Cuthbert: Our First American Musgrove

Cuthbert Musgrave was born June 1, 1644, in Crookdake,  England, to William and Dorothy Musgrave. He was named after St. Cuthbert, who was...

 ...a monk, who grew in merit and in the intensity of his devotion. He was elected to the bishopric of the church of Lindisfarne. 

St Cuthbert b 634 - d 687

...many families named their first-born son for him. A number of churches throughout the northern counties were named in his memory, the most interesting of which is St. Cuthbert's at Edenhall. 

The American Family Musgrove - Richard G Musgrove pg 71

Percy Musgrave: Family Historian 

Percy Musgrave traced our* (see relationship notes below) lineage back to Gamel Musgrave in 1066 and wrote the reference book on our surname history.

Collectanea Musgraviana: Notes on the Ancient Family of Musgrave, Westmorland in 1911.

He writes about our line, on page 130, in footnote 2,

"In the Enrolment of Apprentices etc. at Newcastle, a son of  Sir William Musgrave of Crokedake is given, named either Richard or Raphe. Date of indenture 1 June 1624. In the same list,  Cuthbert, son of William M of Corkedake, Cumberland, Esquire. Date of indenture; 1 June 1658;... .  (link here)

Percy concludes,

It looks as if Plantagenet-Harrison's (authors of  The History of Yorkshire, 1885) pedigree of the Crookdake Musgraves was not complete." 

Percy lost track of our family at Cuthbert Musgrave because William Musgrave had signed his son to the Merchant Adventures Company. In this respect,

...Cuthbert was no exception. His enrollment as a boothman at the age of fourteen, in The Merchant Adventurers of Newcastle-onTyne, indicates that his father felt he needed a vocation.  American family Musgrove (ibid pg 74)

The Decline of Border Nobility 

The Musgraves had grown from relative obscurity - living in an area official English records labeled 'wastelands'  - into a powerful, wealthy family under the Border-Reiver system (link here). But when King James united England and Scotland in 1607, he banned border law, and the reiving families lost prominence.

Sir John Oglander

In the early 1600s, many of the Gentry in the Northern Counties of England had fallen on difficult days and had first to mortgage their ancestral lands and then to sell them piecemeal. 

"It is impossible," wrote Sir John Oglander in 1632, "for a mere country gentleman ever to grow rich or raise his house. He must have some other vocation with his inheritance, as to be a courtier, lawyer, merchant or some other vocation."  (ibid 73-4)

William Musgrave, Cuthbert's father, was a farmer and a landowner. From the contents of his will, he had modest means. And he must have seen a better future for his son in the New World.

Crookdake, England 

Crookdake was inherited by the propensity of Musgrave men to marry into families with a lack of male offspring (link here). After Adam de Crookdake - the last member of the original Crookedake family buried there - died, it passed through several family lines before being inherited by the Lowthers.

St Mungos Church: Bromfield, England

The Lowthers remained at Crookdake until the early sixteenth century. The land passed to Ann Lowther who married Cuthbert Musgrave, grandson of Sir Thomas Musgrave of Edenhall. 

This Cuthbert became the first in a long line of Musgraves who held Crookdake for almost a century and made it the seat of this younger branch of the Musgraves of Harcla Castle, Crossby Gerard, Great and Little Musgrave and Soulby all in the county of Westmorland and Edenhall, Hotton and Bochardby in the county of Cumberland.  (ibid pg 72) (link here)

Richard Graham Musgrove brags a little about the Musgrove family's ability to produce boys.

Edenhall, England

The Musgraves, along with the Huddlestons, are the only families in Cumberland that were of knightly rank before the beginning of the sixteenth century, and that can trace its descent solely through male issue.

Yet he acknowledges our most famous genes come through our family's maternal lines.

Through the Percies and the Cliffords, the blood of Edward III flows in the veins of the Musgraves of Edenhall, who can thus boast of Royal Descent. (ibid pg 73).

Merchant Adventurers Company 

In 1632 and before the death of Charles I, Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, had received a charter of 10 to 12 million acres from him. He established the colony of Baltimore. ...Most settlers came to better their condition and own land without rent or landlord. (ibid pg 73).

Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore

Apprenticeships started on a boy's fourteenth birthday. Cuthbert's indentureship was as a Boothman.

Boothman is the name connected with the booths, used at fairs, and a tribute was paid to the Lord of the Manor for the erection of such booths. 

As a boothman and a member of the guild as a result of his membership in the Merchant Adventurers, they were a part of an early union that prevented others from operating in "their" town.  (ibid pg 74). 

From the Merchant Adventurers record, Cuthbert never started the apprenticeship.

Richard Graham Musgrove

In the 1990s, Richard Graham Musgrove researched to connect our family back to Cuthbert, where Percy Musgrave left off. He traveled to Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, and to England in his quest. The resulting book, The American Family Musgrove, is the authoritative work on the American branch of Cuthbert Musgrave.

