Mark Anthony

Marcus Antony, a merchant of Genoa, Italy, moved to Holland in the 1600s. When his son, later known as Mark Anthony, was old enough to leave home, it was his father’s desire that he be educated in Italy. Apparently, the young Mark disliked school, so he and a companion ran away to sea. Barbary pirates waylaid his ship and he was sold into slavery in Algiers.

The two companions were put in chains and made to cut wood in a forest. This was their opportunity. Depending on the version of the story, they bashed in the head of either their master or the guard with an axe and hid in the wood.

Finding a hidden boat, they paddled out to sea and were rescued by a British ship bound for Virginia. They persuaded the captain to hide them in a large barrel under some sacks of coffee. When the Algerians boarded the ship, in search of the runaways, but they were not found.

Once in Virginia, the captain sold the youths into indentured servitude to pay for their voyage. Mark Anthony worked off his debt for three years. Once he was free, he became a prosperous planter and married Isabella Hart. Their son, Joseph Anthony, married Elizabeth Clark (whose sister Rachel was an ancestor of Samuel Clemens – Mark Twain), daughter of the illustrious Captain Christopher Clark and Penelope Johnson.

Joseph Anthony and Elizabeth Clark had fourteen children, two of whom are Cunningham ancestors – Joseph Anthony, Jr. and Agnes Anthony. Joseph, Jr. married Betsy Clark. Their son Micajah Anthony married Rebecca Williams. They named their son Matthew Jouett Williams Anthony after Rebecca’s father Matthew Jouett Williams. Meanwhile, Agnes Anthony married Churchill Blakey. Their daughter Elizabeth Blakey married Thomas Roberts. Ann Blakey Roberts, their daughter, married Matthew Jouett Williams Anthony. Thus Ann B. Roberts and Matthew J. W. Anthony were second cousins. The Anthonys, led by their matriarch, Quaker preacher Elizabeth Clark Anthony, settled in Wilkes County, Georgia in the late 1700s or early 1800s. Matthew J. W. and Ann Roberts Anthony eventually ended up in Madison County, Georgia, either because they moved or because Wilkes County was divided and their land became part of Madison County. Their daughter, Mary Anne Penelope Anthony, married Johnson Franklin Cunningham and settled in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. Around 1880, Johns and Mary moved to Denton County, Texas with several of their children. Among these was Amos Blakey Cunningham, the grandfather of our "Papa," Udell Cunningham.