So back in the post a Kind Heart and a Cave I mentioned Timothy’s cave home. Let’s go into a bit more detail about his cave, then we will continue on about his whereabouts and his family…er, families.
There doesn’t seem to be any definite known time when Timothy moved into his luxurious cave, complete with a “kitchen”. I saw one website that said he just took refuge there during an attack by the natives. I have seen this repeated a few times, but I can’t find anywhere in the history and genealogy books that this is mentioned. Some say it wasn’t until the 1780s that he moved in, some say it was when he first “discovered” the area. One person wrote that he only lived in the cave during his first year after settling in the area. I would like to think that it was when he first came across the area, only because I don’t know where else he would have stayed during the first winters in the 1700s. The cave is registered at a private residence roughly 2.5 miles or so from the Cumberland River and the cave itself. It has two entrances: one on the river and one on the bluff above. When entering through the river entrance, he would apparently pull up, tie his boat up and climb a ladder, which he would then pull up into the cave. My guess is that it must have been pretty cozy, especially with all of the furs he dealt with.
Now, I have seen mention that he built a hut to store his furs, tallows and trinkets. However, I don’t think it was until about 1790 that he built an actual house in Nashville.
Throughout the 1770s the only way to tell where Timothy was came from his correspondences. Starting in the 1780s, though, we could track him based on court records, correspondence AND the birth of his children. How, you may ask, can you tell from the birth of his children? Well, at some point Timothy had another wife. Say what!? Yeah, for those that are descended from Timothy or have been researching him already, this comes as no shock. It might come as a surprise that he may have had more than two wives at the same time, but right now we are only going to focus on his second wife-who-wasn’t-really-a-wife-but-actually-a-common-law-wife.
I would really love to know exactly where and how Timothy met Elizabeth. Or what her real name REALLY was. I’m thinking it was not Elizabeth. Elizabeth was said to be Choctaw, though I question this (for reasons that will be discussed in a future post about her!). I saw that a man who recently passed wrote that he had records of her having been married before and having children with her husband, then travelling to Tennessee with Timothy and having children with him. However, I cannot find any marriage record at all for her prior to Tennessee. A woman asked this man for references for his information, and he was unable to provide them. And where did these other children go, anyway? This is not about her, though. This is about Timothy and his whereabouts.
Now, if you read through the Kaskaskia Records, 1778-1790, Trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, 1909 you will see tons of letters and court meetings signed by Timothy. We don’t necessarily need those to track his whereabouts, though. Let’s look at his children:
William Demonbreun (mother: Elizabeth) born 1783 (month and day unknown) in Nashville, Tennessee. This year is according to the Timothy Demonbreun Heritage Society. His tombstone has about ten years later and court records have about three years later. I’m going to go by what the Timothy Demonbreun experts say.
Julienne (Julia) Demonbreun (mother: Therese) born March 12, 1785 in Kaskaskia, Illinois.
Jean Baptiste Demonbreun (mother: Elizabeth) born January 24, 1788 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jacques Timothy Demonbreun (mother: Therese) born April 7, 1788 in Kaskaskia, Illinois. (see below for more information about the first born son Timothy Felix).
Marie Louise Demonbreun (mother: Therese) born February 28, 1789 in Kaskaskia, Illinois.
Mary Polly Demonbreun (mother: Elizabeth) born 1792 (month and day unknown) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Now, the only reason we even know that the children with Elizabeth are Timothy’s is because he mentions his illegitimate children by name in his will. There is still a mystery child Felix Theodore Demonbreun, however.
I may have to back up for a second. I wrote in the post Kaskaskia to French Lick that Timothy and Therese’s second child born in 1770 was Timothy Felix Demonbreun. Well, it appears that there is some controversy surrounding this child. I have seen that there is nothing that says his name ever contained the middle name Felix. He did exist and there is a baptism record for him. I just scanned through Timothy’s will again and there is nothing about this first son Timothy, but there is mention of Jacque Timothy, the second son with Therese. I suppose his first son died. I will get more into mystery child Felix Theodore at a later date, though.
Back to William Demonbreun. Judging by a few family trees, there are some people out there who still can’t accept that William is not Therese’s child. William is considered the first “white” child born in Nashville. He was born in the cave overlooking the Cumberland River to Elizabeth. Timothy’s will states “I will and (desire) unto my illegitimate son William Demumbran now married to The sum of five hundred dollars and the remaining third of said 440 acres of Land deeded to me by Capt Hadley…” I’m fairly certain that says right there that he isn’t Therese’s son.
While we are on the subject of common law wives…well, perhaps tomorrow.
