Caldwell’s of Cataloochee Family History

The history of the Caldwell’s of Cataloochee begins with Henry Caldwell, who was born 1759 in Pennsylvania.  The name of Henry’s parents are unknown, but believed to be Thomas Caldwell, who settled on the waters of the Buffalo Creek in Tryon County in 1769.  Henry Caldwell first shows up in the records of Lincoln County, North Carolina, when he purchased 100 acres of land on the waters of Mountain Creek in 1798.  He sold this land in 1804 and moved his family to the Sandy Mush area of Buncombe County, North Carolina.

Henry Caldwell bought 100 acres of land on Cataloochee Creek in Haywood County, North Carolina in 1814.  No record has been found to indicate that he ever lived in Cataloochee Valley, but the land was used as a crude camp for herding cattle.  Henry also bought 100 acres of land on Sandy Mush Creek in Buncombe County, where he lived until 1828, when he moved his family to Spring Creek in Buncombe County, now a part of Madison County, North Carolina.  Henry Caldwell, age 91, was living with his son, Daniel Caldwell and his family, in Buncombe County in 1850.  Date of death and burial site for Henry is unknown. 

James Caldwell (son of Henry Caldwell), his son Levi B Caldwell, and a friend, Young Bennett, went into Cataloochee Valley and started clearing the land that Henry Caldwell had purchased in 1814.  They built two log cabins, then went back to Spring Creek for their families.  In 1842, James Caldwell, Levi B Caldwell, and James Plemmons bought 1000 acres in Cataloochee Valley.  James Plemmons later gave his part of the land back to the Caldwell’s, making them a major land owner in the valley.  In 1850, James Caldwell, his sons, Levi B Caldwell and Henry Elzie Caldwell, were living next to each other in Big Cataloochee.

Levi B Caldwell and his wife, Mary Ann Nailon, raised twelve children in the log cabins in Cataloochee.  As the children grew and married other families in the Valley, it was split into three communities: Big Cataloochee; Little Cataloochee, and Caldwell Fork.  By 1910, there were approximately 1200 people living in Cataloochee Valley.

In the 1900’s, a movement was started to form the Smoky Mountain National Park.  Since Cataloochee would be a part of the park, the land owners agreed to sale their land or was forced by condemnation.  Families return to Little Cataloochee Baptist Church for a homecoming in the Spring, and to Palmer Chapel in Big Cataloochee for homecoming in August.  The spirits of our ancestors can be felt when the descendants return to the valley.

In the early 1800’s, another line of Caldwell’s moved into Haywood County, NC, and settled in the Jonathan Creek community, and are referred to as the Jonathan Creek Caldwell’s.  Autosomal DNA test are suggesting that the Cataloochee and Jonathan Caldwell lines are related.  The test are also showing dna matches to the Caldwell’s of Lincoln, Catawba, and Cabarrus Counties in North Carolina, and other Southeastern states in the U.S.