Larkin Cardin Story_Page_1

Madisonville, Monroe County, Tennessee Newspaper feature story called Homefolks Dated December 2003found by cousin Nelda Cardin Goins in November 2009.

Great-grandson inherited Kin's traits

Descendant of Larkin Cardin says he admires his ancestor

Enjoyed his Liquor, Whisky, Tea and “Pulling Leg”

HE CAN'T READ or WRITE, but he is tremendously proud of his great-grandfather Larkin Cardin, and he can spin yarns about the Monroe County pioneer that make the person hearing them almost wish that Larkin was ¬their ancestor.

Larkin grew up with a father who was a shrewd business man, a father who enjoyed his liquor including hot toddy; a mixture of hot tea, honey, lemon and whiskey. The Revolutionary War or no, they would not have given up their tea. They may have grown their own, ¬used herbal tea or sassafras tea, but they would not have given up tea. They took afternoon naps, after which it would be teatime.

Teatime included food and talking, the Cardin’s were big on talking. Certain occasions meant only one thing to a Cardin, talking ¬and telling stories. Teasing or pulling someone's leg and relating the latest gossip.

 

CARDIN GOSSIP

In the Cardin Family it would be hard to decide who was more gossipy, the men or the women. The Cardin’s had a keen sense of humor and never missed an opportunity to use it. A proper tea would have been served, using things having belonged to ancestors.

Arts of blacksmithing & Violin

Larkin's father taught him the art of blacksmithing, just as his father had taught him. Larkin's father also taught him to play a violin as his father had also taught him.

Broidery, Hope Chests & Dowry

Larkin's sisters would have been taught to set a proper table and serve a proper tea. His sisters would have been instructed in broidery and would have spent many hours perfecting it. Each girl would have received a hope chest between the ages of six to eight-years-old. Each girl would have spent her single years filling the chest, in part with assorted linens that she would have embroidered and monogrammed with her initials. This would have been part of her dowry. None of the girls would have dreamed of marriage without a proper dowry, and her linens ¬and embroidery would warm her soul and fill her with pride until the day she died.

 

Education & Shrewd Businessman

LARKIN RECEIVED AN education and he in turn ¬became a shrewd businessman. He was stingy and was I said to have the first dollar he ever made. He supplied his families’ needs and doled out money as needed, but no one in the family ever knew where he kept his gold hidden.

Sugar Cane, Popcorn, Watermelon & Lullabies

The Cardin’s specialized in the growing of their weak¬nesses of sugar cane, popcorn and watermelon. Of course, they also grew other crops.

Every evening they would pop popcorn in the fireplace. The family would sit around the fireplace and talk, sing and play musical instruments. Children were lullabied to sleep by violin music. As chil¬dren, some Cardin’s ruined their teeth by chewing on sugar cane. In a business deal no one ever came out on top, except for Larkin Cardin, unless his son, Jordan Cardin, succeeded a time or two.

Of course, Larkin taught his sons blacksmithing¬ and violin.

 

Larkin Reaches Forward In Time to the Great Depression

JORDAN CARDIN (1820 to July 14, 1842 Monroe County, Tn, 6th child of Larkin Cardin & Elizabeth Sentell, wife was Nancy Jane North) TAUGHT his son, John Leonard Cardin (June 1862 to Feb 5, 1926 wife was Sarah Elizabeth Massengale), and he taught grandfather, Harvey Johnson, the arts of blacksmithing and violin. The blacksmithing saved my grandparents during the Depression. In a way, it is like Larkin reached forward in time to teach succeeding generations.

Ice-Skating Cardin Winter Pastime

In winter, when and where a Pond, Lake or River was frozen over, the Cardin’s were ice-skating. Each family member owned his or her own pair of ice skates.

Christmas Special Cardin Holiday

Christmas was a big holiday for them. Maybe it was a German influence. (Larkin’s wife, Elizabeth Sentell, was of German descent. She was born in Halifax North Carolina on March 1, 1787 and died March 17 1866 in Monroe County, Tennessee.). Every year they had a very special fruitcake. It took a full year to properly prepare it for the event. The fruitcake had to be properly wrapped and tightly stored. Then for a full year liquor would be poured over the fruitcake until moist, then checked often, and more liquor poured on. After a year, one whiff was enough to knock a person out. No one could wait for a slice.

