There are many thousands of people known by the name "Caudill"
and other variations of the spelling. There are at least 13 variations
of the spelling and pronunciation of the word Caudill, such as Caldwell,
Cauldwell, Caudell, Cordell, Cordle, Caudill, Caudle, Caudello, Caudillo,
Cordial, Caudil, Cadle, Cordillo. A record was found of one John
Cadle who lived in Glouchestershire, England, in 1187, and on Adam de Caldwello
in 1195. A Berea College Professor told me that Caudill was the name
of a specie of fish.
Clayton R. Cox, a noted writer and researcher of the origin
and history of the Caudill family name, says that by tradition the Caudill
name came from Scotland. Harry M. Caudill, University of Kentucky
professor, author, lecturer, and attorney, thinks the earlier origin is
Spanish. There was a predominant Cordillo family or clan living in
Madrid, Spain, in the 1500s.
The Spanish King wanted to wage a war against England.
He had a fleet of battleships made ready with their best guns-of-war and
other artillery, and highly trained marines and soldiers. Some of
the soldiers were very probably from the Cordillo families. In 1588
A.D. King Phillip II sent his fleet, called the Spanish Armada, into war
with England. The famous Armada was, in great part, destroyed by
the English fleet and by storms in the Coastal Isles of Scotland.
Many Spanish soldiers swam from the wrecked ships to the shores of Scotland
where they sought refuge. In the Spanish language, the word Cordillo
means leader, officer, or supreme commander. When the officials came
hunting for the leaders of the wrecked ships to punish them, each soldier
would point to another and say, cordillo! cordillo! meaning leader, leader,
he is the leader. The Cordillos in Scotland soon changed their Spanish
name by leaving off the "o" and spelling it Caudill. If the name
Caudill was first found in Scotland, and if the ancestors of the early
Caudills were Cordillos, then we might say that our clan started in Spain.
The Caudill clan seemed to be a roving people by nature.
They migrated from Scotland into England, Ireland, and finally to the New
World, America in the early 1600s. They intermarried with the Scotish,
Irish, and English people. This would make us Froghonary Caudills
Anglo-Saxon people with Scotch/Irish blood mixed with the Appalachian Mountain
people of Kentucky.
Christopher Columbus discovered the New World October
12, 1492, the day and month that brother Kelly was born in 1900.
Columbus was hunting for a new way to India. When he found land he
thought it was India so he called the people living there, Indians.
A century later, the people of Europe learned that the land that Columbus
found was not India but was really a new world. The New World was
named America after an explorer name Amerigo Vespucci from Portugal.
The people of England were ruled by a king. They
did not have religious freedom. They had to live by the harsh rules
of the king who told them when, how and where they could worship God.
When they heard about the new world they wanted to go there where they
thought they would have complete freedom to worship God according to their
own conscience. The first boat load landed in the New World in 1620.
They were called Pilgrims because they traveled so far. The boat
they came on was called "Mayflower".
The first "Caudills" were found living in Scotland. No
one knows whether any Caudills came on the Mayflower but by 1650 several
Caudills were found to be living in Virginia. Most of the people
who came to America to live were from England. The king wanted a
lot of people to go to America because he was interested in establishing
colonies and wanted to get possession of all the land he could take away
from the Indians. The people brought the English language and customs
to America and soon the predominant language of this country was the English
language and the people started calling it "Our Mother-Tongue Language".
I remember when I was in grade school on Froghonary the first grammar book
we studied was titled "Our Mother Tongue". That was when the McGuffey
Readers were used in grade schools; they were books full of good moral
lessons. Then by 1915 these books were replaced with books that were
full of fairy stories. That was a great mistake by my way of thinking.
This was probably the beginning of the fall of morality in this country.
Just compare the McGuffey Readers of yesteryears with what is being taught
today in our public schools.