Nancy was born on June 6, 1819 in Stokes Co., NC, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Jeans) Hunter. Her family came west to Lone Jack, MO in 1835. Nancy was "a very great lady" (or perhaps her mother was), according to one of her descendants, "who arrived in a beautiful horse-drawn carriage with a matched pair of horses".

Nancy was married September 6, 1836 in Lone Jack to John S. Cave, son of Bartlett and Jenny (Snow) Cave. They bought land three miles southeast of the little village in October and became farmers. Their first child, Elizabeth, was born the following year. They did well and were able to buy additional land in 1839. They would eventually raise a family of nine children.

The Civil War Battle of Lone Jack was fought in August 1862. A biography of daughter Matilda Reid giving additional details of Nancy's wartime experiences appeared in a 1938 newspaper:
"As with many folks of today, Mrs. Reid's greatest experience was when she was a child during the Civil War. She accompanied her Mother to Kansas City with a wagon load of marketing. They drove a team and unloaded near the river where the old Grand Avenue depot later stood. They spent the night in a home in Westport. Kansas City was in its infancy then. A detachment of Union soldiers was camped in Westport and it was not safe for men folks to go to market...
Mrs. Reid heard the battle of Lone Jack which took place seventy-six years ago today, Aug. 16, 1862. She is one, of only a very few who survive to tell that story today. The horses ran from the battlefield into the yard of the Cave home. It was a sad sight to see those frightened animals trying to find safety from battle.
It was the first battle that Mrs. Reid's brother, Gus, fought in."

For the rest of Nancy's biography until John's death, please follow John's link.

For the story of what happened to the family during the Civil War and how and why John was murdered in 1863 by Union troops, I recommend Larry Sullivan's website. In particular, read his story "The Exile of Nancy Cave."

http://erazone.com/family/family.htm

http://erazone.com/family/exile.htm

Nancy and her children camped in Johnson county that first night. They soon settled near the town of Dover, whose people tried to take in as many of the homeless they could. In November, her last child was born, a boy whom everybody called Willie. They still had their ox team and raised a crop in the spring and were able to slaughter a pig.

They return to home in the fall of 1864 and found everything at their farm untouched, even the beds still made. They settled back on the family farm for awhile, but Nancy was forced to sell it in 1866 to settle the estate of her late husband. She and her children moved in nearby with her father John Hunter, her mother Elizabeth, and sister Berilla. Sometime later, they rented a small farm and cabin north of Lone Jack. There they remained until the children were grown and had families of their own. Bitterness and revenge killings continued many years after the end of the war.

1870 Jackson Co., MO census, Lees Summit PO, p. 138
[next door to Bird Snow and other relatives]
Nancy Cave, 51, $2,400, $700, NC
Mary J., 28, MO
Susan F., 24, MO
Matilda, 19, MO [future husband Joseph K. Reid is nearby]
Beulah, 14, MO
Barton, 11, MO
William, 7, MO

Nancy finished raising her and John's family. By 1880, the children were all grown and settled and Nancy moved in with her father to help her unmarried sister, Berilda, care for him and for companionship in her own old age.

1880 Jackson Co., MO census, Van Buren township, pg. 180C
John Hunter, 92, retired farmer, NC VA VA
Barilla (dau.), 41, keeping house, NC NC ,C
Nancy Cave (dau.), 61, NC NC NC

By 1882, Nancy had moved in with her daughter Berilla and her family in Warrensburg, Missouri. She died there in December of 1905 at the age of 87. She was brought back to Jackson county for burial in the Lone Jack cemetery. At her graveside, her son-in-law Noah Hunt sang the hymn that her husband John had used to sing so often:

"Go on you Pilgrim, while below
in this your path of peace,
determined nothing else to know
but Jesus and his grace."

