| Notes |
- William Cain was married prior to marrying Sarah (Sally ) Linam. The name of his first wife is unknown at this time, (possibly Bethsheba from Virginia as stated in a letter from Mrs. L. W. Erath to Wanda Linam Perry) but he had two children by his first marriage, William Cain II and Barsheba Cain. William Cain II married Mary Odil daughter of Ann Linam and Thomas Odil. Barsheba Cain married William (Billy) Linam son of Maurice Linam and Mary Jones Linam.
William Cain died on July 25, 1795 but his will was probated in July 1796 in Edgefield County, South Carolina.
THE HISTORY AND STORIES OF THE FAMILY BY MALCOLM E. LITTLE written in 1955: Sent to me by Jack and Eleanor Lotz: The Cain Branch "My father was James Cain Little, his given names being those of his maternal grandfather. My grandfather, Robert Patterson Little, married Elizabeth Cain, a daughter of James and niece of Elisha (children of William Cain and Sarah Linam). We know more about the latter because he was on overseer for the Telfairs of Savannah Georgia on their Jefferson County plantation, and his reports have been published in part. (See Plantation Slavery in Georgia, by Flanders.) Flanders believes that Elisha was far above the average of overseers, although Phillips in his numerous histories lists a number of "second sons" of plantation owners who were overseers for relatives or friends; and a family of great wealth, as were the Telfairs, would demand a highly efficient overseer.
The two brothers started with little or nothing; but that James prospered is shown by the fact that when my father was three (in 1849) his grandfather gave him a "certain Negro girl, named Caroline, eight years of age." (See original bill of sale) At that time a healthy Negro girl was worth Five Hundred Dollars, or more - the equivalent of a new Chevrolet in the present market.
The first story I have heard about the Cains centers around William Cain who, during the Revolutionary War, lived in South Carolina. Official records show that he enlisted in the Colonial Army in 1776, and after a few months disappeared from the rolls of the company. This is the only evidence to support the family tradition as to subsequent events. It is said that he enlisted in the army and during an engagement with the enemy was wounded and captured. The next four or five years were spent on a British prison ship. No word coming from him, his wife assumed that he was dead, and accepted her widowhood - an Enoch Arden divorce without the benefit of the courts. A neighbor fell in love with the widow and a marriage was planned, during the festivities, and the stories made it sound like a typical Irish wedding, William the lost husband appeared at the door. The story, as I got it, was discreetly silent as to whether he appears before the ceremony or afterwards. He was pale and thin and the widow did not recognize the emaciated individual, nor would she admit that he was the vanished husband. "But," she is suppose to have said "my husband has a scar on his knee that I would recognize." The intruder rolled down his stocking and pulled up his knee britches and there was the scar - indubitable evidence. The festivities were ended; the prospective bride groom moved out; and Mr. Cain moved in.
Col. James Cain (my grandmother's brother and for many years a Lawyer in Louisville) wrote that William's first wife having died, he married Sarah Linam "after the Revolutionary War" As the two sons, (James and Elisha) were born in 1792 and 1794, the fact appears accurate. The family story is that Mr. Cain died and Mrs. Cain was left with two young sons and no money. Whether the move to Georgia was made before or after Mr. Cains death was not told me (Mr. Cain did in fact die before the move to Georgia as he is buried in the Cain cemetery in South Carolina, Joan Linam); but the widow, then living in Jefferson County, found herself in desperate financial straits. One night the two boys, then about 10 and 12 years old, slipped out of the house and later returned with a pig. Asked where they got the pig, they admitted having stolen it from a neighbor who had plenty. They had always heard that a stolen pig would bring good luck; and actually they had only "borrowed it," because when it produced they intended to return a pig with interest. Thus, according to the family, was laid the foundation for the future success of great-grandpa James and Uncle Elisha.
Of one thing may be sure; Elisha showed too much education and general knowledge in his reports to have been the product of an illiterate family, and James writing shows a practised hand. They must have attended one of the schools run by their more opulent neighbors. The wealthier families had governesses and tutors, as did the Edgeworths; less well to do families combined and built a school centrally located, and hired a teacher. The Littles and Pattersons were in this group.
My paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Cain, was sent to college in Athens Georgia. As she was not more than fourteen years old at the time the "college" could not have been more than a junior finishing school. There she was a school-mate of the Cobb girls and others of the "social elite". It was there, so she claimed, she learned to "dip snuff" - a charming habit that followed her through life, and of which I was thoroughly ashamed as a child. Miss Mildred Rutherford, a leader of the U. D.C, a writer, and an Old Guard Southern Grand Dame, strenuously denied, when I mentioned this to her, that her mother, a Cobb, ever used "the filthy stuff." However, the habit was widespread in the Thirties of the last century. (Notes from Joan Linam "Remember this family history by Malcolm Little was written in 1955")
Grandma Cain finished "college" and was engaged to a Mr. Patterson, who died; she then was courted by my grandfather, and married him when she was sixteen. Life moved at a rapid pace in the horse and buggy days.
My only recollection of her is a large, stout, elderly woman dressed in black, respected and loved by all the adults and held in awe by the grandchildren. When she came for visits, usually for long periods, she sat at my father's right in the family circle around the fireplace, and knitted socks with numerous steel needles, a large ball of white cotton thread lying on the floor beside her. An ancient yellow cat that my father liked, not infrequently rolled it away; and in retrospect, it seems to me that I spent half my evenings crawling under the center table to recover it. (When not occupied by the ball of thread, the cat walked around Grandpa Fleming who rinched its tail; the cat meowed; then walked around the chair to be pinched again. I have not since liked cats.) As of today I am certain that it was always I who held the hank of cotton thread while she wound it on a ball; and I always began to itch, and was always told not to wiggle.".... My mother had a deep affection for Grandma and often said that in her eyes her daughters-and-sons-in-law were always right, and that it was she who was always first to defend a grandchild.
She was seventy-seven when she died in 1900. She had produced a large family and her grandchildren are well scattered around the country.
These notes from the writings of Malcolm E. Little were sent to me by Jack and Eleanor Lotz
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1749 - 1795 (46 years)