 

Voices Into a Whisper

IT IS A FACT that Larkin Cardin owned slaves, as many as 40 at a time. I wish this had not been so, but it was. The only thing worse than a slave owner is a slave trader. My Cardin’s would lower their voices into a whisper while putting a hand to the side of their mouth to whisper that Larkin had been both. Some Cardin’s never touched the sub¬ject.

I would like to get this out in the open and find out more about this. I am so sorry that any ancestor of mine would do such a thing in Monroe County, Tennessee.

THE “BIGHOUSE”

Larkin's house was known as the "big-house”. The Cardin’s had a yearly reunion there. I was told that we have Black ¬Cardin relatives and I would like to meet them.

GRAVE DECORATION

Once a year, my grandmother made cemetery rounds to decorate graves. Several times I went with her. There was a small Cardin cemetery and in this small cemetery were tomb¬stones and in one connected area, there were fieldstones. My grandmother said the field¬stones marked the graves of Cardin slaves. I used to stand there and wonder what they looked like, what their names were, how they died and how old were they when they died, whether they left descendants and if they knew where their ancestors were buried and how I could let them know. I always felt a special marker should be put there and I won¬dered how many were field slaves or house slaves and how many were relatives?

LARKIN’S HOUSE TORN DOWN

I have a picture in my head of Larkin's house. It stood until about the 1950's. I think.

It was torn apart carefully, piece by piece, looking for Larkin's lost gold. My uncle so went there looking for Larkin’s gold.

THE MYSTERY OF LARKIN'S LOST GOLD

LARKIN CARDIN never allowed any family member to know where in the house he kept his gold hidden. He had house servants (slaves) who the Cardin’s talked about as if they were family. They always said the servants knew far more about the family than the rest of the family and no secrets could escape them.

Civil War: Larkin hanged but is saved by Slave

One day during the Civil War period, a slave warned Larkin that Union Bushwhackers were riding to the house.

Larkin told his family and his slaves to go hide in a cave on his property. Larkin being as stubborn as he was stingy, said he was staying with the house to protect his gold. Later, when the bushwhack¬ers left, everyone came out of the cave and made their way back to the house. A slave was the first person to find Larkin hanging from the attic rafters and saved his life by cutting him down. I was told that Larkin lived some weeks or months after this. Larkin had been hung by the bushwhackers to force him to reveal the whereabouts of his gold. He never did tell them. I was also told that after the hanging he could not talk but when asked where the gold was hidden, pointed to the fireplace in the parlor.

Larkin Cardin died in 1866 just after the Civil War ended. He was 84 years old, born in Goochland, Virginia and lived from 1782 to November 16, 1866. In 1868 Larkin’s son Jordan Cardin was appointed administrator to the Larkin Cardin estate.

Slaves Leave and Larkin’s Ghost Haunts His Home

As soon as Larkin died the slaves all ran away. The family searched and searched for the gold. The house was lived in continuously by Cardin’s until it was torn down. However, as soon as Larkin died, the occupants were awakened every night by a loud thump coming from the attic. It sounded like the thump Larkin's body had made by hitting the floor when the slave cut the rope that had been thrown over an attic rafter and stretched about Larkin's neck.

THE CARDIN RESI¬DENTS of Larkin's house were soon scared and suffer¬ing from disturbed sleep. The attic was on a landing at the top of walk upstairs. The door was a keyhole door. In the process of investigating the source of the noise the attic was completely sweep clean. Not even a piece of paper remained in it. The door was locked for good with the in¬tentions of never ever entering the attic again. The thump¬ing continued and the family had to live with it.

The Cardin’s could only reach one conclusion as to the source of thumps. It was Larkin Cardin's ghost. Every¬one whoever spent a night in Larkin's house heard the thumps. And the thumps con¬tinued until the house was torn down.

Larkin Cardin’s Family Among Earliest Monroe County Settlers

The Larkin Cardin family was among the earliest settlers of Monroe County, first buying land which had previously been the reservation of Bell Rattle, a Cherokee Indian. This Indian reservation was located on Cain Creek in what is still known as Bell Town, hence the name.

