James Caudill Sr. Was born in 1720 in Surry Co., Va., d in North Carolina, m Mary Yarborough.  He was a son to the original Stephen Caudill from Scotland.  James Sr. Was my great great great grandfather.  Military records and tax lists were the main sources of information for researchers who are tracing family names.  Tax lists of the 1700s in Wilkes Co., N.C. have long been lost from the courthouse, but, according to Clayton R. Cox, General Lenoir obtained from the recorder certified copies of military recruiting, soldiers’ payments, etc.  This information is now housed at Chapel Hill, N.C.  From these unpublished papers and other source data, it has been determine that James Sr. Had 5 sons.

I.  JAMES CAUDILL and MARY YARBOROUGH CAUDILL
    Children:
1. James Caudill Jr., b 1753, in Wilkes Co., N.C., m Sarah James, a daughter of Rev. Ward James.  James Jr. And his brothers, Thomas and Matthew, left Wilkes Co. in 1789 to settle briefly in S.C.  Here James Jr. And Thomas were included in the 1790 District Census.  Matthew seems to have missed this headcount.  The 1793 tax list shows that James Jr. Was back in Wilkes Co. and Matthew was back by 1799.
   Based on available tax lists, James Jr., a Revolutionary War veteran, and his brother Matthew came to Letcher county, Ky. Between 1805 and 1810.  Stephen, another brother and veteran with James Jr., remained in Wilkes Co. through the 1810 census.  However he arrived later that year and was one of the organizers of the Indian Bottom Baptist Church 1810, and helped organize the ovenfork Baptist Church in Letcher Co. in 1820.  The majority of the Caudills in Letcher Co. today are descendants of James Jr. and his brother Stephen Caudill.  The Letcher Co. Caudills and Otto Burchett are away-down-the-road cousins.
         James Caudill Jr. And wife Sarah had a son named William Riley Caudill, b 1820, in Letcher Co., Ky., d about 1885, m about 1840, Sythie Combs.  William Riley was called "Red Bill".  There were so many Bills, a nickname for William, in Letcher Co. that they distinguished them by calling them Black Bill, short Bill, White Bill, Long Bill, Red Bill, Black Bill’s Bill, Short Bill’s Bill, Red Bill’s, etc.
   William Riley and Sythie had a son named Shadrack Thompson Caudill, b Apr 28, 1845, in Breathitt Co., Ky., d 1924, at Indian Fields.  Indian Fields was the last Indian settlement in Ky.  Shadrack joined the Confederate army and fought on the side of the South in the Civil War.  Ky. Was a divided state in that dreadful war that separated many families because some members of a family believed in slavery and some didn’t.  The northern states wanted to do away with slavery and the southern states wanted to keep the negros as slaves for free labor on their plantations.  The southern states tried to secede from the United States and have their own confederation of states and their own army.  This is what caused the Civil War.  Kentucky being a divided state meant in many families father fought against son and brother against brother.  The Southern soldiers were called "Rebs" (Rebels) and a common name was "Johnny Reb".  The Northern soldiers were called "Yankees" and the Southern people called them "Damn Yankees".  In 1865, Shadrack was mustered out of the Confederate army and soon married Susan Callahan Buchanan whose husband had been killed in the Civil War.  She was left with a plantation and 18 slaves.  The slaves loved their master so much they didn’t want to leave the plantation when all slaves were set free by the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln.
   Shadrack and Susan had a son named James Benjamin Caudill and he had a son named Rodney C. Caudill who was the father of Rev. James Herschel Caudill.  When Rev. James Herschel entered the ministry, his first pastorate was in Neon, Letcher Co., Ky.  Rev. James Herschel was kind enough to send me a lot of information about our Caudill ancestors.  I appreciate the help he gave me.
2.  Abner Caudill, b 1755, in Wilkes Co., N.C.  He remained in Wilkes Co. when his brothers, James Jr., Thomas, and Matthew left Wilkes Co. about 1789 to settle briefly in S.C.  We have no records of who he married or about his descendants, if in deed he had any.
3.  Thomas Aaron Caudill, b 1757, in Wilkes Co., N.C., d about 1847, in Simpson Co., Ky.
4.  Matthew Caudill, b 1760, in Virginia, d on Millstone Creek in Letcher Co., Ky., m Sarah Webb.  Matthew and Sarah had 4 children.  For more information see Chapter 3.
5.  Stephen Caudill, b 1763, in Lunenburg Co. Va., d 1839 in Perry Co., Ky., while on his way to a grist mill with a "turn" of corn.  He is buried 5 miles down the KY. River from Whitesburg near the Mouth of Dry Creek.  Stephen was a son of Rev. James Caudill Sr. who was [living person’s] great great great great grandfather.  [living person]was b Oct 23, 1963.  Stephen Caudill served three terms in the Revolutionary War.  He fought with his brother James Jr. At Kings Mountain and at Cowpens.  They were fighting a war against England to win their independence from their Mother Country.  Stephen moved from Va. to N.C. in 1780 and accumulated a great deal of land there.  He brought part of his family to Floyd C., Ky. in 1810.  In the fall of 1810, he was one of the founders of the Indian Bottom Baptist Church, and helped establish the Ovenfork Baptist Church in 1820 in what is now Letcher Co.  Stephen’s will, recorded in 1828 in Perry Co., Book B, Page 210, left his wife, Sarah, the farm for her lifetime, 2 sows, 1 pig, 1 horse, 2 cows, 20 hogs, 6 sheep, the farming tools, and household utensils.