Reverend James Sampson Caudill, I

Family Notes:

James Caudill was a minister at the Old Roaring River Baptist Church in Wilkes County, North Carolina.

James Caudill appears on the Lunenburg County, Virginia tax list in 1752. He disappeared from Lunenburg County, VA and appeared on the Tax List for Granville, NC in 1769 and 1771. He appeared on the Rowan County Tax List in 1778 and was listed as a tithable in Rowan County, NC. A tithable was a male of military age.

(Source: terry4526)

History of Indian Bottom Church

The following is from the 1974 Thornton Union Association Minutes:

Indian Bottom Church 1810-1974

The early settlers who came to Letcher County from Virginia and North Carolina were mostly deeply religious people, who came here to this beautiful country where they might worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences and to start life anew in this "Happy Hunting Ground." You might say they came here carrying the Holy Bible in one hand and the Kentucky rifle in the other.

The first church to be established in Letcher County was the Indian Bottom Church, established in 1810, one hundred and sixty-four years ago. In the fall of that year (1810) a little band of Regular Baptists, numbering about twenty, met at the home of Isaac Whitaker, near the home of Ance Cornett, about two miles up the Kentucky River from what is now Blackey, near a bottom known as Indian Bottom, so named because Indians had camped there and many Indian artifacts were found there. There this little band of Christians organized the Indian Bottom Church.

For ten years or more prior to this time, settlers had been traveling into these hills to find homes for themselves and their children, getting away from the more despotic rule of some of the colonies farther east. Among the first was John Adams, together with his five sons and two daughters, and other kindred, who settled near the mouth of Bottom Fork in the year 1800. James Caudill coming up the Kentucky River, settled near the mouth of Frank's Creek, and nearby, settled James Webb, about the same time. Stephen Caudill, with his family and some of his kinsfolk, settled near the mouth of Sandlick Creek a year or so later, while Isaac Whitaker and John Dixon and others, settled near the mouth of Rockhouse Creek. Others came in the year 1810. There was then about 100 families in what is now Letcher County. These settlers had come in from Virginia and North Carolina, some direct, while others had stopped for a while in what is now Whitley County, and then came on into this section.

These settlers had not more than settled down, until they were desirous of worshiping the One who had preserved them and brought them hither. No doubt letters were sent, inviting preaching brethren back in the land whence they had come, to visit them, and, anyway, we find in the year 1807, one Electious Thompson, a Baptist minister, preaching among these people. Elder Thompson had formerly lived in North Carolina, and had come into this state perhaps first into Madison County, thence to Montgomery and Morgan, and then to Floyd County in 1805. In the year 1808, he settled near the mouth of Rockhouse and constantly preached among the first settlers.

Elder Thompson was the first ordained minister in what is now Letcher County. Then in the year 1809, Elder William Saulsberry came into this section from the Beaver Valley, preaching in company with Elder Thompson.

Perhaps had requested him, as he had lived in the same section where Elder Saulsberry had lived in North Carolina, and had been in meetings before.

These two ministers, together with Elder Simeon Justice, another noted Baptist minister, who then lived at the mouth of Mud in Floyd County, constituted the presbytery that organized this Indian Bottom Church. These ministers were from the North District Association, which had been organized the first Friday in October 1802, at the Unity Meeting House in Clark

County. The North District and the South District Associations, being a division of the South Kentucky Association, which was organized the last Friday in October, 1787, at the Tates Creek Meeting House in Madison County.

These Heralds of the Cross were men of great zeal and ability. They were earnest men, and feeling called to preach, gave themselves wholly to the work, their time, talents and life. They did not shrink from their work, but endured the hardships and fatigue, going through winter's cold and summer's heat, they labored for souls, and today our churches are monuments of their piety and zeal.

