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.