Do you recognize these Cardwells?

Question

I'm wondering if anyone might recognize these Cardwells:

In an anonymous family document passed down to me, it states that William Cardwell married "Miss Ferguson".  William had a daughter, Mary Luvenia Cardwell, born in 1820, then both parents seemingly abandoned the girl when she was 4 years old.  William had brothers named George and Jack Cardwell.  William and his brothers were evidently involved in land deals in Louisiana and California.

I have transcribed this document here  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:McAfee_Family_History_(Author_Unknown)

It goes into some interesting details of Mary Luvenia Cardwell being raised by a Cherokee family from the age of 4 to 17.  The Cherokee family seems rather well documented from what I can find, but I have no information at all about Miss Ferguson or William Cardwell and his brothers.

I did find a marriage record for a William M E Cardwell and Elizabeth Ferguson in Rhea County, TN in 1819.

Do you have information on any of these people?

Comments

David,

Is there any chance you could try searching for siblings of the supposed Aunt. One of her sibling's children would be the author. So look for siblings, their children and if any of them married a Ferguson. (Of course it would have to be a male child.)

---

Oh yes, the mystery author is certainly one of my great grandfather's cousins since his mother is their aunt, Sue McAfee Owens.   

The main question though is who are Sue's grandparents, the parents of Mary Luvenia Cardwell, William Cardwell and his wife, Miss Ferguson? And William's brother's, Jack and George?  For these four I have nothing but the names and locations mentioned in the story.

I did locate the family of James Cardwell & Sarah Crocket: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cardwell-1786.  They have a William, John "Jack", George, and a Mary Luvenia! It could be that William named his daughter after his sister, and George did end up in California...  And these are all pioneer families that came to Kentucky together.  I located them on FamilySearch as well, but there just don't seem to be any source documents for them, and some of the puzzle pieces seem a bit out of place yet. (They seem settled in Mercer County, KY, so why would William and Miss Ferguson marry in Rhea, TN? Or are they from another branch of Cardwells?)

It seems a bit ironic that my Mary Luvenia was abandoned by her parents who I can find no trace of while her adopted Cherokee parents who raised her are easy to document...

Answer 1

Just a hunch but you might try looking towards Warren County, TN. There is definitely a connection between Rhea County & Warren County, most likely using the "Hill Trace/Road" that came over Cumberland Mtn from Sequatchie Valley. There are several old Cardwell families here in Warren County around 1820.

Good luck to you,

John