Cuthbert the Mariner was born in 1644 in what is now Cumria England, UK and arrived in Prince George's County Maryland US at the age of about forty-two with his family. This is about the time the spelling of the last name change again to Musgrove from Musgrave. He died shortly after arrival to America. He and his wife Dorothy had four sons, one of which was John Thomas Musgrove. In his book, "The Life and Times of Mary Musgrove", Steven C. Hahn wrote that John T Musgrove gained prominence as an Indian Trader among the tribes that inhabited the lower eastern seaboard from Maryland to Florida. Steven C. Hahn dedicated over a dozen pages of his book to listings of Archival Materials he used as sources to authenticate his book as factual. Although the Jones County Musgroves are not directly related to Mary Musgrove, we can gain some perspective about John Thomas Musgrove, the Indian Trader. John Musgrove was married to a Creek Indian woman and they had a son whom they named John Musgrove Jr. and he married Mary Musgrove the niece of a Creek Indian Chief; thus the connection. A considerable amount of John Sr's life was described in his book. Steven Hahn wrote, "John Musgrove Sr. was a prominent figure in turn-of-the-century South Carolina. Captain John Musgrove was English or possibly Barbadian by birth and probably came to the colony in the 1690s, after which he embarked on a successful career as an Indian trader and planter. Upwardly mobile in business, John Sr. was also upwardly mobile as a citizen, serving the colony as a militia captain (later, colonel), a member of the Commons House of Assembly, and a member of the Indian Trade Commission. That John Sr. prospered in the Indian trade indicates as well that he was a shrewd businessman, perhaps verging on the unethical. Musgrove was, in fact, among the most chastised Indian traders of his generation and was known to enslave free Indians to cover his debts and to use strong-arm tactics to compel his Indian clients to go to war. As the story goes, in December 1706 the Commons House of Assembly accused John Musgrove of seven different improprieties, one of which involved a man known as the "Tuckesaw Indian King". According to one story, Musgrove "threatened the lives of the Tuckesaw King and another Indian," demanding four Indian slaves. Musgrove wanted the slaves as compensation for his Indian wife, who the Tuckesaw King (his wife's uncle) had taken away. Musgrove and the Indian King reached a compromise by which Musgrove received in lieu of his estranged wife three Indian slaves."
After dispensing with his Indian wife, Captain Musgrove married a white woman named Margaret, who gave birth to a son around 1712. Improbably, Margaret and John named the infant "John Thomas Musgrove II, as if they intended him to replace his older half-Indian brother. When John Sr. died in 1719 it is clear that the English John Musgrove II became the primary beneficiary of his father's estate and several tracts of land in Craven County North Carolina totaling more than a thousand acres. English John later expanded his estate to include a tract of land on the Saluda River, and he survived at least to the year 1756. Captain Musgrove's descendants continued to inhabit that part of the colony, including Englich John's brother surveyor Edward Gordon Musgrove and his daughter, also named Mary, a Revolutionary War heroine". Edward Gordon a plantation owner in South Carolina and operated The Musgrove Mill where a strategic Revolutionary War Battle was fought. It is operated as a historic site and museum that I have visited. Genealogy gets a bit confusing since John Sr. had two sons both named John Jr. It is known that Indian John and his Indian wife Mary had three sons, however Indian John died and within a few years so did all three of their sons. " English John went on to became known as "The Tory". What exactly that meant I'm not exactly sure but leads me to believe he favoried the British. Non-the-less, he would be our 5x great grandfather so I shall not judge.