Nathaniel Francis CABELL

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  General Notes:

Nathaniel Francis Cabell, b. at Warminster, Nel­son County, Va., July 23, 1807. "His father dying (June 25, 1809) when he was an infant, his religious education was entirely in the hands of his mother, who was a strict and exemplary member of the Presbyterian Church, which in those parts had already taken the place of the old Colo­nial Episcopacy." He graduated at Hampden Sidney Col­lege in 1825; at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., as B. L., in 1827; located in Prince Edward County, Va., 1827-1831; joined the Presbyterian Church, and soon thereafter, on September 14, 1831, married Anne Blaws Cocke. He had succeeded to the "Liberty Hall" estate in Nelson, and in 1832 he returned to his native place (though for several years he lived in Warminster, in the house previously occupied by Dr. William B. Hare), where he continued to reside until his removal to Bedford City.

"In various ways he gradually became acquainted with the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. . . . But it was to his intercourse with the late Richard K. Crallé, of Lynch­burg, a connection of his own, and the biographer of Mr. Calhoun, more than to any other circumstance, that he was disposed to ascribe his conversion to the new faith. He was, however, also strongly influenced by reading certain books, and by the example of several of his kindred. He withdrew from the Presbyterian communion February 26, 1837. His wife stood with him in this movement, and his family were brought up in the new views."

He published in the "New Jerusalem Magazine" a series of "Excerpts, or Readings with my Pencil," 1840-1842, and later on many other articles, contributing at the same time to the "New-Churchman"; was baptized into the New Church by Rev. Richard De Charms in 1842; wrote "An Article on the New Christian Church for Rupp's 'History of all Religious Denominations in the United States,'" published at Philadelphia, 1844, which was enlarged and republished at Harrisburg, Pa., 1847. He revisited his friends in Boston, Mass., in 1847, a visit which he always remembered with pleasure. His "Reply to Professor Pond's Review of Swedenborgianism, with a 'Preliminary Letter' by Richard K. Crallé," was published in New York, 1848, and the same year, in Philadelphia, "A Letter on a Trinal Order for the Ministry of the New Church," which was again published in 1857. He was once the Whig candidate to represent his county in the House of Delegates, but was not elected. He wrote divers "Essays on Agriculture," "The Black Race in North America," etc.; delivered an address at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857, on "The Progress of Litera­ture during the Preceding Century, when viewed from a Religious Standpoint;" edited the Jefferson and Cabell corespondence, 1857; rearranged and edited in part "The Lee Papers," portions of which appeared in 17 numbers of the "Southern Literary Messenger," 1858-1860; contrib­uted to the Memoirs, etc., of Professor George Bush, which were published in New York in 1860; compiled "The Triads of Scripture, containing more than Two Thousand Proofs of the Principle, deduced from Scripture," of which only the introductory chapter (pp. 36) has been published, Lynchburg, 1868. His "Theology of Paul" appeared as a serial, under the title "Horae Paulinae," in the "New Jerusalem Messenger," New York, 1873-1874. Al­though he wrote especially for the church of his adoption, he numbered among his attached friends many members of other organizations. From 1832 to his death, he took an especial interest in his family history, and compiled in manuscript the family memoirs, "Cabelliana," "Carring­toniana," etc. For twenty years he was my neighbor and my friend. His library and his manuscripts were always open to me. The last few years of his life were spent at the residence of his son-in-law, R. Kenna Campbell, in Bed­ford City, where he died, September 1, 1891. He was buried in the Cabell cemetery at "Liberty Hall."

Nathaniel married Anne Blaws COCKE. (Anne Blaws COCKE was born on 15 Dec 1811, died on 20 Feb 1862 and was buried in Nelson, Virginia, USA, "Liberty Hall Cemetery".)

Nathaniel next married Mary M. KELLER in 1867.