James Young Cabaniss1,2,3

Family Chart
ID# 15904, (1862 - 1939)
FatherRev. Asa B. Cabaniss4 (1821 - 1907)
MotherMartha E. Adkisson4 (abt 1823 - 1903)

Key Events:

Birth: 23 Jan 1862, Halifax Co., Virginia5,6,7
Marriage: 12 Sep 1883, Trenton, Todd Co., Kentucky, Martha Willard White (13 Aug 1862 - 18 Jul 1937)8,9
Death: 2 Nov 1939, Jacksonville, Duval Co., Florida10,11,12
Burial: 6 Nov 1939, Edgewood Cemetery, Trenton, Todd Co., Kentucky13,14

Copyright Notice

Narrative:

     James Young Cabaniss was born on 23 Jan 1862 in Halifax Co., Virginia.5,6,7 He appeared on the 1870 Federal Census of Russellville, Logan Co., Kentucky, in the household of his parents, Rev. Asa B. Cabaniss and Martha E. Adkisson.15
     James appeared on the 1880 Federal Census of Hopkinsville, Christian Co., Kentucky, enumerated 2 Jun 1880, in the hotel operated by Frank Gary and his wife Lucy, listed as an employee.16
     He was a hotel clerk in 1880, at age 17. He then became a merchant, and 1886 was reported to have moved "his stock of drugs etc." to a new store house. But his interest in the hotel business seems to have remained, as at the same time it was announced that he was opening the Willard Hotel. In 1888 the Traveler's Protective Association Hotel Company was formed in Trenton to establish a new hotel, which he was to manage. Much of the stock in the company was purchased by "commercial men."17,18,19
     He was apparently regarded as good at the hotel business. In Jun 1890 a Clarksville newspaper reported that he and others were considering leasing the Arlington Hotel there. It said he was regarded as "one of the best hotel men in this section," and that the hotel would be in good hands if the deal closed. in Clarksville.20
     James married Martha Willard White, daughter of William Tillman White and Modena A. Clark, on 12 Sep 1883 in Trenton, Todd Co., Kentucky, with P. N. Lockett officating.8,9

Becoming a Commercial Traveler --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---


     James and Martha moved to Evansville, Indiana, by 1893, when they were living at 2 Madison Ave.21 The following year they moved to 115 Jefferson Ave..22
Ragon Brothers, Upper 1st c. 1889
from Historic Evansville website 23

     With his move to Evansville his career changed from providing lodging to commercial travelers to being one himself. He was initially employed there as a clerk by Ragon Brothers, wholesale grocers, at 16 Upper 1st St. By the next year he was a salesman there and the following year was identified as a traveling salesman. He continued in that role until about 1908.24,25,26
     James's tribute to his friend Wood Axton, written after the man's death in 1936, provides insight into the life of a commercial traveler. Axton manufactured "Old Hillside Tobacco." James wrote
In those days it was customary for tobacco factory salesmen to travel with the salesman of jobbing grocery houses and ship their product through the house of the salesman with whom they traveled. Wood was his own traveling salesman at the beginning and made trips with me over my entire territory, towns, villages, and single country stores, which were numerous in those days, before the advent of automobiles and good roads. Forty miles working the trade was a big day's drive. On several occasions we had to take lodging out in the country, occupying the same bed.27

     About 1896 James and Martha moved to 1104 Upper 6th St..28 They appeared on the 1900 Federal Census of Evansville, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana, at 1104 6th St., enumerated 13 Jun 1900, reporting that the family rented it's home. Their children Hallie, Jamie and Asa were listed as living with them, as were her mother, Modena A. Clark, and her brother, James Cross White, and Georgia Walker, a 40 year-old black domestic survant.29
     About 1903 they moved to 414 Chandler Ave.30 They moved to 1054 Upper 1st. St. about 1908.31 They moved to 519 Upper 3rd St. about 1912.32
     James redirected his sales talents to the insurance industry about 1910, though it is not clear exactly what he was selling. His occupation was reported in the 1910 census as a stock salesman in the insurance industry. It was recorded in the city directories of this period as travelling agent.33,34
     James and Martha appeared on the 1910 Federal Census of Evansville, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana, at 1054 First St., enumerated in Apr 1910, reporting they were renting their home. Their son Asa was listed as living with them, as were her brother Henry and George Altondorf, an accountant at a chair factory, who was listed as a lodger.35

