Martin and Janie Caudill's Family Bible

We recently had the opportunity to borrow and photograph family pages from the Caudill family Bible, which was originally owned by my husband's great-grandparents, then his grandmother, then his aunt, and which now belongs to his cousin. Although the Bible is quite fragile, we are fortunate that it was cherished and still exists. (1)

Family Bible of Martin and Janie Caudill  (Click to enlarge)

Martin Caudill and Janie Blevins were married September 16, 1894.

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They were the parents of fourteen children.

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Martin and Janie and their first nine children's birth dates seem to be recorded in the same handwriting and in the same ink. The next birth was in a different handwriting and different ink. This would suggest that Martin and Janie may have acquired their Bible between 1912 and 1913. Martin and Janie were both able to read and write, according to the census information recorded in 1910, 1920 and 1930.  (2, 3, 4)

The marriages of several of their children were recorded.

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Martin and Janie lived in Basin Cove in Wilkes County, North Carolina, until after the birth of their son, Mack, in 1908. (5)  They moved to Washington County,Virginia, where Martin was a laborer in a logging camp, prior to the birth of their daughter, Edna, in early 1910. The family returned to Basin Cove in 1915, and they were living there when the flood of 1916 washed away many houses and took the life of their young son, Cornelius, and also their daughter-in-law and her mother.

Several deaths are recorded in the Bible, including their daughter-in-law, two sons, and then their own deaths.

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My father-in-law recalls that each time one of his uncles or aunts needed to get a Delayed Birth Certificate, they would come borrow the Bible from his mother. And each time it was borrowed, it came back a little worse for the wear.

This Bible record is also most likely the source for Martin and Janie's birth, marriage and death dates as recorded on their joint tombstone at Walnut Grove Baptist Church. (6)

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1)  Caudill Family Bible Records, The Holy Bible, unknown publisher and unknown publication date, privately held by <name withheld for privacy> since 2002. Family pages were photographed March 2015.

2)  1910 U.S. census, Washington County, Virginia, population schedule, Holston Township, enumeration district (ED) 118, sheet Image 573, p. 12B, dwelling 227; digital images, \i Ancestry.com\i0  (www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T624, roll T624_1651.

3)  1920 U.S. census, Wilkes County, North Carolina, population schedule, Walnut Grove, enumeration district (ED) 188, sheet Image 630, p. 10A, dwelling 178; digital images, \i Ancestry.com\i0  (www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T625, roll T625_1329.

4)  1930 U.S. census, Wilkes County, North Carolina, population schedule, Walnut Grove Township, enumeration district (ED) 29, sheet 58, p. 1A, dwelling 8; digital images, \i Ancestry.com\i0  (www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T626, roll 1729.

5)  1900 U.S. census, Wilkes County, North Carolina, population schedule, Walnut Grove Township, enumeration district (ED) 161, p. 8b, dwelling 162; digital images, \i Ancestry.com\i0  (www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll T623_1224.

6)  Walnut Grove Baptist Church, Hays (Wilkes, NC; Cabin Creek Road), Martin and Jannie Caudill joint marker, photographed by Debbie Pruitt, Sept/Oct 2008.

Caudill Cabin

My husband and I went for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday, enjoying the fall colors. We stopped at an overlook in Doughton Park, which is part of the Parkway, to look down on the Caudill Cabin:

 

Caudill Cabin

 

My husband's grandmother, Phoebe Caudill, was born in this little cabin in 1904, the fifth child of Martin and Janie Caudill's fourteen children. The cabin was located at the upper end of a once-thriving mountain community named Basin Cove.

 

The cabin is located in the clearing in the lower left of the photo.



 

Now maintained by the National Park Service, the cabin can be visited by hiking from the nearest road (Longbottom Road in Wilkes County), and crossing Basin Creek about a dozen times, a distance of 4.8 miles. And once you arrive at the cabin, you must turn around and walk back out.

 

The Caudills and their neighbors traveled this same route on foot, horseback or wagon, reaching Longbottom Road and then traveling on to area general stores or the county seat in Wilkesboro. A school and church were located within the community.

 

Most of the homes in Basin Cove were destroyed in a flood in 1916 that occurred after the remnants of two hurricanes brought heavy rains to the area. The steep hills and saturated ground resulted in devastating landslides. Three people were killed in the July 1916 flooding, including Phoebe's younger brother, Cornelius Caudill, her brother Famon's pregnant wife, Alice Caudill, and Famon's mother-in-law. Alice's grave is alongside the trail as you hike in and out of the cove.

 



Alice Caudill's tombstone



The photo of Alice's tombstone was taken on an earlier trip, when we hiked to the cabin. We usually try to time our hikes when the leaves and snakes are fewer!

Descendants of Martin and Janie Caudill maintain a web page, Caudill Cabin, with some historic photos and additional information. Also, the Digital Blue Ridge Parkway's Driving Through Time site has several photographs taken in the 1940's.

Janie Blevins, wife of Martin Caudill

My father-in-law's grandmother (his mother's mother) was Francis Jane Blevins. She was called Francis, Frankie, Janie, Jane, and Frankie Jane, depending on which document you look at. She was born April 22, 1876, died March 20, 1933 and is buried at Walnut Grove Baptist Church in Hays, North Carolina, beside her husband, Alfred Martin Caudill, who she married on September 16, 1894.



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Martin and Janie lived in a small cabin at the head of Basin Cove. This cabin is now preserved as part of Doughton Park, which is part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It can be accessed by hiking four miles upstream from Longbottom Road in Wilkes County, NC, and involves crossing several streams.


Several of her children, including my husband's grandmother, were born in this cabin. Martin and Janie were once part of a thriving mountain community, largely wiped out during the 1916 flood, which took the life of a child, Cornelius Caudill, and a daughter-in-law, Alice, as well as Alice's mother.


Francis Jane Blevins, known as Janie by her descendents, was the daughter of James Harvey Blevins and Phoebe Holloway.