Great3
Grandmother Sarah Ellen (Cafin) Haddix (Jun 17, 1857- Aug 25, 1925) was the daughter of James
Gordon Cafin (~Aug 29, 1825 - Dec. 31,1901) and Ellen (Neal) Cafin (~1829 - Jan 19, 1894). Family tales refer to Sarah as “Sara
Mary.” (pictured) She had two siblings:
Emma
M. (Cafin) Underwood (1860 - 1939) and James
Gordon Cafin Jr. (1862-1941).
The 1880 census shows that Great4
Grandfather James Sr. parents were born in Ireland, he was born in Pennsylvania, and in 1880 worked as a farmer in Melrose,
Illinois. It shows Ellen was born in Ohio and both her parents are noted as born
in Itala, which probably means Italy. But Neal is an English name, not Italian, and there were few
Italians in Ohio. Maybe Ellen adopted an English maiden name to be more
accepted, or maybe she was born Italian and adopted by a Neal family, or maybe
her parents were English or Irish but were born in Italy.
The
Cafin surname is very rare and not found in outside the USA. It probably derived
from Cavin or Caffin, found in England, Scotland, and Ireland, which some
descendants use. Family oral history says it might have derived from the Italian
surname Cavina. Further
information
and pictures of the Cafin family may be found if someone traces and contacts the numerous descendents
of Sarah's brother James Cafin Jr. 
Great2 Grandmother Bessie Bonnie Haddix (Nov 27,1884-1969) (pictured) was born in Cook County, Illinois. She became the stepdaughter of Alfred Haddix (1858-1931) whose wife had died young in 1885. Bessie's mother married him on May 3, 1888 when Bessie was four years old. Her natural father is unknown, although family tales are he might have been Italian or an American Indian. There is a story that he was “accidentally” killed a few days before he was to marry her mom. In the old days, men who impregnated unmarried women were often threaten into marriage at gunpoint. There is also a story that she was raped. Racism was prevalent, so he may have been murdered if he were an American Indian lover.
Bessie was raised a Haddix in rural eastern Illinois with her mother, stepfather, and two half siblings: Jesse J who married Ola Landreth, and Minnie “Elsie” who married Harold Clinkenfelter. They farmed in Clark County, Illinois and her parents later worked alongside Bessie's husband Edwin and their children in Oklahoma. The Haddix are not blood relatives, but the customs, values, and traditions passed down makes them part of our family. The Haddix are buried in the Clark County, Marshall cemetery.