Richard Graham Musgrove

While I found no direct reference to Cuthbert on any passenger list in libraries on either side of the Atlantic, ... I found him in Maryland in 1666 as a tobacco farmer 

Based on records of his one hundred and fifty acres, upon which he grew tobacco, and two appearances in court in Charles County, Maryland, we know he learned to be a tobacco farmer after settling in that state. His land was along the banks of Chicomuxen Creek above where it flowed into the Potomac and referred to in the records as Shrewsberry. (Page 80). 

Connection to Cuthbert

Richard Graham makes the case that his Cuthbert Musgrave in 1666 is the same Cuthbert Musgrave that didn't complete his indentureship with the Merchant Adventurer's Company. Instead, he came to Maryland and grew tobacco.

It was into this province that Cuthbert came in the early 1660's. In his father's will, dated February 11, 1663, there is no mention of Cuthbert. He had already left England for America and was, therefore, omitted. 

We have two references to him from the Proceedings of the County Court of Charles County. The first is an appearance by Cuthbert Musgrave as a witness subpoenaed by the defendant, John Hatch, who was being sued by Japhet Griphin to obtain his freedom as an indented servant. 

The date of this pleading was recorded as November 22, 1666. On page 97 the proceedings show: "Cuthbert Musgrave aged 22 yeares and sworn in open Courte saith that the Plaintife...". (omission in the orginal ed). This would mean that Cuthbert was born sometime between November 23, 1643 and November 22, 1644, that is, he would turn 23 the following day or was in court on his birthday. 

In the same Proceedings on the eleventh day of November, 1674, a Cause is recorded with John Muns, plaintiff and Cuthbert Musgrove, Defendant. Cuthbert owed Muns nine hundred twelve pounds of tobacco toward a debt of twenty-five hundred pounds. He paid the balance and court costs. 

Musgrave to Musgrove 

It is of a great deal of interest to note that in the earlier appearance, probably within a year or two of his arrival, his name is recorded with an 'a' as Musgrave, the name of his father and their ancestors. In the latter case, and in all subsequent records, the 'a' has become an 'o' and widow and all of his descendants are Musgrove. 

Why this change? It may have begun as an error by someone who wrote it down improperly, or it was a intentional change to indicate a break from the old world to the new. Whether it was either of these, or for some other reason, it has been Musgrove ever since that time. 

Because of the earlier of the two court appearances, it is possible for the first time to tie Cuthbert back to his ancestors in England.

Conclusion

Percy's reason for (incomplete information for this lineage) is the record of Cuthbert Musgrave, son of William Musgrave, of Crookdaike, Cumberland, Esq. as being enrolled in the Merchant Adventurers. 

The copy of the enrollment shows the date of indenture as being June 1, 1658. As the apprentices were indentured on their fourteenth birthday for seven years, until twenty-one, this makes Cuthbert's birthday, June 1, 1644, between the two possible dates referred to above. 

Cuthbert is a very common name in the northern counties. An exhaustive search was made of the records of all of these counties and there is no record of another Cuthbert, who would match these dates, other than the son of William of Crookdake Hall.

Based upon his enrollment in the Merchant Adventurers and the recorded court appearances, we must conclude that Cuthbert Musgrove, my ancestor, is the son of the Crookdake Musgraves and of the line of the Musgraves of Cumberland and Westmorland. (ibid pgs 91-3)

Footnote

Richard Graham doesn't mention another resource for the Colonial family of Cuthbert Musgrave; the book Seventeenth Century Colonial Ancestors of Members of the National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century, 1915-1975, compiled by Mary Louise M. Hutton. The group's members must all prove a relationship to a Colonial ancestor. According to the introduction,

Since 1915, our members have proven over 13,000 bloodlines from colonial ancestors. Included in this volume are only the names of colonist from whom members have proven descent. In these early documents one often finds that dates vary and thus much use is made of the symbol 'c' (circa) indicating that records disagree, or are approximate. 

 

The book records Cuthbert and his son, John Musgrove, on page 180.

Musgrove, Cuthbert (c 1653-87) Md.: m. Dorothy ___   Landowner
John Musgrove (1685-1746) Md.-Va. m. ___   Landowner

The most important data point to prove Cuthbert Musgrave's identity - his birthdate on Merchant Adventurers' indentureship - is off by nine years. But this is definite proof of our ancestors. Whether he was William's son or some other Cuthbert, he and John are our ancestors.

The Colony of Maryland
Founded in 1632

*Note: Relationships, such as grandmother, 2nd great, etc., are expressed from the perspective of the grandchildren of Willis Edgar and Carrie (known as) Mae (Merritt) Musgrove.

Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.  - are used here generically to include relatives such as fourth great-grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.