Martin Bird Cawthon

Born possibly 1795 (see pension application notes below).

A pension application for service in the War of 1812 in the National Archives, Washington, D.C., shows: "On June 23, 1874 Martin B. Cawthon, aged 79, resident of Metcalfe Co., KY, says that his wife's name was Nancy Wlliot to whom he was married in Rutherford Co., TN on April 9, 1823: that he enlisted in Robert Carson's Company at Winchester, TN in 1814 and was discharged near Huntsville, AL in 1814 and that he served principally against the Indians in Alabama."

Martin Bird Cawthon lived to the ripe old age of 84 years. He died when lightning struck him. He was cutting the tops off of cornstock for fodder at the time. He is buried in the Old Cawthon Cemetery on Subtle Ridge, Metcalfe Co., KY. Mr. C. P. Cawthon of Greenville, FL, has told me about viewing the cemetery and Martin Bird Cawthon's resting place. It is designated by a mound of earth over his grave site.

There is an old saying in Metcalfe County, KY: "If you see a Cawthon, drop one shoulder down and walk stiffly. You've got two choices: Kill him or get out of his way." (One can easily tell a well-remembered feature of the Cawthons were their stubbornness and temper.)

Subtle Ridge, Metcalfe Co., KY was also known as Flat Rock or Cawthon Ridge. It was previously known as Callahan Ridge (that is the meeting of the south fork and middle fork of the Little Bend River). Martin Bird Cawthon owned the whole ridge up at the head. As of about 1900, there was a store there in Subtle, KY. Off to the left of this store is the Cawthon Cemetery where Nancy and Martin are buried.

Martin Bird Cawthon had two or three land grants, that is 3400-3500 acres. Martin had passed it on to his daughter, Jael, in his will. The son David took the situation to court, and the land was taken away from Jael.

After David Cawthon's death, his son John Calvin "Cal" Cawthon bought the whole thing, all 3400-3500 acres. There was wonderful timber there, poplar, oak and hickory. As farmland, it was not very fertile. It was high on the ridge, steep and poor. The land which Martin Bird Cawthon worked in TN and in KY were very similar; he had not bettered himself in the move, by obtaining more productive land.

Gladys B (Cawthon) Hughs sent her two daughters to college on a Cherokee Indian grant. She claimed that Martin Bird Cawthon was part Cherokee. She had her information on a cassette tape and the information she had came from an old 80-90 year old lady from Subtle Ridge, KY. This woman's story was that Martin Bird Cawthon's mother was Cherokee and that the mother's father gave her to a Delaware chief for sport. Martin Bird Cawthon was the result, supposedly.