cunningham and Margaret ( ) to John Cunningham, Jr., their son, £20, 200 acres on a thorny branch, part of 400 acres; corner Robert Law's land. Teste: Charles Kirkpatrick, Alex. Kirkpatrick. Delivered: Patrick Cunningham, 30th August, 1770.

• and on the same day: John Cunningham and Margrett to Robert Law, £40, 200 acres, part of 400 acres patented to John, 5th April, 1749, on Thorney Branch. Teste: John Poage, James Fowler, John Cunningham Jr. Delivered: Robert Law, 26th Nov 1783.

• Page 602.--17th May, 1764. John Cunningham and Margret to Patrick Cunningham, his son, £20, 230 acres on Thorny Branch; corner William Cunningham's land. Teste: Daniel Kidd, John King, George Anderson. Delivered: Edward Erwin, Jr., May, 1767.

Accompanying record:

Page 603.--17th May, 1764. John Cunningham to son Patrick, a sale bill in which John transferred 3 breeding mares "in consideration of a competent and reasonable maintenance for me and my wife Margret during life if we shall have necessity for the same". Delivered: Edward Erwin, Jr., May, 1767. Teste: William Cunningham.

• 19 Aug 1766 Patrick Cunningham sells the 230 acres (acquired from his father John Sr) to Edwin Erwin Jr, the property borders Wm Cunningham's land (John Sr's brother) on Thorney Branch (Augusta Deed Book 12, page 498)

Page 498.--19th August, 1766. Patrick Cunningham to Edward Erwin, L80, 230 acres on Thorney Branch; corner William Cunningham's land. Delivered: Edward Erwin, Jr., May, 1767.

• Page 482.--19th November, 1771. John Cunningham [Jr.] to John Lewis Piercey (Purcy), £78, 200 acres on Thorney Branch, part of 400 acres, corner Robert Laws. Delivered: Jno. L. Piercy, 19th July, 1796.

Records in Augusta County, VA

From Chalkley’s Augusta County Records:

• Page 192.--9th November, 1750. Repentance Townsend to James Brown, 227 acres on No. River of Shanado on a branch called the Second Fork of Thorney Branch. Cor. Smith's land. Mary wife of Repentance. Teste: John Brown, John Coningham, Alexander Richey.

• Page 446.--Edwin Erwin ( ) to Errowmous Dike, 230 acres patented to John Cunningham 12th May, 1769, and by him conveyed to his son Patrick Teste: John McKemy, Jr.. John Hogshead, Edward Erwin.

Information on John Cunningham

From "Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871", by Joseph Addison Waddell:

Another family of Cunninghams settled at an early day in the "Forks of James River," their name being written sometimes Cuningham, and occasionally Coningham. The first mention of this family in the records of Augusta county, is August 18, 1752, when John Coningham and Robert Weir received a deed for 133 acres of land in Borden's Grant.

Note: this John Cunningham was of the Borden Grant and it was this John who "died in 1774, his personal estate being appraised, March 18, 1774" . Waddell is consolidating two different men named John Cunningham. Both men named John Cunningham lived in Augusta County at the same time however they were NOT near one another.

John Cunningham and Margaret his wife, on May 13, 1764, conveyed 230 acres of land and a variety of personal property to their son Patrick, in consideration of their maintenance by him. This John C. (or some other), died in 1774, his personal estate being appraised, March 18, 1774, at ,£32, 12s. Patrick conveyed the 230 acres, August 18, 1766, to Edward Erwin. "

Note: this John Cunningham was of Thorny Branch which is NW Augusta near the Rockingham border and not Kerrs Creek "Forks of James River" which is SW Augusta near the Rockbridge/Botetourt border. This John Cunningham removed to SC c1770 with his adult children as evidenced below

The will of Jonathan Cunningham, " of Carr's Creek," was admitted to record March 20, 1770. He gave his wife, Mary, ,£60, etc., and left his plantation to his "dutiful father," Hugh Cunningham. His wife, as appears from the will, was a daughter of John McKee and sister of Col. William McKee. The people of Kerr's Creek were assembled at the house of Jonathan Cunningham at the time of the second massacre, in 1764 (s/b 17 July 1763), and some of the Cunninghams were then captured and carried off by the Indians.