Larkin Cardin’s petition to the Tennessee State Legisla¬ture is shown on page 122 of Volume I, Part 1 of this his¬tory.

 

Larkin’s Parents were Robert Carden born Goochland City, Virginia 1742 and died Monroe County, Tennessee 1848 and Elizabeth Robards born 1742 in Goochland City, Virginia and died Monroe County, Tennessee in 1847. The name is spelled ‘Carden’, but most present day families (including ours) spell the name ‘Cardin’. Our first Cardin ancestors to arrive in America were Robert Carden born 1630 in Hackney, Middlesex England and died in 1684 in Rappahannock, Virginia and Robert’s wife was Elizabeth Moss born 1634 England and died 1688 in Rappahannock, Virginia. Currently our earliest known Cardin ancestor is John Carden 1575 in Carden, Cheshire, England and died in Isle of Wright, Virginia and wife M. Hedger born 1578. Our Cardin family at this date in 1575 therefore originates from Carden, Cheshire, England. Future DNA testing of a Cardin male Y-chromosome would take us earlier in time.

 

 

Larkin gave each of his eleven children a quarter section of land, a cow and a team of horses when they married and began a family of their own.

He owned forty slaves and when the Yankee soldiers tried to hang him during the Civil War to take his money, it was one of his slaves that cut him down and saved his life.

He also owned and operated a blacksmith shop on his farm in the Ball Play area of Monroe County.

 

 

 

1868 Jordan Cardin was appointed administrator to Larkin Cardin deceased. Will of Larkin Cardin

 

Larkin Cardin Will in Bk. A, Pg. 175 I, --being old, my wife dead, and having eleven children--. To be buried by my wife. To son James J. and to dau. Patsy Erwin the lands they live on. To son Robert H. NWQ or Section 15. To son Jones land where he lives. To son Leonard land where he lives. To dau. Caroline Evans, Nancy Morelock all that Morelock owed me for land, and also $50.00. To dau. Edaline Ellis land where she lives. To dau. Hetty Heflin $800.00. Some property to be sold and divided between James Cardin, Abner Ervin, Robert Cardin, Jonas Cardin, Leonard Cardin, Caroline Evans, Jourdin Cardin, Nancy Morelock, Washington Ervin, B.D. Ellis, and Leander Heflin. Execs. James, Leonard, Jordan Cardin. Wits. Larkin F. Cardin, F.M. Bradford, Francis M. Satterwhite. Exec. 3/17/1866. Codicil 11/16/1866. Redivision of lands to children. Wits. W.J. and L.F. Cardin. Codicil #2 not dated--Some land to R.H. Cardin. Wits. Benedict Ellis, David Baker. Probated Dec. 1866.

Larkin Cardin had a brother, Leonard Cardin, who, accord¬ing to his will found in court records, was old in 1854. He stated that his second wife was Sintha and that their children were: Catherine Cardin Clowers, Leonard and Joseph Callaway Cardin.

His first wife’s children were John, Paly, Reuben Adeline, Larkin, Malinda J. Cardin Case, Alfred, Andrew and James Cardin.

Leonard Cardin stated in his will that his children by his second wife were to have his land when they came of age. The children of his first wife had already received their share.

The executors of his will were his second wife and son, Larkin Cardin. The witnesses were Larkin Cardin, Jr., Leo¬nidas Taylor and Jacob F. Peck.

 

Leonard Carden here is the brother to our Larkin Cardin and father of Larkin F. Carden

Will of Leonard Carden

Leonard Carden, was born in 1780 in Virginia. He died in 1857 in Monroe County, TN. He married Tabitha Peace (1793-1847). They had the following children: Paty Polly, Andrew, Adaline, Reuben A., James M., Catherine, John L., Alfred, Malinda J., Larkin F., Adria, Joseph C. and Amos. Sometime before 1850, he married Sintha Henson who was born in 1822 in Buncombe County, N. Carolina. She died in Monroe County, TN. Children of Leonard and Sintha were: Leonard, Caroline, Andra A., Sarah, Joseph Callaway, and Stonewall Jackson.

Leonard's will is dated 6 Dec 1854. See History of Monroe County, TN. Vol.

#3, by Sarah G. Sands, (DPL G976.8888S221hi).

