The final Cunningham years 3rd Generation - Margaret Newkirk Cunningham 4th Generation - Martha , Mary Emma Cunningham, Julia Mateer

Submitted by Lisa Deason, photo shows Margaret Myles Newkirk Cunningham and her two surviving daughters, Martha Isabella Cunningham (left) and Mary Emma Newkirk Cunningham around 1860.  Smaller photo is Martha later in life.  (Another picture of Martha is on the home page, taken sometime between these two pictures.)  By the time the group picture was taken Margaret had been a widow since William Davenport Cunningham, 37, died in Oct. 1855,  When they were 10 and 4, the two young girls had already inherited the plantation at their grandfather William D. Cunningham's death in 1858. Along with the farm, Martha and Emma inherited two servants, George and John.  Margaret was entitled to support from the plantation for life. Margaret died during the Civil War (April 21, 1864).  The state of West Virginia was formed in 1863.  Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863 originally exempted Berkeley County, so George and John may have had to wait a little longer for their freedom.  (Note: Does anyone have any information at all on these two servants?)  The economics of a modest plantation were changing, though, and for the Hughes-Cunningham House a gradual decline had begun.  In the 1870's Martha and Emma divided the farm into two parcels.  Emma married Joseph Dill Baker.  On April Fools Day of 1888, 104 years after her great-grandparents Hugh and Agnes moved here, Emma and Joseph Baker sold the farm to Aquilla Janney. Martha married John Carter Legg in 1872 and moved to Baltimore.  Their son John Carter Legg, Jr. started an investment firm that grew into today's Legg Mason.  Lisa Deason, now living in Utah,  is Martha and John Legg Sr.'s great-great-granddaughter, (8th generation from Hugh and Agnes).

Julia Mateer, Missionary to China

Julia Mateer was a third cousin of Martha and Emma.  Her mother was Hannah Cunningham Brown, daughter of  Hannah (Robinson) and John Cunningham, son of Hugh and Agnes Cunningham.  Julia and her husband went as missionaries to China 40 years (mentioned in Centennial History of Belmont County on previous page).  Their ship left New York City July 2, 1863.  The 3-day Battle of Gettysburg was in its second day.  The battle ended the following day with about 50,000 casualties. It would be 8 months before Julia's family learned the outcome of the battle.  They sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, survived a shipwreck in the East Indies, and arrived in China 8 months later.  (Lincoln had already delivered his Gettysburg address...) Julia was in feeble health when she returned home for a visit after 40 years' service.  She told the family historian she wanted to "return to China and die there, that she might be with the Chinese at the Resurrection."

Another 4th generation Cunningham was Israel Dallas Cunningham (6-24-1844 to 11-20-1921).  His parents were Edward Cunningham and Martha Austin Trisler.  Edwards parents were James Cunningham and Margaret Winning.  James was Hugh and Agnes' 2nd son. This picture shows Israel and his wife Matilda Jane Roush (1849-1890).  Their son was William Halleck Cunningham Sr.  Their granddaughter, Betty Jane Cunningham Hamner, lives in San Antonio. Israel's brother was Randall Austin Cunningham (5-31-1855 to 3-11-1939) His descendants include James Cunningham and Dan Cunningham, now living in the Morgantown WV area.