From Mr. Clarence Cunningham, of Charleston, S. C, we learn that John Cunningham, of Kerr's Creek, had four sons and three daughters. The sons were Robert, Patrick, John and David.—In January, I769, Robert and Patrick removed to District Ninety-Six, S. C now Abbeville, and were followed, in 1770, by John and David and their sisters. During the Revolutionary war, Robert became an officer in the British army, and is known in history as the Tory General Robert Cunningham."

Note: this John Cunningham was of Thorny Branch which is NW Augusta near the Rockingham border and not near Kerrs Creek, which is SW Augusta near the Rockbridge/Botetourt border. Researchers place John Cunningham Sr of Thorney Branch as "a pioneer of Kerrs Creek" because Waddell discusses the "Cunninghams of the North Fork of the James" [Kerrs] and then discusses this John with them but this John was of Thorney Branch.

"Appleton’s American Biography" says: Robert Cunningham, loyalist, born in Ireland about 1739; settled in District Ninety-Six, S. C., in 1769, and soon became a judge. He opposed the cause of the colonies, and in 1775 was imprisoned in Charleston. After his release he joined the British forces, and, in 1780, was commissioned Brigadier General. He first was placed in command of a garrison in S. C., and the following year served in the field against General Sumter. His estate was confiscated in 1782, and, having left the country, he was not allowed to return, although he petitioned to be allowed to do so. The British Government gave him an annuity. He died in Nassau, in 1813.

Patrick Cunningham also entered the British service during the Revolutionary war, and became a Colonel; but seems not to have incurred the odium his brother Robert did. His son Robert was a captain in the Mexican war. Capt. Robert’s son John was prominent in law, politics and journalism, and his daughter Pamela was the organizer and first Regent of the Ladies’ Mt. Vernon Association.

William Cunningham, called “Bloody Bill” in South Carolina, is said to have been a second-cousin of Robert and Patrick (Note: other sources cite William Cunningham as a first-cousin of Robert and Patrick, son of John Cunningham Sr's brother, William Cunningham). He is otherwise known as Major, or Colonel, William Cunningham, of the British army. Bancroft gives an account of an expedition he commanded in 1781, and the cruelties practised by him. (Vol. X, p. 458.)

In Appleton’s American Biography we find a sketch of a man of the same name. He was born in Dublin, and came to America in 1774. Gen. Gage appointed him provost-marshal of the army. In 1778 he had charge of the military prisons in Philadelphia, and later those in New York; and in both places was notorious for his cruelties. It is said that he literally starved to death 2,000 prisoners, and hung 250 without trial. At the close of the war he went to England, became very dissipated, and in 1791 was hanged for forgery. This man was probably the same as “Bloody Bill,” as it is not likely that the same generation could produce two such men. It is a relief to find that the gallows claimed him at last.

Note: There is no record that John Cunningham Sr remained in Augusta County, Virginia and died there. All of John's adult children removed to 96 District SC before the Rev. War when John Cunningham Sr was in his early 50s. John Cunningham Sr and his adult children sold all of their Augusta County, Virginia property and removed to SC. John's sons were the infamous SC Tory Cunningham line {Source: https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/12/hammonds-store-the-dirty-wars-prelude-to-cowpens/]

SC bios of John Cunningham Sr's children state that John Cunningham Sr removed to SC with his adult children c1770 and I find no will or probate for either John or Margaret in Virginia [the date of death previously entered for John Cunningham Sr was for a different John Cunningham of Augusta County, VA].

SC records were destroyed during the Civil War when Sherman’s March burnt the courthouses and many of the records were burned, so there isn’t great info on these families in SC but there is data out there:

• Bio of son Robert: John Cunningham, a member of a Scotch family which settled about 1681 in Virginia and removed early in 1769 to the district of Ninety-Six in South Carolina. (E. McCrady, The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780, p. 88.) "Mrs. Walker identifies her ancestor John Cunningham as the brother of Robert, Patrick and David who came to SC from VA in 1770 with their father John".

The Cunninghams sold their property on Thorney/Thorny Branch and removed to SC... there is no reason to believe that they left their parents in Virginia when their bios state their parents came to SC with them. TMW

Area where John Cunning Sr lived from c1745-c1770