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(It is to be noted that a Thomas L. James ("Thomas James") married a Fanny Cavender on June 5, 1824 in Perry County, Indiana, and in 1820 was living in Clark County, Indiana.)

Apparently French General Marquis de Lafayette had been invited by President Monroe to tour the country and let the people show him their gratitude for his assistance during the Revolutionary War. Evidence from 3 eye-witness accounts of the wrecking of the steamer "Mechanic", sometimes referred to as the "Lady Franklin',' when it sunk in the Ohio River after hitting a sand bar and with French General Marquis De LaFayette aboard which was gathered by Bert Fenn of Tell City, combined with 2 news items in the Cannelton Reporter in 1861 and in 1864, together with a bit of Ohio River tradition, yields the following sequence of events on the night of either May 8, 1825 or May 9, 1825, the wooden steamer "Mechanic" under the command of Capt. Wyllys Hall and piloted by Capt. Wilson H. Daniel ("Wilson Daniel") left Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee with General LaFayette on board. It came up the Mississippi River and entered the Ohio River traveling upstream after dark and during a rain and bound for Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky on May 8, 1825 maintaining a course toward "Sugar Loaf Rock". This rock was located in the river on the Indiana side just upstream from the present locks and have been variously named "Lady Washington", "Lady Washer", "Elephant Rock" and "Elephant Butt". It was, and remained until its destruction in the 1970's, a traditional steering guide for larger river craft bound upstream. From this rock, boats then steered for the Kentucky side of the river to the opposite side to take advantage of the usually stronger current on the inside of a bend in the river. Soon after attaining this latter course around 50 feet from the Kentucky bank at the site of Cannelton, the boat hit a snag concealed in the 18 foot deep water and sank. The snag was a large tree which had been uprooted from some upstream point nearby and deposited at this point, a common hazard in the 19th century Ohio and Mississippi River steam boating. The offending tree limb punctured the fore hull of the boat which immediately began taking on water but did not sink completely. No lives were lost. Dramatic rescue efforts saved the lives of all on board except for Lafayette's pet dog. In spite of the intermittent rain, the party was able to build several fires on the bank and spent the remainder of the night there. Only a part of a mattress which had previously been salvaged, provided a resting place for General Lafayette, then nearly 68 years old, together with an improvised umbrella shelter. After daybreak, a cabin was sighted on the Indiana bank and was owned by James Cavender who was only about 20 years old, and had just recently left his parent’s home and built a log cabin for himself next to the Ohio river. There being apparently no dwelling nearby on the Kentucky side, Lafayette was rowed to this cabin for shelter from more threatening rain. The above "Cannelton Reporter" printed the following article on August 30, 1860:

"The log cabin 3 miles above Cannelton, in which General Lafayette took shelter for a night in 1824 is still standing. The General was a passenger on the ill-fated Lady Washington which was wrecked on a rock bow bearing that name, but a short distance from the cabin. The cabin was the residence of James Cavender, Esq., who took the illustrious stranger to his home."

According to "Lincoln's Youth, Indiana", pp 149, one of the most famous river disasters had occurred above Troy in the spring before Abraham Lincoln began working on the river. In May of 1825, the Marquis de LaFayette, on his triumphal tour through the United States aboard the steamboat "Mechanic", the boat became stuck on a sandbar and LaFayette spent the night in a log cabin near Rock Island in Perry County, Indiana shore belonging to James Cavender who held a kind of reception for the neighbors the following morning. Several neighbors walked the 6-8 miles from their homes to meet the General The next morning the General was picked up by the steamboat "Paragon" and taken to Louisville. On February 24, 1939, Beulah H. Gray ("Beulah Gray") wrote an article in the Jasper Herald, Jasper Indiana in which she stated that she had a piece of timber (probably cypress wood) taken from the wrecked remains of the steamer "Mechanic" on which General LaFayette was traveling at the time it sank. However, it is known that the "Mechanic" was refloated, repaired and used for 2 more years until it was wrecked on the Missouri River in May 1827.

Joseph Cavender and Clara Hoskinson Cavender had 5 children: