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Joseph Cabell (1732 - 1798)

Col. Joseph Cabell
Born in Goochland County, Virginia Colonymap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 18 Oct 1752 in Goochland, Virginiamap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 65 in Buckingham County, Virginia, USAmap
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Profile last modified | Created 22 Sep 2010
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Contents

Biography

Col. Joseph Cabell (1732-1798)[1]

Like his brothers William, John, and Nicholas, Joseph Cabell earned his reputation in the service of his country during the American Revolution. Born at the family estate in Warminster in 1732, he established early in life patterns of political service that would continue during the "Decade of Decision." At the age of nineteen, he gained the office of deputy sheriff of Albemarle County, a position which he still held when he married Mary Hopkins a year later. When Albemarle split into Albemarle, Buckingham, and Amherst Counties in 1761, he owned property in all three divisions. Before establishing a favorite residence in Amherst County in 1771, named "Winton," Cabell held office in both Albemarle and Buckingham counties. He was a Justice of the Peace in Albemarle in 1760, and was elected Burgess from Buckingham in 1761.
While he built his political career, Joseph and Mary Cabell also built a family. Though their first child, Elizabeth, died at the age of eighteen in 1771, four others--Joseph Jr. (b. 1762), Mary (b. 1769), Ann (b. 1771), and Elizabeth (named for her sister, b. 1772)--lived to adulthood. Though there is little manuscript evidence to support the claim, family tradition indicates that at this time Joseph also established a medical practice, and that he practiced the healing arts with exceptional skill. Thus, by the time that Lord Dunmore dissolved the Burgesses in 1775, Joseph Cabell had a new home, a large and healthy family, extensive landholdings, and--possibly--a thriving medical practice to defend.
Cabell contributed both political and military leadership to the patriot cause. He attended all five conventions in which Virginia's luminaries forged a Commonwealth from a Colony, served as delegate and senator in the new government, and--perhaps most importantly--helped to raise troops for the Continental Army. Early in the war, in 1776, Cabell acted as the Commonwealth's agent and paid out salaries in pounds sterling to hundreds of militiamen. In fulfillment of his duties as Amherst County's "County Lieutenant" (chief military officer) he administered a draft in 1778 and 1779 that sent scores of his neighbors to the front. He marched with the recruits and was present for the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Cabell remained active in politics following the war, although ill health kept him from Richmond on several occasions. On 29 November 1784, for example, he wrote to his brother Col. Nicholas Cabell of his inability to fulfill his duties as the senator for Buckingham, Albemarle, Amherst, and Fluvanna Counties. "I had some hopes of comming down on the Assembly," he lamented, "But they are all Vanished, my Leg and Cough continues so bad I am afraid I shall never see Richmond again..." Cabell recovered well enough to attend several more sessions of the General Assembly and did not succumb to final sleep until 1798.

Title

"He was a Colonel"[2]

Birth

ABT. 1735

19 SEP 1732 Goochland Co., Virginia

Marriage

Husband: Joseph Cabell
Wife: Mary Hopkins
Child: Mary Hopkins Cabell
Date: ABT. 1760
Husband: William Cabell
Wife: Elizabeth Burks
Child: Joseph Cabell
ABT. 1730

Death

He died on 1 March 1798 in Buckingham County, Virginia. He is buried in Sion Hill Cemetery, Buckingham County, Virginia.

People held in bondage

In his will dated 1794, Joseph Cabell named the following people as property to leave to his heirs:

  1. Joe, Jupiter, Betty, James, Isaac, Hannah, Caesar, Frank, Aron & Cloe, to his grandson Joseph Megginson Cabell
  2. "yellow Luce and her child Salley", to Nancy Burks
  3. Tomsey, to his granddaughter Lettecia Preston Breckenridge
  4. Salley, to his granddaughter Mary Hopkins Breckenridge
  5. Talton, to his grandson Joseph Cabell Breckenridge
  6. Ester, to his granddaughter Susanna Randolph Harrison
  7. Phebe, to his granddaughter Mary Hopkins Harrison
  8. Raph, to his grandson Joseph Cabell Harrison
  9. Will, Luce, Patrick, Lucy, Adam, Daphis and her child Milly, Rhody, Siller, Charles, Jacob, Martin, Daniel, Fanny, Rachell and her three children Jane and Prudence and Harry, to his daughter Elizabeth Lewis
  10. Phillis and her two children Sarah & Mary, to his granddaughter Sophonisba Cabell
  11. Ursala, to his granddaughter Sarah Bolling Cabell
  12. George, to his grandson Robert Bolling Cabell
  13. Randolph, to his grandson Joseph Megginson Cabell
  14. Billey, Peter's son the waterman, to his grandson Edward Blair Cabell
  15. John, to his grandson Benjamin Cabell
  16. Philip (waiting man Peter's son), to his grandson Archibald Bolling Cabell
  17. the negroes now in the possession of William Creasy, to his four children and his grandson Joseph Cabell Megginson

Sources

  1. https://small.library.virginia.edu/collections/featured/the-cabell-family-papers-2/biographies/genealogy/col-joseph-cabell/
  2. Unpub. p.641
  • Cabell Family Papers (MSS 5804)
  • Decendants of Arthur Hopkins, M.D. of Virginia compiled by Carol Shabowski Sheedy
  • Early Marriage Records of the Hopkins Family in the US by Wm. M. Clemens 1916
  • Will of Joseph Cabell, Buckingham County, Virginia, proven 12 March 1798; transcript available at The Virginia Genealogist. Vol 15, pages 298-302; Washington, DC: J. F. Dorman, 1957 - 2006. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB285/i/8727/298/0 (subscription required).

Acknowledgments

This profile was created through the import of PittsPenn_2010-09-21.ged on 22 September 2010 by MG Pitts.

WikiTree profile Cabell-18 created through the import of Maltby master 08282011.GED on Aug 30, 2011 by Harry Maltby.





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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Joseph by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Joseph:

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Cabell-18 and Cabell-3 appear to represent the same person because: same wife and family
posted by Robin Lee