In November 1860, just a few months after the Cheneys arrived in Christian County, Abraham Lincoln from neighboring Sangamon County, Illinois was elected president. That caused seven Southern states to secede from the Union. They formed the Confederate States of America.
The Confederate army attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor on April 12, 1861, igniting the start of the Civil War.
Continue readingIn 1859, after decades of circuit riding, Shadrach Cheney hung up his saddlebags and headed west. The destination: Christian County, Illinois. With seven of their twelve children still at home, Shadrach and Mary Cheney joined a growing network of their family already rooted in the prairie.
In 1837, after eight years at home, Shadrach Cheney felt the call once more. He had resigned from itinerant ministry in 1829 to raise a growing family with Mary Taylor Squires in Salt Lick Bridge, (West) Virginia.
But the pulpit beckoned again—and this time, it would take Shadrach and his family on a 22-year journey across the rugged circuits of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
In the early 1800s, amid the hills and hollows of Lewis County, (West) Virginia, Mary Taylor Squires was born into a world of rugged terrain and deep faith. The daughter of Asa Squires and Sarah Eastep, Mary grew up along Salt Lick Creek, where her family helped build one of the region’s earliest Methodist meeting houses.
It was here, in the shadow of campfires and sermons, that she met a young circuit rider named Shadrach Cheney.
On Wednesday, October 9, 1793, in a log cabin in the Pennsylvania Appalachian Mountains, Martha Cheney gave birth to her ninth child. She named him Shadrach, a namesake of his paternal grandfather.
Shadrach Cheney is our 4th great-grandparent.
Continue reading
In the years following independence, Gilbert and Martha Cheney transitioned from renters on Penn Proprietorship land to landowners in the new American republic.
Their names appear in oaths of allegiance, tax rolls, and land warrants—each record a step toward permanence in the Pennsylvania frontier.
Continue readingBy the mid-1700s, the Appalachian frontier beckoned. Gilbert and Martha Cheney—our fifth great-grandparents—joined the wave of settlers seeking land and opportunity in the remote valleys of central Pennsylvania.
Their story unfolds on Warrior’s Ridge, between Shaver’s Creek and Standing Stone Creek, where wilderness met perseverance.
Gilbert and Martha Cheney are our 5th great-grandparents. We’re sure of that. We have a paper trail from Gilbert and Martha to our present-day Cheneys.
But we have a problem. We don’t know Gilbert Cheney’s parents.
Continue readingCharles Cheney’s neighbor Col. William Burgess had built a wharf on the South River and laid out some lots for a town. He named it London Town.
Charles Cheney and his family were second generation tobacco planters.
In 1700, tobacco was Maryland’s dominant cash crop, particularly in Southern Maryland, which was ideal for its growth with its suitable soil, ample rain, and river access for transportation.
The crop was so central to Maryland’s society that it was used as currency to pay taxes, debts, and even official salaries.
Family Nibbles 