Obituary from Oak Grove Banner, Friday, December 22, 1905:
"She was born in 1818. Mrs. Nancy Cave, a former resident of Lone Jack, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Eli Simmons, in Warrensburg, December 15, 1905. She was 86 years, (ink spot) months and 9 days old and was a native of North Carolina. Her maiden name was Hunter, and her father was born the year in which George Washington was inaugurated president of the United States.
In 1831, Mrs. Cave, then a young girl, came to Missouri with her parents and located in this county, which had only been organized seven years. In 1837, the subject of this sketch was married to John Cave, who was also a native of North Carolina. Ten children were born to this union, six of hom are now living as follows: Will Cave, of Lone Jack, Mrs. J.K. Reid, of near Blue Springs, Mrs. John Porter of Kansas City, Bart Cave of McCracken, Kansas, Gauis Cave, of Arizona, and Mrs. Eli Simmons, of Warrensburg. Mrs. Cave also leaves 47 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
Mrs. Cave's husband was one of the six men who were massacred on the 6th day of September, 1863, by a company of Kansas Redlegs belonging to Colonel Clark's regiment. The brutal killing occurred near Lone Jack, and among the number were Benjamin Potter, 75 years old, and Andrew Owsley, a boy of 17. They had taken no part in the war, but were known to be Southern sympathizers. All the men were preparing to leave the county in order to comply with the infamous Order No. 11.
Mrs. Cave had been a member of the Christian Church for 63 years. She was a splendid woman. The internment occurred at Lone Jack on Sunday. A talk was made by her old neighbor, Noah Hunt."

A biography of daughter Matilda giving additional details of Nancy's wartime experiences appeared in a 1938 newspaper:
As with many folks of today, Mrs. Reid's greatest experience was when she was a child during the Civil War. She accompanied her Mother to Kansas City with a wagon load of marketing. They drove a team and unloaded near the river where the old Grand Avenue depot later stood. They spent the night in a home in Westport. Kansas City was in its infancy then. A detachment of Union soldiers was camped in Westport and it was not safe for men folks to go to market.
When Order No. 11 was given, her father with several other families in the Lone Jack community had their wagons loaded ready to leave the county, when the Union army came by and took captive six of the men, her father, John Cave, and his wife's two brothers, Bill and Dave Hunter, his nephew, Andy Ousley, and two neighbors, Ben Potter and Cal Tate. These six men were found shot to death 2 ½ miles south of Lone Jack, five in the road where they fell and Dave Hunter in the timber nearby.
This was a terrible tragedy in the lives of these mothers and helpless children, left alone to make their way to a new home, compelled to go by Order No. 11. There was no time to take the bodies to the cemetery and no one to dig a grave excepting grandpa Hunter, father of the slain Dave and Bill and father-in-law of John Cave.
Grandpa dug a shallow grave on the old Roup farm, now the Phillips farm. Quilts were placed in the grave with pillows for the heads of the six dead men, who were laid side by side and covered with Mother Earth. Later a concrete wall was built around the grave and a monument placed there and a deed made to this sacred spot to relatives of the dead.
Jane Cave and Patsy Potter found their dead loved ones when they went in search of a horse that had been taken away from Jane.
Immediately after the burial of the six men their families started on their sad journey, obeying Order No. 11, leaving their loved ones and homes.
They camped in Johnson Co. the first night. They settled near Dover, where two months later a son was born to the widow of John Cave, on November 6, 1863. He was named Willie. They remained here one year, where Mrs. Cave and her daughters raised a crop with the help of their ox team and the neighbors, who were very kind to them. They killed a wild hog with the help of their dog and used the hog for food.
After a years absence, they returned to their old farm home near Lone Jack, and found it undisturbed, even a bed they had left in the home was still like it was when they left it.
Mrs. Reid heard the battle of Lone Jack which took place seventy-six years ago today, Aug. 16, 1862. She is one, of only a very few who survive to tell that story today. The horses ran from the battlefield into the yard of the Cave home. It was a sad sight to see those frightened animals trying to find safety from battle.
It was the first battle that Mrs. Reid's brother, Gus, fought in. Her cousin, Bart Cave, owned the hotel in Lone Jack. The soldiers set the hotel on fire. Mrs. Bart Cave and her babe and Mr. Cave's mother were taken from the burning hotel and laid behind a big log for protection. When Mrs. Bart Cave raised up to nurse her baby, a bullet struck her in the breast. She died from the wound three weeks later.
A wounded Union soldier was left at the Jake Bennett home for three weeks and was cared for by Mrs. Reid's two sisters, Mrs. Bennett and Susie Cave."

