Individual Details

Military

Hiram Caves enlisted in the confederate Texas Calavery, eighth Regiment and was discharged on the 18th because he was only 16 years old.

Census

H D Cave age 24 born Arkansas, farmer real estate 960
A Jane age 23 born Missouri
Erastus age 4 born Texas
Bell age 2 female born Texas

Death

From the First 100 Years Nolan County, Texas, page 133
Hiram Davis Cave
Hiram Davis Cave (Dave) was born Sept. 30, 1845. When just a young man, he moved with his widowed mother to Bell Co., Texas, near Salado. He was married to A. Jane McGlothlin at Salado on Oct 14, 1865. Jane McGlothlin was born in Missouri at Cassville, Barry County, July 15, 1848, and had also moved to Bell Co., Texas with her family. About 1877, the Dave Caves came to West Texas, first settling at Valley Creek near Wingate. Their seventh child, James Wesley, was born there in 1880; and when he was still a baby, they moved to the new town of Sweetwater. Mr Cave built one of the first permanent residences in Sweetwater.
One of the older sons, Walter, in an interview before his death in 1954, gave his version of the first school in Sweetwater which he attended: "When school opened in 1882, a bunch of gun totin' cowboys started in the first grade. It was the first time they had ever been inside a schoolhouse. They didn't like the benches or the teachers. They ran the first two out of town, They ganged up on the third. He wouldn't run. He knocked the first boy in the head with a stick of wood, laid his pistol on the desk and went on with the reading lesson. He stayed five years. Many of the cowboys finished school and wound up as lawyers."
Coming to West Texas with the Cave family was Jane Burks (daughter of Mrs. Cave's sister, Nancy Louisa McGlothlin). Jane Burks married Willie A Corbet in Sweetwater and their children, W. A. Corbet, Jr. and Hattie Maude (Mrs. G. E. Bradford) spent their lives in Sweetwater.
H. D. (Dave) Cabe ran cattle to the north of Sweetwater and bought land in Fisher Co. in about 1883. When he moved his family there, Mrs. Cave said she would never move again; she was tired of moving and she stayed and cared for the place while her husband was frequently away on cattle drives. They built a large two story house which burned in the 1930's along with much antique furniture and family records.
Mr Cave died in 1897 after having an appendectomy performed in the home of Aunt Queen Long, his half-sister, wife of Andy Long, who lived in Sweetwater at that time.
The oldest son, E. C. (Ras), helped his mother raise the younger children, never marrying until he was in his forties. Jane McGlothlin Cave died in 1936, and both she and her husband are buried in Sweetwater Cemetery along with a child or two who died in infancy.
Children of Hiram David and A. Jane McGlothlin Cave (all deceased):
Erastus Cecratus (Ras) born 19-25-1866. Married Laura Mardis. Died 7-03-1954
Bell Dora Born 2-29-1868. Married N. I. Dulaney, after he died married John Goggins. Several children.
Dallas born 3 -07-1870. Married Lupe Hinton. A son and a daughter.
Walter W. born 1-11-1872. Married Anna Simmons, after her death married LaVonia Shanks. Died 1954. Six sons, one daughter.
Adella born 2-01-1875. Married Tom Polk. One daughter, one daughter, one son died from a snakebite when a child.
Vida A born 2-02-1877. Married Willie W. Barron. One son, two daughters.
James Wesley born 7-10-1880. Married Nina Belle Splawn, Died 11-1955. One son.
Thomas born 6-11-1883. Died 11-30-1945. Married Fannie Jo Schumaker. Two daughters.
Mark born t6-12-1888. Married Ruby Dennis. Three son, one daughter.
Emmett born 3-06-1893. Married Callie Moulton. Died 8-21-1977. One son, two daughters.
Submitted by James Cave

Obituary:Dallas Morning News, Wed., 29 Jan 1896, p. 5
Mortuary
Sweetwater (Nolan Co.) Tex., Jan 27 - Mr. H. D. Cave of Fisher county died and was buried here to-day. Mr. Cave was one of the oldest settlers in this part of the country.