His will is in Will Book "A", Monroe Co., TN.

"In the name of God amen, I Leonard Carden being old but of sound mind and memory knowing before long shall have to die I desire to make this my last will and testament revoking all others. Item 1st I give my soul to Almighty God who gave it to me, and my ...to be buried...my surviving friends and all my debts paid and all that is due me collected.

Item 2nd John Carden, Paty, Rueben, Adaline, Larkin & Malinda Case, Alfred Carden, Andrew Carden, and James Carden, all those are my first wife's children and I have given to them each what I have allowed them.

Item 3rd To my wife Sintha I give to her all the land that I own and all the property that I am possessed of except one cow and calf during her life in widowhood, and for my wife to give to each of her children one cow and calf, one bed and furniture as they get free and leave her.

Item 4th I give to Catharine Clauers one cow and calf and her bed she has got.

Item 5th I give to my son Leonard Carden one half of my land when he comes of age and the other half to Joseph Calloway Carden when he comes of age and their mother is still to remain on the land as above mentioned. I want that if my wife shall die before my youngest son comes of age for my executor to rent out his part of the land for him till he comes of age and let him have the profits for which I appoint my wife Sintha and my son Larkin Carden my executors hoping they will discharge their duty as such. In witness thereof I have hereunto set my hand and fix my seal this the 6th day of December 1854.

his

Leonard X Carden

mark

Larkin Carden Junior

? Taylor

Jacob F. Peck

 

 

This Larkin is the nephew of our Larkin Cardin. His father Leonard was our Larkin’s brother.

Larkin F. Cardin, a stirring and energetic farmer of the Fourteenth District of Monroe County, Tenn., was born in the Spartanburg District, S. C., August 4, 1816. He is the son of Leonard and Tobitha (Peace) Cardin. The Cardin family originally came from England. Leonard Cardin was born in Virginia, and died in Monroe County, Tenn., in 1857, at an advanced age. He moved to South Carolina in his younger days, and to Monroe County, Tenn., in 1817. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, a farmer and a Democrat. The mother was born in South Carolina about the same time as her husband, and died in Monroe County, Tenn., about 1847. She was of German descent. Of their ten children our subject is the seventh. He remained with his parents until sixteen years of age, and secured his education at Scruggs Academy. He then went to the State of Georgia, and was cook for a company of railroad hands for two years, after which he came to Polk County, Tenn., and taught school for seven years. At the end of this time he came to Monroe County, and again engaged in teaching school, which occupation he followed for three years. During this time, February 29, 1850, he married Miss Nancy Henderson, a daughter of Robert Henderson. She was born in Monroe County, Tenn., in 1827, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Nine children were born to this union, seven now living: Malinda J., Cornelius P. and Florence A., (twins), Decatur A., Sarah A., Marcus C. and Winnie L.; Julia A. and Penelope died in infancy. Part of the land our subject now owns belonged to his wife; the rest he bought of other persons. He has served as school commissioner for thirty-six years, and as justice of peace for twenty-six years; is a member of the Baptist Church, and a Democrat in politics.

 

The remains of the old Cardin-Hunt cemetery are located on the farm of Boyd H. Burns, on the Bell Town road, about 2½ miles northeast of Tellico Plains, across the road from the Burns home.

There are at least sixteen tombstones which are still readable. The first row is unmarked fieldstones.

The second row is Marie Blair born March 9, 1917, died 1920; Sarah Rider born 1859, died 1907; Austin Rider born 1847, died 1911; Etter Lou Rider born Jan. 29, 1883, died 1928.

Third row are Florence Hunt born Sept. 1, 1876, died 1878; sister, Bertha D. Hunt born August 27, 1883, died 1897, sister; M. J. Cardin, wife of W. J. Cardin, born Dec. 25, 1850, died 1898, mother; William J. Hunt born Jan. 5, 1847, died 1923, father.

Fourth row are Alfred, son of W. M. Cardin, born March 6, 1872, died 1880; Arty M. Cardin born April 5, 1825, died May 28, 1883.

There are many unmarked graves among the above mentioned. In many of the old court records of Monroe County, the name is spelled ‘Carden’, but most present day families spell the name ‘Cardin’.

 

Done