Moving to Florida --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---


     James and Martha have not been found in the 1920 census. They are last listed in the Evansville city directory in 1916. No record of them has been found from then until they appeared in 1921 at 21 W. Lomax, Jacksonville, Florida, living with their daughter Hallie and her husband, who had just moved there from another address in Jacksonville.36
     James and Martha appeared on the 1930 Federal Census of Jacksonville, Duval Co., Florida, in the household of their daughter Hallie and her husband, James Francis Dobbin.37
     James continued to work as a commercial traveler after he moved to Florida, though the industry is unknown except for 1930, when he was selling for a wholesale tobacco company. He was retired by 1935.38,39,40
     James and Martha appeared on the 1935 State Census of Duval Co., Florida, at 621 Lomax St., in the household of their daughter Hallie and her husband.41
     His wife died on 18 Jul 1937.42
     James died on 2 Nov 1939 in Jacksonville, Duval Co., Florida, at age 77, at the home of his daughter Hallie, whose husband had died the day before.10,11,12 He was buried on 6 Nov 1939 in Edgewood Cemetery, Trenton, Todd Co., Kentucky, after a double funeral for him and his daughter's husband.13,14

Children:
     Children with Martha Willard White:

  • Hallie S. Cabaniss29,43,44 (30 Jul 1884 - 4 Oct 1968)
  • Jamie Clark Cabaniss29,45,44 (18 Jan 1887 - 23 Apr 1966)
  • Asa B. Cabaniss29,35,44 (13 Aug 1889 - 12 Mar 1983)

