Hannah (Clay) Cabaniss (abt. 1716 - bef. 1790)

Born about 1716 in Prince George County, Virginia

Ancestors

Wife of Matthew Cabaniss — married 1734 in Virginia

Descendants

Died before 5 Aug 1790 before about age 74 in Nottoway County, Virginia, United States

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Biography

Descendant of John Clay, a Jamestowne Society Qualifying Ancestor.

Hannah (Clay) Cabaniss was a Virginia colonist.

Hannah Clay, daughter of Thomas Clay and Mary Munns, was born about 1709 in Prince George County, Virginia.

"[Hannah's son] Elijah’s will, dated 15 Jan. 1795, probated in Nottoway Co. Court, Feb. term, 1795, intimates that his mother and sisters, as well as his wife and children, outlived him, for he willed “that after my mother’s death, that my loving wife shall have the privilege to sell my land bequeathed to me by my father, reserving my sisters privilege thereon....”^[1]

Birth Date

Hannah Clay was named in the will of her father Thomas Clay, written 16 June 1726 and proved on 8 November 1726 in Prince George County, Virginia.

*To daughters Phebe and Hannah, £30 apiece, on marriage or coming of age.^[2]

Hannah must have been born after 1705 since she was under age 21 and unmarried when her father's will was written. Estimated birth date about 1709 in Prince George County, Virginia.

Marriage & Children

Matthew Cabaniss, born about 1712, married Hannah Clay before May 1738. Hannah is named as wifeof Mathew Cabinis in a suit filed 9 May 1738.^[3]

Matthew and Hannah had 12 children, Ann, Charles, Matthew, Mary, John, Phoebe, George, Henry, Elijah, Hannah, Elizabeth and Amey Clay. ^[4]

Research Notes

The Clays of Virginia and later Kentucky are a large, extended, and influential family in American history. They descend from John Thomas Clay (1588-1656) of Monmouthshire on the Welsh/English border who arrived in struggling Jamestown, Virginia, on the ship 'Treasurer' 400 years ago, in February of 1613. The Clays were English and the name is Saxon in origin from the time when the Saxons ruled England a thousand years ago. John married Ann Nichols (1600-1660) after she arrived on the ship 'Anne' in 1623. (The 'Anne' made two colonial runs that year, one to Plymouth Colony, the other to Virginia.) John and Ann had several sons and acquired thousand of acres of land. Over the next century their descendants became part of the Virginia aristocracy. Hannah Clay (1716-1789) is their great granddaughter. When Matthew Cabaniss (1712-1790) married Hannah in 1734, socially he was moving on up, but he had land grants of his own and some inheritance from his father, the French Huguenot immigrant Henri Cabanis (1670-1720). Hannah Clay's father Thomas is the great grand uncle of Henry Clay (1777-1852), shown above in a portrait from 1818. Henry Clay was a statesman, lawyer, politician, and a famous orator who represented Kentucky in the US Senate and the House of Representative where he was elected Speaker. He dealt with the great issues of his time and ran for the US Presidency in elections against John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and James Polk. Abraham Lincoln said of Henry Clay that he was "my ideal of a great man." Henry was born in Hanover County, Virginia, about 40 miles from his cousin Hannah's birthplace in Amelia County. Henry Clay was 12 years old when Hannah died. They may have known each other. -LP.

Sources

1. ↑ Cabaniss Through Four Generations, p 14
2. ↑ Jester, Annie. Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1625' (Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1956) Page 137
3. ↑ Cabaniss Through Four Generations, p 7
4. ↑ Henry Cabaniss and His Descendants

• Henry Cabaniss And His Descendents by John Plath Green 1956, Dallas, TX. http://www.geocities.ws/dccabaniss/green.pdf

• Cabaniss, Billy Joe Jr, ed. 1997. Cabaniss Through Four Generations: Some Descendants of Matthew and George. By Allen Cabaniss. Oxford, MS: The University of Mississippi, 1970. pp 7, 8, 14.

See also:

• FamilySearch Person: MBGS-WBN

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216939385/hannah-rachael-cabanis: accessed 13 February 2023), memorial page for Hannah Rachael Clay Cabanis (1716–5 Aug 1790), Find a Grave Memorial ID 216939385, citing Cabaniss Family Cemetery, Nottoway County, Virginia, USA; Maintained by Stephen David Cabaniss (contributor 48929677).
  • No primary sources.