A Caudill Line in Nine Generations
A paternal line is the simplest kind of pedigree — father to son to son — and the easiest place to see how unevenly the evidence falls. Here is one documented Caudill line traced across nine generations, spanning birth years from about 1610 to 1922. It ends with a name many readers will recognise, and it is honest at every step about how well each link is actually proven.
Where the line ends
The ninth generation is Harry Monroe Caudill (1922–1990) of Whitesburg, Letcher County, Kentucky — the lawyer, legislator and author best known for Night Comes to the Cumberlands (1963), the book widely credited with drawing national attention to the Appalachian coalfields.
The nine generations
Read top to bottom, earliest ancestor first; each generation is the father of the next. The "evidence" column is the key to the whole thing — it says how the birth link is sourced, not just that a name exists.
| Gen | Name | Born | Died | Evidence for the link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Caudle | c.1610, England | 1653, Scotland | Derivative (Ancestry trees) — unproven |
| 2 | James Caudle | 1641, Ayrshire | 1684, Virginia | Weak online source — unproven |
| 3 | Stephen "Cawdle" Caudle | c.1685, colonial Virginia | 1759, Lunenburg Co. VA | Derivative + family compilation (the 1731 land patent) |
| 4 | James Caudill Sr. | 1720, old Surry Co. VA | 1805, Wilkes Co. NC | Derivative compilations |
| 5 | James Caudill Jr. | 1753, Lunenburg Co. VA | 1840, Perry Co. KY | Original — census & Find A Grave (8 sources) |
| 6 | Stephen Caudill | about 1793 | 1839, Letcher Co. KY | Birth not yet sourced |
| 7 | Henry R. Stephen Caudill | 1837, Kentucky | not recorded | Original — 1900 census |
| 8 | Cro C. Caudill | 1892, Kentucky | 1957, Harlan Co. KY | Original — 1900–1940 census (4 sources) |
| 9 | Harry Monroe Caudill | 1922, Whitesburg KY | 1990, Whitesburg KY | Public biography (derivative) |
Where the line is strong — and where it is thin
Of the eight father-to-son links, most are recorded but only a few are backed by an original record (a census, a grave marker). The line's strength is not uniform:
- Solid (original records): the census-era core — James Caudill Jr. (b.1753) down through Henry R. Stephen (b.1837) and Cro C. (b.1892) — is anchored by federal census enumerations and grave indexes.
- Recorded but derivative: the colonial top — Stephen Cawdle (c.1685) and James Sr. (1720) — rests on family compilations and the 1731 Virginia land patent. Real leads, not yet original-record proof.
Thin and unproven (the deep British end): the first two generations — Thomas Caudle (c.1610) and James Caudle (1641, Ayrshire) — come only from user-submitted online trees. This is the same unverified deep branch discussed in the origins post: a "Sir Thomas" figure and a Scottish birth that the careful record does not support. They are shown here for completeness, clearly labelled, and should not be taken as fact.
The open items
Two specific gaps are worth naming, because naming them is how they get closed:
- Stephen Caudill (b. about 1793) — his birth has no source attached yet. A Letcher County record would anchor him.
- James Caudle (b.1641) — his death is unsourced (and his very existence in this line is part of the unproven deep branch above).
That is what an honest lineage looks like: a strong, original-sourced trunk through the Kentucky census generations; a derivative-but-plausible colonial neck; and a deep British head that is frankly a legend until a record says otherwise. The progenitor Stephen Cawdle and that British name-history are taken up in the migration post and the origins post.
Sources
- U.S. Federal Census, 1900–1940 (Letcher & Perry counties, KY) — original records for James Jr. (b.1753), Henry R. Stephen (b.1837), and Cro C. (b.1892).
- Kentucky, Find A Grave Index; Kentucky Death Index, 1911–2000.
- Caudill Reunion / Caudill DNA Project — colonial records for Stephen "Cawdle" Caudle (the 1731 land patent); WikiTree (derivative).
- Ancestry "Family Data Collection" and member trees — for the colonial and (unproven) deep-British generations, clearly labelled derivative.
- Published biography of Harry M. Caudill (1922–1990), Whitesburg, KY — author of Night Comes to the Cumberlands (1963).
Part of an ongoing, source-disciplined family history. Each link is graded by its evidence; the legendary deep branch is labelled as such. Corrections welcome.