Abigail (Butler) McCashland (1756 - 1830)

Born 1756 in Uwchlan Township, Chester, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Wife of Oliver McCashland — married before 6 Sep 1775 in Chester Co, Pennsylvania

Descendants

Died 1830 at about age 74 in Frederick, Virginia, United States

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Biography

Abigail (Butler) McCashland was part of a Southern Pioneer Family.

Abigail Butler was the eldest daughter of Enoch Butler and Deborah Swayne of Chester County Pennsylvania.^[1]

Eldest daughter of Deborah Swayne and Enoch Butler

Abigail Butler had a simple Quaker childhood. Although her father Enoch Butler was the son of an Irishman and her mother's family were English, the family was settled in an area that had been originally settled by Welsh Quakers. The township she lived in was called Uwchlan, a Welsh name for "above the parish."

Uwchlan Settled by Welsh Quakers

In 1772 Oliver McCashland petitioned the Uwchlan Quaker men to join the congregation in order to marry Abigail. They refused him membership and forbid her to marry him.

Oliver McCashland Refused Membership at Quaker Church

Abigail Butler defied her parents and her Quaker church by marrying Oliver McCashland in a civil ceremony.

Quaker Proceedings begun to Disown Abigail Butler

She was excommunicated from the Quaker congregation in 1775.^[2]

Abigail Butler & Oliver McCashland Marriage

Sometime before 1781 the McCashlands took the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania to the mountains of northwestern Virginia. The date 1781 was the date on a Berkeley County Virginia will of Oliver McCashland's aunt, Sarah McCarty. Oliver McCashland and Abigail's two children, Benjamin and Mary McCashland, were all given bequests in this will. The family was also known to have lived in Loudoun County, Virginia from 1783 - 1789.

In 1803, Oliver, Abigail and their oldest son Benjamin McCashland purchased a farm from Abigail's brother Elisha Butler. ^[3] Evidently the property had acreage in Culpeper, Frederick and Shenandoah Counties. It seems that the boundaries changed a lot in those days.

Oliver McCashland died sometime in 1824. There is a land deed dated 1827 in which Abigail and her children Benjamin and Mary McCashland Lake sold the farm in the mountains to a man named Barton. Abigail's eldest granddaughter Mary McCashland Grant and her husband Evan served as witnesses to this transaction.^[4]

Benjamin & Abigail Lake McCashland Deed that names several family members. Page 2

In 1830 Abigail McCashland appears in the Frederick County Virginia Census as a free white woman age 70-79. ^[5]

Abagail McCasland in 1830 Census

Sources

1. ↑ Norman Walton Swayne, The Descendants of Francis Swayne and Others, 1921, p 50. https://archive.org/stream/descendantsoffra00sway#page/n5/mode/2up
2. ↑ Uwchlan Quaker Meeting Records, Chester Co PA, ancestry.com repository, Selected records from 1772, when Oliver McCashland first petitioned to marry Abigail Butler and 1775, when Abigail Butler McCaslin was disowned for marrying out of unity.
3. ↑ Land Records of Culpeper Co, VA, 1827.
4. ↑ Land Records of Culpeper Co, VA, 1827.
5. ↑ 1830; Census Place: Eastern District, Frederick, Virginia; Series: M19; Roll: 190; Page: 72; Family History Library Film: 0029669 - Abagail McCasland shows up as a free white woman age 70-79 on the 1830 Frederick Co VA Census.

• Uwchlan Quaker Meeting Records, Chester Co PA, ancestry.com repository, Selected records from 1772, when Oliver McCashland first petitioned to marry Abigail Butler and 1775, when Abigail Butler McCaslin was disowned for marrying out of unity.

• Land Records of Culpeper Co, VA, 1827.

• 1830; Census Place: Eastern District, Frederick, Virginia; Series: M19; Roll: 190; Page: 72; Family History Library Film: 0029669 - Abagail McCasland shows up as a free white woman age 70-79 on the 1830 Frederick Co VA Census.

• Norman Walton Swayne, The Descendants of Francis Swayne and Others, 1921, p 50. https://archive.org/stream/descendantsoffra00sway#page/n5/mode/2up

• Emma Plunkett Ivy. As I Find it, A Partially Documented History of Some of the Butlers, Early 1700's to 1968, Including a Few Allied Or Related Families; a Partially Documented Record of Some Butler Families of Newberry, Edgefield, Saluda Counties, South Carolina, and of Newton and Rockdale Counties, Georgia, 1968. Page 9.

• Noble Butler (1704-1799) of Bristol, England, Philadelphia and Chester County, Pennsylvania, His Ancestors and Descendants, The Butler Family Association. 1982. p 60.