Some of the members organized into this Indian Bottom Church were James Webb, and Benjamin Webb his son, who lived over on Cumberland River; John Adams, who lived at the mouth of Bottom Fork; Electious Thompson; John Dixon, Isaac Taulbee, who lived near the mouth of Rockhouse; James Harris, who lived on Rockhouse Creek; Benjamin Adams, another son of John Adams; Stephen Caudill, and his wife Sarah Caudill, who lived at the mouth of Sandlick Creek; Rachel Adams, who was the wife of Benjamin Adams; Mathias

Kelly and his wife Amey Kelly, who lived on Cumberland River; James Caudill and Mary Caudill, his wife; Benjamin Caudill, son of Stephen Caudill;

Spencer Adams, another son of John Adams; Isaac Whitaker, who lived near the mouth of Rockhouse Creek; Archelous Craft, who lived on Craft's Colly; Isaac Taulbee and John Bunyard. Electious Thompson was chosen pastor and Isaac Whitaker, clerk of this church.

These settlers had brought their letters from the churches to which they belonged back in the colonies from whence they had come, and thus were

organized into this new church. Some had come from North Carolina, where

Baptist churches had long before been organized by Baptist preachers from

Virginia and Pennsylvania, while some had come from the eastern settlements

of Virginia, belonging to the older churches of that colony. Most of them

had come from churches in the Holstein Association and Mountain Association,

and some churches in the North District Association.

The Indian Bottom Church prospered. Its membership by 1815, is shown in the record as 70, but in this year 41 members lettered out to form the Sandlick

Church, and they were called together on the 13th day of August, 1815, at

the home of Stephen Caudill near the mouth of Sandlick Creek, and there were

organized into the Sandlick Church, so named for Sandlick Creek, nearby.

This same presbytery, Elder Electious Thompson, Elder William Saulsberry and Elder Simeon Justice, also organized the Sandlick Church, and on October 21, 1820, an arm was given off the Sandlick Church to form the Ovenfork Church.

In 1811, the Indian Bottom Church was received into the Washington Association, which consisted of churches lying in Southwest Virginia. The record shows that the Washington Association met in 1811 with the North Church in Washington County, Virginia, on the third Saturday in October 1811, and states that the Indian Bottom Church asked to be received into that association, and the delegate from Indian Bottom was Electious Thompson, and that the church was received. Again, in 1812, 1813, and 1814, the Indian Bottom Church sent delegates to this association. In 1814, a letter of dismission was asked by the church at the hand of her delegates, who were Electious Thompson, Spencer Adams and James Harris, and the request was granted. The Association met that year with the Castlewoods Church in Russell County, Virginia, and the same year the Indian Bottom Church petitioned admission into the Burning Springs Association and was received by them. The Burning Springs Association met that year with the New Salem Church in Floyd County. In 1815 and thereafter regularly the Indian Bottom Church and the Sandlick Church lettered to the association. In 1825, when the New Salem Association was organized, both churches were in the new association.

These churches moved along very well. The records show that in the year 1842, the Indian Bottom Church had a membership of 40, and the Sandlick Church 42. Regardless of distance these churches were represented each year in the far distant association, most of the time by its ministers. The Indian Bottom Church remained in the New Salem Association until the year 1876, when the Sandlick District Association was formed and it remained with that association until the Indian Bottom Association was formed in 1895.

In 1876, Elder James Dixon was elected Moderator of the Indian Bottom Church and Brother John W. Dixon, elected Clerk. They each held these positions until their death - John W. Dixon in 1902, and Elder James Dixon in 1914.

Arthur Dixon

(Source: Dave_Milburn)

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http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/e/f/Rick-Heflin-Ohio/W...

James Caudill (son of Stephen Caudill and Mary Elizabeth Fields)630, 631 was born 1720 in Lunenburg, VA or Scotland632, 633, and died Aft. 1787 in Of Wilkes Co., NC634, 635. He married Mary Yarborough on April 23, 1753 in Wilkes, NC636.

More About James Caudill and Mary Yarborough:

Marriage: April 23, 1753, Wilkes, NC.636

Children of James Caudill and Mary Yarborough are:

+James Caudill, b. 1753, Wilkes Co., NC636, 637, d. May 30, 1840, Blackey, Letcher, KY638, 639.

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Source:

http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/websites/index2.php?username=dnhrose&p...

JAMES CAUDILL (1720 - 1805)

James Caudill (son to Stephen) married Mary Yarborough on 1 Jan 1749. Together James & Mary had ten children.

