The Life and Time of James "Uncle Jim" Cavender

James "Jim" C. Cavender farmed, lived for many years, and died near the present-day Birdville Church of Christ on Birdville Hill. Throughout most of his life, he was known as "Uncle Jim." He was my great-grandfather's brother.

Uncle Jim was born in 1869 in Walker County, in north Georgia, not far south of Chattanooga, Tenn. He was the oldest of seven children born to Joseph M. Cavender (1835-1902) and his wife Mary Ann Bryan Cavender (1841-1918). Joe Cavender had joined the Confederate Army with a Tarrant County regiment and had returned to Georgia after the war. He and Jim's mother were married in 1868.

When Jim was still a small child, his father moved the family to Bellefonte, Arkansas, where they lived until about 1879. In that year, Joe Cavender and his brother-in-law, W.A. Clements moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, for a few months, but moved again in 1880 and settled on Big Bear Creek south of Grapevine. There, Jim's father died in 1902.

Jim was married to Lena Cobb, a girl who lived near him in the Bear Creek/Pleasant Glade neighborhood. They had one child, May Cavender, who lived in Tyler, Texas, in later life.

Jim was murdered at his home on Birdville Hill in 1930. He had recently sold a large amount of farm produce, and his family suspected robbery was the motive. His body was hidden under a pile of oats. Jim was living alone at the time. His neighbors heard his milk cows bawling the morning after his death, and when they went to see why Uncle Jim hadn't done his morning milking, they found his body. 

Since only one person outside the family knew he had the money, family members have always suspected they knew the murderer's identity. No one was ever arrested or brought to trial.

Uncle Jim lies buried in an unmarked grave in Birdville Cemetery. -  Written by Michael E. Patterson