COLONIAL CHESAPEAKE FAMILIES British Origins and Descendants

About the Book

This history began as a small pedigree assembled as a birthday gift for my late father-in-law, Colonel Henry Perkins Gantt (1894-1983) of Holly Rod, Gloucester Point, Virginia, on his 72nd birthday, 29 April 1966. With continued research over the past 47 years, it has grown to encompass the history of nearly the complete descendants of Thomas Gantt (ca. 1634-1692), transported to Maryland in 1654, and his second wife, Ann Fielder (ca. 1662-1726), through at least the first six generations, and, in many lines, extending down through the eighth and succeeding ones as well. In a project of this enormous size and scope, there are bound to be errors and omissions that the author leaves to future historians of the family to correct, as well as to extend and continue the narrative. Where critical, probative information is sourced to original archives, but the sheer volume of data makes this by necessity incomplete.

About the Author

Dwight Cavanagh was educated at MIT, Johns Hopkins (MD) and Harvard (PhD). During a forty-year career as an eye surgeon, visual scientist and educator he has served on the Medical Faculties of Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Emory, Georgetown and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He currently lives with his wife Lynn Gantt Cavanagh and black Shih Tsu dog named Kobo Daishi in Dallas, Texas and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. He has had a lifelong interest in poetry, philosophy, Japanese culture and Zen.