Margaret White Cavitt

There are times when I wonder if Margaret and Rebecca White were the same person. 

• Margaret was missing from the 1850 census, but Rebecca was listed.
•  A few of these White's switched back and forth between their first name and middle name throughout their lifetimes. 
• She might be named after Mary Fisher White's sister, who is "Peggy" in her marriage record and "Rebecca" in the censuses.

A comparison of Rebecca in 1850 and Margaret in 1860 shows a three-year age difference and a different birth location. If the censuses were right, Rebecca and Margaret are definitely different people. After all, two young daughters were enumerated in Henry White's 1840 Randolph County, Indiana household. 

Lewis Cargel/Cargile married a Margaret White in Henry County on 13 December 1855. It appears he was back in his parents' home in 1860, without his Margaret. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with our Margaret White, but it should be mentioned. 

Ancestry.com. Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.

Original data: Missouri Marriage Records. Jefferson City, MO, USA:
Missouri State Archives. Microfilm.

What we do know is that Thomas M. Cavitt (b. abt. 1836, KY) married our Margaret White on 7 October 1856 in Henry County, Missouri. By the time the 1860 census was taken, they were living in Osage Twp. of Henry County, Missouri with one child, William W. 

Year: 1860; Census Place: Osage, Henry, Missouri;
Roll: M653_622; Page: 825; Image: 339;
Family History Library Film: 803622.

Thomas served in the Confederacy during the War, Missouri Company K, 7th Regiment.
He was imprisoned in Little Rock on 10 September 1863, and remained a prisoner of war until 20 May 1865. 

After the war, Thomas' reunion with Margaret didn't last long. Margaret died before the next census, and was possibly buried at White Cemetery in Fairview Twp., Henry County, Missouri. If so, she has no marker. Thomas was buried there not too many years later. Since Lilla/Lilly was born in 1869, Margaret must have died in 1869. Her son, William W. Cavitt also seems to have died before 1870. 

Year: l870; Census Place: Osage, Henry, Missouri;
Roll: M593_778; Page: 325B; Image: 659;
Family History Library Film: 552277.

Thomas Cavitt next married Elizabeth Wilkinson (b. 1 August 1846, MO) on 18 February 1870 in St. Clair County, Missouri. They were shown in the 1870 Henry County, Missouri census. Any child born before early 1870 (every child in the above census) belonged to Margaret, not Elizabeth.

Margaret's children:
William W.
Mary
Margaret Lee
Lilly May (She went by May instead of Lilly after childhood.)

Photo by Larry Spangler for Find A Grave,
Memorial #101788089

Thomas and Elizabeth Wilkinson had the following children:
Milly J.
Charles Benj
Thomas Marton

Thomas Sr. died about 1877. He was buried in White Cemetery with one of the few legible and whole markers in the cemetery. It only displays his initials. Henry County Probate Records show that Thomas left a will probated in 1877.

Elizabeth Wilkinson Cavitt next married Charles Foglesong (b. 8 June 1841, VA) on 19 March 1879 in Henry County and had two more children, Bessie and William Foglesong. Elizabeth Wilkinson Cavitt Foglesong died on 1 May 1932 in El Dorado Springs, Cedar County, Missouri, outliving Charles Foglesong by about 35 years.