Citations

  1. [S8447] Asa B. Cabaniss household, 1870 U.S. Census, Logan Co., Kentucky, shows name as James Y. Cabaniss.
  2. [S8448] Frank M. Gray household, 1820 U.S. Census, Christian Co., Kentucky, shows name as Jas. Y. Cabiness.
  3. [S500] Findagrave.com, online, memorial # 108709160, James Young Cabaniss, includes tombstone photo showing same.
  4. [S8447] Asa B. Cabaniss household, 1870 U.S. Census, Logan Co., Kentucky, shows them apparently living as parent and child.
  5. [S500] Findagrave.com, online, memorial # 108709160, James Young Cabaniss, shows date, with year as 1862, county, and state, and includes tombstone photo showing same.
  6. [S8447] Asa B. Cabaniss household, 1870 U.S. Census, Logan Co., Kentucky, shows age 7 and state.
  7. [S961] James Cabaniss household, 1900 U.S. Census, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana, shows month, year, as 1863, age 37, and state.
  8. [S8441] Marriage Record, Trigg Co., Kentucky, D:56, J. Y. Cabaniss and Mattie W. White, shows date, town, county, and officant.
  9. [S961] James Cabaniss household, 1900 U.S. Census, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana, shows married, 17 years.
  10. [S500] Findagrave.com, online, memorial # 108709160, James Young Cabaniss, shows date, and includes tombstone photo showing same.
  11. [S889] "Florida Death Index, 1936-1998," Ancestry.com, record for James Young Cabaniss, shows year, county, and state, and other place information as Jax.
  12. [S8452] James Y. Cabaniss obituary, The Sunday Courier and Press, shows city, home of daughter, and death of her husband.
  13. [S8452] James Y. Cabaniss obituary, The Sunday Courier and Press, shows double funeral will be Monday in Trenton.
  14. [S500] Findagrave.com, online, memorial # 108709160, James Young Cabaniss, includes tombstone photo.
  15. [S8447] Asa B. Cabaniss household, 1870 U.S. Census, Logan Co., Kentucky, shows age 50 and state.
  16. [S8448] Frank M. Gray household, 1820 U.S. Census, Christian Co., Kentucky.
  17. [S8449] "Here and There," Semi-Weekly South Kentuckian, 27 Jul 1886, mentions new store house, hotel.
  18. [S8448] Frank M. Gray household, 1820 U.S. Census, Christian Co., Kentucky, shows occupation as hotel clerk.
  19. [S8450] "Here and There," Semi-Weekly South Kentuckian, 20 Nov 1888, describes T.P.A. Hotel company.
  20. [S8451] News item, Daily Tobacco Leaf-Chronicle, 28 Jun 1890, describes Arlington hotel deal.
  21. [S8310] Bennett & Co.'s Evansville City Directory, 1893, pg 139, 621.
  22. [S8310] Bennett & Co.'s Evansville City Directory, 1894, pg 143, 629.
  23. [S8430] Historic Evansville, online, citing Book of Evansville Illustrated.
  24. [S8310] Bennett & Co.'s Evansville City Directory, 1893, pg 139, shows occupation as clerk, and address, pg 473, shows firm; 1894, pg 142, shows him as salesman same address; 1895, pg 142, shows trav salesman same address; 1908, pg 146, shows occupatin as salesman, 1 L. Water, pg 519, shows Ragon Brothers now at 1 to 15 L. Water.
  25. [S8452] James Y. Cabaniss obituary, The Sunday Courier and Press, shows he was connected to Ragon Brothers for several years.
  26. [S961] James Cabaniss household, 1900 U.S. Census, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana, shows occupation as traveling sales.
  27. [S8454] "Wood Axton," letter to editor by James Y. Cabaniss, The Courier-Journal, 4 Apr 1936.
  28. [S8310] Bennett & Co.'s Evansville City Directory, 1896, pg 149, 669.
  29. [S961] James Cabaniss household, 1900 U.S. Census, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana.
  30. [S8310] Bennett & Co.'s Evansville City Directory, 1903, pg 150.
  31. [S8310] Bennett & Co.'s Evansville City Directory, 1908, pg 146.
  32. [S8310] Bennett & Co.'s Evansville City Directory, 1912, pg 171.
  33. [S8310] Bennett & Co.'s Evansville City Directory, 1910, pg 131, shows occupation as trav agt, with no employer or business address listed.
  34. [S8440] James N. Cabaniss household, 1910 U.S. Census, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana, shows occupation as stock salesman, industry as insurance.
  35. [S8440] James N. Cabaniss household, 1910 U.S. Census, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana.
  36. [S8453] Polk's Jacksonville City Directory, 1921, pg 355, shows James and Martha Cabaniss at 21 W Lomax, pg 460, shows James and Hallie Dobbin at same address; 1920, pg 455, shows the Dobbins at 1505 St. John's Ave.
  37. [S8444] James F. Dobbin household, 1930 U.S. Census, Duval Co., Florida.
  38. [S8453] Polk's Jacksonville City Directory, 1921, pg 355, shows occupation as com trav.
  39. [S8444] James F. Dobbin household, 1930 U.S. Census, Duval Co., Florida, shows occupation as com'l salesman, industry as wholesale tobacco.
  40. [S8446] James F. Dobbin household, Tenth Census of the State of Florida, 1935, Duval Co., Florida, Precinct 9-B, shows no occupation.
  41. [S8446] James F. Dobbin household, Tenth Census of the State of Florida, 1935, Duval Co., Florida, Precinct 9-B.
  42. [S500] Findagrave.com, online, memorial # 108709213, Martha Willard White Cabaniss, shows date and includes tombstone photo showing same.
  43. [S8444] James F. Dobbin household, 1930 U.S. Census, Duval Co., Florida, shows him as father-in-law and her as wife of head of household.
  44. [S8452] James Y. Cabaniss obituary, The Sunday Courier and Press.
  45. [S8445] James Clark Cabaniss, Certificate of Death.