The Cavenaugh Family of Eastern North Carolina, 1790-1930: About Me
The Cavenaugh Family of Eastern North Carolina, 1790-1930
My name is J. Kevin Howard, and I began tracing my family tree about five years ago. It was the Cavenaugh family that first got me interested in genealogy, and they have since become my primary focus.

When I first started doing genealogy, I asked my great-aunt who the parents of my great-grandmother, Pauline Carter Mozingo, were. Instead of getting the simple answer that they were John and Betty Worley Carter, she told me that neither she nor her mother really knew who her parents were. I found out that my great-grandmother was orphaned as a child, and her foster parents, the Carters, never told her who her real mother and father were. From talking with my great-aunts, I learned that Pauline Mozingo thought her parents were Cavenaughs, and I set out to see if this was true. A basic search did not provide much information since my great-grandmother and her brother and sister were all born between censuses and first show up living with foster families. I realized that there were not that many Cavenaughs in Eastern North Carolina, so I figured it would be simple enough to trace all of the Cavenaughs and find out where Pauline fit in. I eventually narrowed her down to a particular line and then down to a particular father and mother, Benjamin Franklin and Addie Merritt Cavenaugh, and I have since found records to back up the connection. Having spent a decent amount of time tracing the other Cavenaughs, I became interested in their lives as well, and so I did not stop with finding out who my great-great-grandparents were.

Ever since I began working on my family tree, I have been interested in the larger picture, such as tracing an entire family or working on a particular region. This type of research can reveal patterns in naming, migration, occupation, and so on, while also showing how different even two siblings can be. It helps to put history into perspective and can also enrich the way we view the past and life in general. Although I have focused on the Cavenaughs, I have plans for similar projects on the Teachey, Mozingo, Elmore, Tyndall, Overman, Howard, and Carter families. There are also a number of other Eastern North Carolina surnames I am interested in, including Evans, Glover, Lucas, Moore, Owens, Radford, Rose, and Tilghman.

If you have any questions, comments, or corrections or just want to get in touch, click here to e-mail me.

I wish to thank all those who have helped and encouraged me: my great-aunts, Ruby M. Gurley, Jean M. Martin, and JoAnn M. Teachey; my mother, Janice O. Howard; and all of the other relatives and researchers, Frances B. Ballance, Caryn Hodges, Rodney G. Jordan, Kellon Maready, Jan B. Norwood, Diane Siniard, and Elsie C. Taylor. Finally, this website and all of my research is dedicated to my great-grandmother, Pauline Cavenaugh Carter Mozingo, and my grandmother, Margaret Marie Mozingo Overman.