Notes for Clemeth Cavender:
Clemeth and Rebecca (Dedman) Cavender were the father and mother of Nancy (Cavender) Barnes, the writer's great-grandmother. Both were buried in the Cavender-Barnes Cemetery located in northwest Hall County, Georgia.
From Westmoreland County, Virginia, the Cavenders moved to Spartanburg District, South Carolina and then to Pendleton District. Prior to 1820, Clemeth Cavender walked to Northeast Georgia, selected a home-site in the Cherokee Nation, and returned to South Carolina to bring his family to Georgia.
A great-grandson was told by his grandmother, a daughter of Clemeth, that she was five years of age when the trip to Georgia was made. She remembered that there was no bridge across the Chattahoochee River about where Thompson Bridge is now located on state highway #60 north of Gainesville. The family camped along side the river until Clemeth could build a raft by cutting logs and stringing them together with vines. After the raft was completed, Clemeth carried the horses across to test the raft's strength and safety. He was successful and returned for the family and their belongings. At that time, no roads existed in the Cherokee Nation, and the family made very slow progress as Clemeth walked in front, slashing away with an ax in order to clear a path.
Of necessity the Cavender family, were on friendly terms with the Cherokee. A small creek (probably Wahoo Creek) near the Cavender home became a gathering place for Indian squaws because of the water and also because reeds furnished the material for weaving baskets. The Cherokees traded them to the whites.
It is not known if Clemeth served in the military - he was the right age to have served in the War of 1812. He was a fortunate drawer in at least two Georgia Land Lotteries and drew lots in Habersham and Cherokee Counties.
The two-story log cabin Clemeth built has been restored and is now used as the living room of a new house. A descendant said that the first abode built by Clemeth was rustic and hastily erected. The two-story house was built a few years later. John and Nancy (Cavender) Barnes later occupied the house. The description of the house that follows describes the house before it was restored.
The house is rectangular and its dimension is about 22 feet wide and 17 feet deep. Thus, one floor has about 375 square feet. The front door is in the center of the house and there is a back door that is in line with it. Also, there is an exterior door in the west wall.
As one enters the front of the house, there is a wall from front to back on the right hand side of the front door making a small room on the west side and a larger one on the east side. There are two windows in front and one on the east side. A stairway to the second floor bends around the southeast corner. Directly in the middle of the house, a root cellar is visible through the dilapidated floor; however, a hinge for a door to the root cellar is still present along with the remnants of a second hinge.
I do not understand how they kept warm. There are no chimneys remaining in the house; indeed, the design does not provide space for fireplaces. In all likelihood, there was a separate building for cooking but there is no sign of it today.
The house sits on a foundation made from local stone. The structure is built from heavy lumber which was hand hewn. Thin siding covers the heavy timbers. None of the lumber has ever been painted. For a house that must be 125-150

There are a couple of stories about the life of Clemeth Cavender. One is where he comes in to Georgia from South Carolina and is entered into a land lottery there. The land lottery was not even in his name. I don't put much validity into it because he ended up living in Hall County, Georgia, about 35 miles from Habersham County.

The one that is more convincing is the story where he walks from Pendleton District and found the place amoung the natives that he wanted to move. He then went back to Pendleton District and got the family and moved to Hall County. I'm sure that he rode a horse instead of walking. Shotly after settling in the Hall County area now Lumpkin County, he purchased slaves. He had to have had money on him.

Any way, they moved the in late summer and he and the others (children and neighbors) struggled to get a roof over there head. They built a small cabin with logs then over the next several years built the bigger house. I was located near the now Lumpkin-Hall County Line not far from the road that goes to Murrayville, Georgia off Georgia Highway 115 between Cleveland and Dahlonega. The house was on the now Lumpkin County side, not far from the Enotah River. The native Indians were living in the area at that time and he traded with them for essentials of live for the first year.

As they were making their way to the location on the way from South Carolina the had to cross the Chattahooche River at about a location where the Thompson Bridge is located now. The river was up and because of the late summer rains and they had to wait for about 10 days so the river would come down enough to cross. They made it accross and traveled on to the new homeplace. Clameth and Rebecca Dedman Cavender had 16 children before they died and were buried in the Cavender-Barnes Cemetery that is located just over the line in Hall Co. Thats how close the new line was run to the Cavender House.