Cash Family of Fancy Farm, Kentucky Originated in England

Some sources say that the Cash Family name originated in Fife County, Scotland. However, the earliest known ancestor of the Cash Family of Fancy Farm, Kentucky is Thomas Cash of London, England, according to research done by Brother Leo Willett, author and editor of "The History of St. Jerome Fancy Farm, Kentucky 1836-1986". Notes that he collected over the years have been generously shared by Beverly Cash Gourley.

Thomas Cash's birth record is not known, but he married Martha Johnson on August 4, 1652 at St. John Anglican Church in London, in the borough of Hackney.

On February 28, 1660, their son, John Cash, was christened at St. Botolph Without Aldgate in London. The church record reads, "John Cash son to Thomas Cash, Carpenter, & Martha his wife born 20 baptized 28". A later entry records another son, Samuel Cash, baptized on May 5, 1663. St. Boltolp, an Anglican church, still stands.

When he was 24 years of age, John Cash was transported to the colony of Maryland and indentured to Richard Heath for seven years. This is according to City of London records transcribed by Michael Ghirelli, B.A. and published in A List of Emigrants From England to America 1682-1692. The extracted record reads: "John Cash, son of Thomas Cash, of Jamaica Place (some sources say it reads "Jamaica Planter"), was bound to Richard Heath for 7 years in Maryland on July 11, 1684". Jamaica Place is a street on London's East End.

Maryland had been founded by the Calvert Family in 1634 from a grant of land along Chesapeake Bay by English King Charles I. It was the personal property of the Calverts and was established as a business and to provide a haven for English Roman Catholics who were subject to persecution and wanted to practice their religion more freely. However, most of the settlers outside of southern Maryland were Protestant and conflicts over religion continued sporadically.

Though Maryland was economically successful, the Calvert Family had to fight at times to keep control. This mirrored conflicts in England over religion and the king's authority. The English Civil War (1642-1651) resulted in the execution of King Charles I and the triumph of the Puritans and Oliver Cromwell. Monarch was restored under Charles II (1661). But when James II assumed the throne (1685), his Catholic Religion and disregard of public opinion caused him to be deposed in the "Glorious Revolution" (1688).

It is not know why John Cash immigrated to America. Indentured servants were very common in early America. Most bound themselves voluntarily to pay for their passage to America. Some were transported by authorities for minor crimes and some were "spirited away" to be sold as servants in America.

John Cash was older than most indentured servants and his term of service was longer than the average of four or five years. After completing the terms of the indenture, the servants were given unimproved land by the colony where they might start their own farm and, in time, marry and acquire servants themselves.

Tobacco was the crop that supported most colonists along the Potomac River. It was the most valuable commodity produced in North America and exported to Europe, and most farms or plantations in Maryland specialized in growing tobacco as a cash crop as well as food for the household. Towns were small, and many plantations had their own shipping docks along the many estuaries of the Chesapeake region. Slaves imported from Africa gradually replaced indentured servants as a bound labor force.

Land records from Prince George's County show that John Cash purchased a 100 acre tract from Mary Yates, a widow, on June 29, 1698, seven years after his indenture ended. The price of the land was 4000 pounds of tobacco and adjoined the land of Charles Williams. Mary Yates sold an adjoining tract known as the "Vale of Benjamin" to Thomas James on the same day and at the same price. The land was "on the west side of a Patuxent River in the freshes". Maryland plantations usually had distinctive names.

John Cash married Mary Dawson, probably about 1711. She was born September 22, 1693 in Charles County, Maryland and was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Dawson.

Six children are recorded for John and Mary Cash at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Prince George's County, Maryland. Dawson (or Danson) was born August 11, 1712. John, Jr. was born August 22, 1714. Ruth Cash was born October 5, 1717. The birth of Rachel Cash was recorded for July 1, 1720. Ann's was listed as April 28, 1722.

Caleb Cash was born on July 10, 1723 as recorded by the church records. St. Barnabas Episcopal Church still exists.

The will of John Cash of Prince George's County, Maryland was written on August 28, 1726 and probated September 26, 1726. He left his plantation house to his wife, Mary, during her lifetime and afterward to Caleb Cash who was three years old. John also left use of his personal estate to Mary during her widowhood. In the event Mary remarried, one third of the personal estate and the residue would go to the children equally. To the older sons, Doren (Dawson?) and John, Jr., he left "Huckillberry Hill" plantation on the east branch of the Potomac River.

The Maryland Calendar of Wills also records the testament of Edward Dawson, father of Mary Cash, probated June 28, 1732. In the will he leaves 50 acres of land to his grandson John Cash, Jr. son of John Cash, Sr. He also left part of his personal property to John, Jr.

Not much of Caleb Cash's early life is known. Around 1774, he married Elizabeth (_?_). No earlier marriages are known, according to Brother Leo Willett's information.

(According to Kathy Shea who has been researching her own family, Caleb Cash married Eleanor _?_. Caleb and Eleanor's children were Ruth; Caleb, Jr.; Mary; Dawson; and Rachel. It was the younger Caleb, born in 1760 in Prince Georges County, who married Elizabeth _?_, and relocated to Kentucky in the 1780s. This second scenario better fits the Cash family time line.)

The children of Caleb Cash and Elizabeth were: Priscilla, born about 1778; Margaret "Peggy", about 1780; John C. Cash was born about 1787. Another daughter, Mary, is also recorded. They were all baptized at St. Barnabas Anglican or Episcopal Church, in Maryland.

The last child, James Cash, was born about 1797 to 1800 in Washington County, Kentucky.