John Breckinridge CAUDILL

1870 - 1947  (76 years)

• Name	John Breckinridge CAUDILL  [1]
  Birth	11 Mar 1870	Letcher Co., KY   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	24 Feb 1947	Stroud, Lincoln Co., OK   [1]
  Person ID	I8480	Rootballs
  Last Modified	10 Jan 2015

  
  

  Father	William J. CAUDILL,   b. 05 Jul 1827, Letcher Co., KY d. 26 Nov 1908 (Age 81 years)
  Relationship	Natural
  Mother	Nancy DICKSON,   b. 19 Apr 1830, Letcher Co., KY d. 31 Dec 1899 (Age 69 years)
  Relationship	Natural
  Marriage	07 Feb 1847	Letcher Co., KY   [1]
  Family ID	F2381	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Polly Ann SMITH,   b. 14 Dec 1873, Hazard, Perry Co., KY d. 11 Dec 1947, Cushing, Lincoln Co., OK (Age 73 years)
  Marriage	06 Oct 1895	Perry Co., KY   [1]
  Family ID	F3241	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 Jan 2015

  
  

• Notes

  1.John was probably named for the Kentucky statesman, John Breckinridge. Austin Stalford of Del City, OK, a great grandson, furnished this account of the family's move west and their early life in Oklahoma. "John was born in Letcher Co., March 11, 1870. He was from a family of about 15 children, he being the youngest child of William J. and Nancy (Dickson) Caudill. At age 25, John married Polly Ann Smith, a daughter of Newton and Elizabeth (Combs) Smith. Polly was from a family of seven children, the others being: Hendrix, Dora, Rachel, Louis, Thornton, and Margaret. Polly's brother, Hendrix, married Dorcas Southers, a daughter of W. H. and Martha Southers. Dorcas was from a family of four children, the others being: Lou, Sylvester, and Hattie. In the fall of 1906, the families of John Caudill, Newton Smith, Hendrix Smith, and W. H. Southers decided to sell out and travel to Oklahoma Territory for their future homes. These families were farmers in Letcher Co., KY, for several years. They either owned or rented land for farming or grazing. They owned their own farm equipment to raise grain and hay for livestock and table use, and to plant and work their garden. In November of 1906, they put their land, homes, farm equipment, livestock, furniture, etc., up for sale. After the sale they boarded a train for Oklahoma Territory, bringing with them only their clothes and some bedding. On December 6, 1906, the train arrived in Davenport, Oklahoma Territory. The town folks of Davenport were in shock to see so many people get off the train at one time and particularly at this time of the year. That night they all stayed in the Davenport Hotel. Early the next day they bought cotton sacks for those big enough to pull a sack, and off to the cotton fields they went to pick cotton. "John Caudill and family settled on 160 acres of rent land northwest of Davenport. Newton Smith and family bought 160 acres east of Davenport. W. H. Southers and family bought 160 acres north of Kendrick, Oklahoma. Hendrix Smith and family moved in with Newton Smith. "They bought a heater and cooking stove, and just enough other essential household goods to get by. They had a hard time that winter. By spring they had bought horses and enough farming equipment to farm the land. They just could get enough dry beans, sugar, flour, meal, oatmeal, pure lard, coffee, soda, baking powder, and Vanilla, if they were lucky. By summer, John Caudill had bought a milk cow, yearling calf to be butchered later that fall, hog and chickens. John raised cotton, corn, wheat, and sugar cane. He bought a sorghum mill, a grinder so he could grind his corn meal, wheat for flour, and to mill the sugar cane for sorghum. Polly and the children helped plant and worked the garden. They would plant everything from A to Z. They bought quite a few fruit jars. By fall these jars were full with canned vegetables from the garden and wild fruit. Chickens would lay eggs most of the year so they could have fresh eggs on the table. John would milk the cow, which afforded them milk, butter, cheese, and cream by use of the separator. In early winter the hog and calf would be butchered for meat during the year. Meat from the bone and intestines from the fresh hog would be used to make soap. Polly and the children would make soap from the fat, water and lye in a large black kettle. They would boil it until it got thick, then let it cool and harden. After it was cold they would cut the soap into bars. This lye soap they would use for dishes, clothes, hands and for bathing. John was a blacksmith. He could repair anything around the farm. Polly would raise her own chickens and she had an incubator which was run by a kerosene light. You had to put water in a pipe that run through the incubator. The lamp kept the water hot for 21 days, and pretty soon you would have young chickens. The eggs had to be turned each day. They were marked with an "X" on one side and "O" on the other. If the eggs were not turned for even formation of the embryo, the chicks would be crippled. Polly sold eggs and cream to buy staple foods, clothes, etc. John liked to fish and would work five days in the field, take Polly to town on Saturday, and on Sunday in the summer he would go fishing. In the winter they would make taffy candy, pop corn balls, and ginger bread from molasses. Polly washed on a wash board. She'd put white clothes in a big black kettle to boil them in lye soap so they would come out white. She would then wash them again and then rinse in clear water. John rented several different places before buying a school lease of 160 acres about 1916, two miles south of Baker School. John lived here and farmed this land until his death, February 25, 1947. Dewey and Ventice, sons of John, took over the operation of the farm until 1957. At that time they had a farm sale, selling out the land and everything on the farm".

  
  

• Sources

  [S143] Caudill, B.K.