Ann R. Cunningham

Ann R. Cunningham

Ann R Cunningham Torbert, 1795-1877

• Father: Alexander Cunningham b. say 1765, d. 1797
• Mother: Anne E. (?) b. circa 1774

• Ann R. Cunningham was born on 25 December 1795 in London, England, although we are mindful that her date of birth is recorded in the Torbert-Cornish Bible as 24 Decembeer 1799; in the 1850-1870 censuses her age varies by ten years, and her grave marker gives her date of death and age only. This birth date is based upon what we believe to be her London christening record: Ann Rees John Cunningham, christened 21 June 1797 at Saint George in the East, Stepney, born 21 December 1795, daughter of Alexander and Ann Cunningham.
• A monument was erected in the Mobile Church Street cemetery by Ann Cunningham Torbert: "Sacred to the memory of John Sidney Moxie, a native of England who departed his life July 27, 1820. This stone erected as a tribute of affectionate friendship by his cousin, Ann Torbert." (Appeared in "Cemeteries: Torberts leave Pennsylvania for Alabama," one in a series of articles on the history of older Marengo County cemeteries by the Marengo County Genealogical Society, and published in The Democrat-Reporter.)
• She married James Anthony Torbert, son of Col. Anthony Torbert and Margaret Simpson, on 23 December 1820 in Wakefield, Baldwin County, Alabama.
• Ann R. Cunningham became a widow at the 9 December 1835 death of her husband James Anthony Torbert.
• Ann R. Cunningham appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Marengo County, Alabama, enumerated next to her half-sister Hannah Harrell.. Other members of the household included John Sidney Moxsy Torbert, Alexander Cunningham Torbert and Mariah Louise Harder.
• Ann R. Cunningham appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Marengo County, Alabama. Other members of the household included Mariah Louise Harder. Next household was Mathew Henson, likely the Torbert overseer.
• She was a planter, according to the 1860 census.
• Ann R. Cunningham appeared in the 1866 Alabama state census in Marengo County, Alabama. Likely the one male in the household aged 30 or older was son John Sidney Moxsy Torbert.
• John Sidney Moxsy Torbert appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Spring Hill, Marengo County, Alabama. Other members of the household included Ann R. Cunningham.
• Ann R. Cunningham died on 22 May 1877 at age 81 in Marengo County, Alabama.
• She was interred at Old Spring Hill, Marengo County, Alabama, in the Torbert family cemetery.
• It is likely that Ann Cunningham who married James Anthony Torbert was "Ann Rees John Cunningham, daughter of the late Alexander Cunningham Master Mariner by Ann," christened at Saint George-in-the-East, Stepney, London, on 21 June 1797, birth date recorded as 25 December 1795. Further, on 20 July 1797, Ann Cunningham petitioned the Corporation of Trinity House: "The Humble Petition of Ann Cunningham widow of Alexander Cunningham, Aged 23 Years, Sheweth that your Petitioner’s Husband Alex’r Cunningham was bred to the Sea and served there as a Master – Commander of the Brig Lucy w’h sailed from London to Martinico – left with one Infant ten months old – the Father died on his passage home – Having one child aged two Years. . . . We recommend her as a proper Object of the Corporation's Charity. As Witness our Hands, the Seventh Day of July 1797. Wm ?Clappeson?, Herbert Mayo D.D. Rector of St George Midx, John Butlor Church Warden, Elijah Goff Church Warden." We find this circumstantial evidence very persuasive, as much of it fits with vague family lore about Alexander Cunningham and "the islands."
        According to family lore, Ann and Alexander Cunningham’s daughter Ann was "a playmate of Princess Charlotte who would have been queen. . . ." (presumably referring to the daughter of Charles IV, born 7 January 1796).
• Ann R. Cunningham Torbert and John Sidney Moxsy apparently were cousins, but the relationship is unclear. That Ann Cunningham Torbert's step-father, her mother's second husband, Thomas J. Strong, had an uncle named John Moxsy, who does not appear to be the same John Moxsy who died in 1819 and specified specified John S. Moxsy (who died in 1820) as an executor of his estate, further complicates the picture, inspiring the thought that the elder Anne Cunningham may well have been related in some way to her second husband Thomas J. Strong. So it still is a possibility that her maiden name was Moxsy, but no solid evidence has yet been discovered.

• Last Edited: 14 Jul 2014

• Charts: Descendants of TORBERT Anthony & Margaret Simpson