Biographies - Generation 3 - Nathaniel Caverly (1763 - 1845)

Nathaniel Caverly (1763 - 1845)
Nathaniel³ Caverly (Thomas², Moses¹)

Nathaniel Caverly was born 28 December 1763, son of Thomas and Keziah (Holmes) Caverly. He married Abigail Daniels, likely the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Hall) Daniels, on 27 April 1791 in Barrington. He died in Barrington, Strafford County, New Hampshire 28 September 1845 and was buried in the Nathaniel Caverly Family Cemetery in Barrington.

Nathaniel was a farmer. He and Abigail had eight children: Nicholas, Joseph, Nathaniel, Abigail, Ephraim, Catherine, Elizabeth, and Sophia.¹

Nathaniel died at the age of 81 years and 9 months of a brain fever epidemic that devastated the Caverly family in August and September 1845. His wife Abigail and grandson Nathaniel Caverly Jr. succumbed to the same illness.²

Below is an excerpt from the Journal of Reverend Enoch Hayes Place, a Free-Will Baptist minister and spiritual advisor to the Caverly family. Reverend Place attended the family and gave the sermon and eulogy at Nathaniel's funeral:

Tuesday, September 30, 1845: Preached at the funeral of Brother Nathaniel Caverly, in Barrington. Aged 81 years and 9 months. This is the third death that has recently taken place in this much afflicted family, which a few weeks ago consisted of eight: 3 dead, 2 removed to Lebanon, ME, and one of the 3 left Brother Nicholas Caverly sick with a fever.

Preached from 2 Corinthians 5 verses 6 through 8 to a multitude: ‘Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.’ Brother Nathaniel Caverly has been a good man and died well. Brother John W. Caverly died today, O where will this dreadful putrid fever end!!³

References:
¹ Nathaniel Caverly Family Bible, in the possession of Lynne Rhodes, a copy of whose records are in the R. Stanton Avery, Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
² William E. Wentworth, Journals of Enoch Hayes Place, 2 vols. (Boston, Mass.: NEHGS and NHSOG, 1998), 1:748.
³ Wentworth, Journals of Enoch Hayes Place, 1:748.