Thomas Cunningham

4.THOMAS CUNNINGHAM (son of 1 James) was born probably about 1690.How long he lived in Pennsylvania is not known.Since, however, in his will, he mentioned his three married children living in Pennsylvania at that time, he may have spent several years there before settling on Cub Creek where he purchased 685 acres.By successive sales he disposed of 200 acres on the north side of the Stanton River to Jacob Robinson (2 Lunenburg Deeds 474) and 143 acres adjacent thereto to Robert Andrews (ibid, 9).His will (Lunenburg Wills 59) opens with this far-from-usual phrase which evidences his deep religious faith,“In the Name of the Eternal and Almighty God who formed the universe by the Word of His Power and governs it by the Word of His Power and governs it by the enduring dictates of His wisdom, I Thomas Cunningham, of Brunswick County in Virginia …..”Therein he made provision for his “dearly beloved wife Dorcas”, his sons Thomas and John in Virginia, his daughter Mary Cunningham in Virginia and stated that he had already given his son James and his daughters Anne Wilson and Margaret McDey (or McVey) in Pennsylvania “their shares and marriage portions already”.He designated his “trusty and well beloved friends John Caldwell and William Cunningham” to be his “Executors and overseers” and added that his son Thomas Cunningham was to his “administrator”.The will was dated 10 September 1745 and was ordered to be recorded by the Lunenburg Court 7 April 1752 which appointed William Cunningham as executor.His sureties were James Hunt and Thomas Daugherty.

Although the will provided that Thomas’s land should be divided equally between his sons Thomas and John, the actual distribution was between James and John (Lunenburg Deeds 519 and 4 Lunenburg Deeds 112) and since in the Lunenburg records, there is no further mention of Thomas, Jr., we must consider that he died “vita patris", unmarried, or that he sold to his brother James his share of the inheritance without a recording of the deed.

Children:

(7) i.John Cunningham

ii.Thomas Cunningham

iii.Mary Cunningham

(8) iv.James Cunningham

v.Anne Cunningham married Willson

vi.Margaret Cunningham married McVey or McDey