#8 - James Cunningham: Only son of James and Pathiah [Standiford] Cunningham. He had six sisters. James' father had also been a mystery until recently. James, according to an account by my great-great-grandfather's brother, was a sea captain. That story had James Senior and Junior as interchangeable parts. That, I believe, was due, in part, to author Isaac Prall's age and mixed recollections of tales related by his mother and aunt.
James saw action along the Barbary Coast, was captured and imprisoned by pirates. He was released thanks to the intervention of a fellow Freemason or Redman. James reportedly died at sea after an assault on Gibraltar during a conflict with Spain. He was also a ship's captain during the War of 1812.
Since the elder James died at sea in the Caribbean in 1799, the "death at sea scenario" could be in error.
Isaac Prall had erred in reporting the name of the schooner upon which his grandfather met his fate, so it is reasonable to assume that there were several additional errors in his accounting of the Rhodes, Prall and Cunningham families.
It would be great to clarify the details of Captain James Cunningham.
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