Bruce is subscribed. T ----- Original Message ----- From: <BruceBarbC@aol.com> To: <ILHANCOC-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, May 05, 2000 2:37 PM Subject: {not a subscriber} Cain, Matthews, & Cunningham surnames Greetings, I am new to the Hancock County e-mail list. I am related to some of the Cain and Matthews families in Hancock County and other parts of Illinois and elsewhere. I have reason to believe that my grandfather's family-Cunningham-lived in Illinois at one time or another. After reading my message, please feel free to contact me if you have any information to connect me to someone in the county or elsewhere. It will be appreciated. My paternal grandmother, Rosa Matthews Hays Cunningham, was born in Augusta Township, Hancock County, Illinois, on February 7, 1868. Her parents were Thomas Jefferson Mathews (b. 2/17/1827; d. 12/25/1896) and Martha Cain Matthews (b. 10/12/1828; d. 11/17/1900) who were married 3/13/1851. The other surviving children were: Daniel, James Preston, Joab, William, and Harriet. Rosa was born in Illinois as was her first husband, Charles J. Hays. They married in Chautaugua County, Kansas in 1885 when she was 17 and he was 29. Their son Thomas Allen Hays was born in Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, on October 6, 1887. Charles died when Thomas was seven years old, presumably in 1894 or 1895. Rosa married my grandfather, John Anner Cunningham, on September 4, 1898 in Ardmore, Indian Territory (Chickasaw Nation) in what is now Carter County. They had four children: Otis Kendall Cunningham; Charles Hubert Cunningham, Ruby Mae Cunningham, and my father, Marion Wilshire Cunningham who later changed his name to William Marion Cunningham. John died in 1934 in Tulsa County, Oklahoma; and Rosa died in 1943 in Tulsa County. John Anner Cunningham had an older brother, George W. Cunningham, and a sister Fannie. Oral family history has told us that their father was killed in the Civil War and their mother died shortly thereafter. John was born December 23, 1859 in Newport, Jackson County, Arkansas. Newport, as well as Jackson Port in Jackson County were ports on the White River. Patrick Cunningham and Hannah Hollenback were married in Kendall County, Illinois and had the following children: George, John, Fanny (Hannah), Mary, Rachel, William, and Jennie, and thet lived in Newark, Kendall County, Illinois. It is believed that Patrick was a casualty of the Civil War and his wife Hannah may have married again after his death. Enough for now, Thanks for your time. Bruce Cunningham