Children:

1. Elizabeth Goode Cave, b. 31 Aug 1837, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; m. 4 Oct 1857, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO to Jacob W. Bennett [b. 12 May 1833, Knoll Co., Ohio; d. 28 Dec 1912, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; son of George Bennett]; she d. 1880-1883, Lone Jack; buried Lone Jack cemetery.

2. Mary Jane Cave; b. 2 Jun 1840, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; m. 1876, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO to Thomas A. J. Faulkenberry [b. 20 Dec 1844, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; d. 7 Jun 1912, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; son of Thomas Faulkenberry of TN and Martha Wright of TN]; she d. 13 May 1896, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; buried Lone Jack Cemetery.

3. Algius T. Cave "Gaius", b. 1 Jun 1843, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; m. 1869, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO to Amanda Missouri Potter [b. 24 MAR 1845 in Bedford, IN; d. 8 Apr 1916, Tempe, Maricopa Co., AZ, daughter of Benjamin Potter and Mary Hays]; he d. 2 Aug 1930, Long Beach, Los Angeles Co., CA; buried Westminster Memorial Park, Orange Co., CA.

4. Susan Frances Cave, b. 2 Sep 1846, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; m. Mar 1877, probably Jackson Co., MO to Sidney Milton Simmons [b. 12 Apr 1853, KY, son of Madison Simmons and his wife Sarah L. Botts]; she d. 1889, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; buried Lone Jack Cemetery, Jackson Co., MO.

Susan's sister Berilda married Milt's brother, Eli Simmons.

[She was not the same Susan Cave who m. 1866 to David Nesmith [b. 1830 VA; d. 1900, Sequoyah Co., OK], who d. 1897, upper Northwest corner of Arkansas.]

5. Allie [Ella] Evaline Cave, b. 22 Aug 1848, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; m. 17 Nov 1867, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO to John C. Potter [b. 12 Mar 1840, Bedford, Lawrence Co., IN; d. 10 Apr 1889, Lone Jack, MO; son of Benjamin Potter and Mary Hays]; she d. 3 Mar 1923, Lone Jack, MO; buried Lone Jack cemetery.

6. Matilda Ann Cave, b. 23 Nov 1850, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; m. 23 Oct 1870, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO to Joseph K. Reid [son of Joseph and Lucy Ann (German) Reed]; she d. 4 Mar 1938, Tarzana, Los Angeles Co., CA; buried Lone Jack cemetery.

7. Berilda Temple Cave, b. 3 Mar 1856, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; m. 13 Mar 1879 to Elijah Simmons, [b. 1851, MO; d. 26 Apr 1924, Johnson Co., MO; the son of Sidney Madison Simmons and Sarah Botts]; she d. 13 Mar 1922, MO; buried Lone Jack cemetery.

8. John Bartlett Cave, b. Feb 1859, Lone Jack, Jackson Co., MO; m. 5 Aug 1886, Independence, Jackson Co., MO to Virginia Sims [b. Sep 1851 VA; daughter of Mary ____ b. Jan 1828 VA]; he d. 1925, Ellis Co., KS.

9. William J. Cave , "Willy", b. 6 Nov 1863, Dover, Johnson Co., MO; m. 12 Feb 1890, Independance, MO to Mattie Shawhan [b. 6 Jul 1860 KY; d. 22 Apr 1934, Lee's Summit, Jackson Co., MO; buried Lee's Summit Cemetery; d/o William Shawhan of KY and Eliza Lloyd]; he d. 6 Jan 1946, Kansas City, Jackson Co., MO; buried Lee's Summit Cemetery.