Mary Cabell (oldest child of Dr. William Cabell) and William Horsley Sr. had four children: William, Robert, Elizabeth (Robert’s twin), and John. Both parents died in 1760, leaving the children orphaned—William about 15, the 11-year-old twins Robert and Elizabeth, and John about 8. Little is known about the Horsley family, but they lived at their plantation home, Centre Hill, which Dr. William Cabell deeded to the three sons after their parents’ deaths. In his diary, William Cabell Sr. noted that all three Horsley brothers resided together on this 1,575-acre tract, located about twenty miles south of the Cabell family home, Liberty Hall.

William Horsley (born about 1745) served as a third lieutenant in the 1st Rifle Company of Amherst and trained with the Amherst County minutemen in April, May, July, and September 1776. He married Martha Megginson (1745-1793) prior to 1768 and had 10 children.  He died in 1791 at the family home in Gladstone.

His brother Robert Horsley (born 1749) served as a militia lieutenant in 1778 and was active with the minutemen in the war. In November 1775, Robert trained with Nicholas Cabell at Afton, marched to Williamsburg, and fought at Great Bridge; he continued training with the Amherst militia under Cabell at the recorded musters throughout 1776 (March, April, May, July, and September). Robert married Judith Scott (1750- )prior to the war in 1771 at his Uncle Joseph Cabell’s home, Winton. He died at the age of 37 in 1786 leaving no children.

John Horsley (born 1752) began as a private in Capt. Nicholas Cabell’s company of minutemen in Mar 1776, served as a sergeant in 1776, became a militia lieutenant in 1778. He married Fannie Starke (1749 – ) about 1780 and had four children.

Works Consulted
  1. Brown, Alexander. The Cabells and their Kin: A Memorial Volume of History, Biography, and Genealogy. Richmond, Va.: Garrett and Massie, Inc., 1939. First published 1895.
  2. Nance, Joanne Lovelace. “Revolutionary War Minute Men.” Magazine of Virginia Genealogy 31, no. 4 (November 1993).
  3. Sweeny, Lenora Higginbotham. Amherst County, Virginia in the Revolution: Including Extracts from the “Lost Order Book” 1773–1782. Lynchburg, VA: J. P. Bell Company, 1951.