John 1751 Lunenburg Co., VA

David ? Lunenburg Co., VA

James Jr. 1753 Lunenburg Co., VA

Stephen 1763 Lunenburg Co., VA

Benjamin 1755 Lunenburg Co., VA

William 1765 Lunenburg Co., VA

Thomas A 1757 Lunenburg Co., VA

Jesse 1770 Lunenburg Co., VA

Matthew 1760 Lunenburg Co., VA

Abner 1775 Wilkes Co., NC

James appears on the Lunenburg Co., VA tax list in 1752 and disapeared from it and appeared on the tax list for Granville, North Carolina in 1769 and 1771. In 1778 he appeared on the Rowan Co., NC tax list and was listed as a tithable (a male of military age).

The Wilkes Co., NC census in 1784 listed James Caudill (wife Mary Yarborough) at age 60. On the 2 Nov 1784 he bought 140 acres from Benjamin Morgan for 50 pounds. (Wilkes Co., NC Deed Book A-1 Page 452) This land was on Sandy Creek, near the Fork of Brush Creek on the Middle Fork of Roaring River. The Roaring River splits into three streams in the northern part of Wilkes Co., NC. This split is south of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

James Caudill was a minister and the minutes of the Old Roaring River Baptist Church list he and his wife (Mary Yarborough) as members in the 1780's and 1800's. He died in North Carolina and is probably buried in wilkes Co., NC.

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Notes for James Caudill, Sr.: James appears on the 1752 Lunenburg County, VA, Tax List which would indicate he was 21 years old, or older, being of military age. The 1784 North Carolina census states he was over 60 years of age thus born before 1724. Neither James nor his sons are listed in the 1782 Wilkes County, NC, Tax List, yet his sons, James Jr. and Stephen served in the Revolution from Wilkes County in 1780. A James Coddle bought 140 acres on November 2, 1784, from Benjamin Morgan for 50 pounds (Wilkes County Deed Book A-1, Page 452). The land was located on Sandy Creek, near the Fork of Brush Creek on the Middle Fork of Roaring River. It ran west to Hamons Creek including an improvement made on this land by Henry Gambrill. The following minutes of the Old Roaring River Baptist Church of Wilkes County, NC, may apply to James Caudill, Sr., and his wife Mary, or it is possible that it applies to his son James Caudill, Jr., and his wife Mary:

• Saturday ye 12th of July 1787: The Church setting to order Bro Thomas Morgan & Sister Morgan joined by letter and also Bro James Caudill joined by experience.
• Saturday ye 8th of September 1787: Also the Church setting to order and etc. As also the Church recvd Bro James Caudill into fellowship and he was Baptised.
• Saturday ye 13th of July 1788: Also Sister Mary Caudill joined by experience and Baptism.
• Saturday ye 12th of August 1790: The Church setting in Order the Church thought proper to deny James and Mary Caudill Fellowship for telling big storys such as Church could not credit and then refusing to hear Church.
• Saturday ye 12th of August ????: The Church setting in order, and etc. Also the Church delt with Bro James Caudill for saying he read three chapters by head and that he thought he could read the Testament without the book, and that he retained that notion for near twelve months, the church could not disprove, and so concluded to lay it over and look to the Lord and try to get better satisfied. On November 3, 1799, James Caudill, Sr., "for goodwill he has for his son Abner Caudill" deeds his 140 acre tract on Sandy Creek of Roaring River. Matthew and Stephen Caudill, witnesses. Just when and where James and Mary died is not known. It is believed James probably died and is buried in Wilkes County, NC.

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• Residence: Wilkes County, NC - 1787
• Residence: Wilkes, North Carolina, United States - 1790
• Residence: Morgan, Wilkes, North Carolina - 1800
  • Updated from MyHeritage Family Trees via son Benjamin Caudill by SmartCopy: Oct 13 2015, 13:13:03 UTC

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Information obtained from "The Caudills, an etymological and ethnological study, uncovering the true origins of the Caudill name & family. " By Lochlainn Seabrook, 2003

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@R1050076933@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

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GEDCOM Source

@R1050076933@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

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Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=101506137&pi...

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GEDCOM Source

@R1050076933@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=101506137&pi...