Anne E. (?)

Anne E. (?)

Anne E., wife of Alexander Cunningham and later Thomas J Strong,. c1774-

• Anne E. (?) was born circa 1774 in England.
• Her name was recorded as Anne Elizabeth (?) by some researchers.
• She married Alexander Cunningham circa 1794 in England, but no record has yet been discovered.
• Anne E. (?) became a widow at the 1797 death of her husband Alexander Cunningham.
• She married Thomas J. Strong say 1807, probably in Mississippi Territory.
• Anne E. (?) became a widow at the 19 October 1820 death of her husband Thomas J. Strong.
• 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: 6 Apr 2013