Cortelyou Odell Badgett (1905-1978)





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Cortelyou Odell Badgett, Sr., was born on September 4, 1905, in Pelham, Caswell County, North Carolina. He is the son of Willis Edward Badgett and Ella Hill Gwynn. He had one brother and five sisters. His father was a Missionary Baptist Minister and was the pastor of the Providence Baptist Church for many years. His mother was a school teacher and taught at Fitch School, Caswell County, which was located on old Highway #62, five miles south of Yanceyville in the Graves Chapel Community.

The family was famous for its singing talents, including "The Badgett Sisters": Celester, Connie, and Cleonia. Old Highway #62 that runs south from Yanceyville, North Carolina, was renamed Badgett Sisters Parkway.

Source: The Heritage of Caswell County, North Carolina, Jeannine D. Whitlow, Editor (1985) at 96 (Article #28 "The Badgett Family" by Connie Steadman)

For more go to Badgett Sisters
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The Badgett Sisters of Caswell County won a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in 1990 for singing spirituals, hymns, and gospel songs in the jubilee style, a form of unaccompanied close harmony learned from their father, Cortelyou Odell Badgett (1905-1978). Their albums include Just A Little While to Stay Here and The Voice That Refused. Badgett Sisters Parkway in Caswell County was named in their honor. (Courtesy Connie Badgett Steadman.)
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Title: The Badgett Sisters--Gospel Singers
Author: Sharpe, Bill
Source: North Carolina Folklore Journal (NoCar GR 110 N8 N6), 1997, Vol. 44 Issue 1 and 2, p19-20
Abstract: Connie, Cleonia, and Celester Badgett learned to harmonize under their father's direction. They sing in the jubilee style, a form popular in the 1930s and 1940s. They received a 1990 N.C. Folk Heritage Award for continuing the gospel tradition.
Subject: Gospel Music; Badgett Sisters; Gospel musicians--Yanceyville

THE BADGETT SISTERS: JUST A LITTLE WHILE TO STAY HERE. Global Village C 214. Cassette. Trained in harmony singing by their Baptist quartet-leader father, the three Badgett sisters continue a family tradition of unaccompanied harmony singing begun in 1933. They learned most of the quartet-style hymns, gospels, jubilees, and spirituals in this collection during their childhoods in rural Caswell County, North Carolina. Later they incorporated songs they feel are important to African American heritage, such as "Wade In the Water." All of the Badgetts' arrangements are original. The album closes with one of their father's "one-man quartets," an overdubbed recording in which the late Cortelyou Badgett, Sr. sings all four parts. Notes by Glenn Hinson. Contemporary/African American/Gospel.

Connie Badgett Steadman

?Miss Connie B? learned her masterful delivery of music and message from her father, Cortelyou Badgett, an experienced a cappella singer who formed The Badgett Family, a group originally comprised of the eldest three of his eight children, ages 4-6, to pass on traditional African American gospel singing. She began singing in the group in 1944, at the age of five. The group later became known as The Badgett Sisters, featuring Connie and her siblings, Cleonie and Celester. From her mother, Caroline G. Badgett, a phenomenal storyteller, Connie inherited her talent and love of storytelling. In their career, The Badgett Sisters carried their message of warmth and good feeling from Caswell County, NC to Chicago, IL; from New York?s Carnegie Hall to Brisbane, Australia. They became a mainstay of North Carolina?s popular Black Folk Heritage Tour, which showcased the traditional performing arts of the state?s African American heritage. The sisters went on to record memorable favorites such as Give Me Wings, Just a Little While To Stay Here, and The Voice That Refused to Die. Connie now carries on the family tradition in an inspiring solo act. Connie is a recipient of the state?s highest recognition in the folk arts, the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award, and the Brown-Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society.
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1920 United States Federal Census
Name: Cortelyen Badgett
Home in 1920: Locust Hill, Caswell, North Carolina
Age: 14 years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1906
Birthplace: North Carolina
Relation to Head of House: Son
Father's Name: Willis
Father's Birth Place: North Carolina
Mother's Name: Ella
Mother's Birth Place: North Carolina
Marital Status: Single
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Household Members: Name Age
Willis Badgett 44
Ella Badgett 44
Chauncey Badgett 16
Cortelyen Badgett 14
Thelma L Badgett 12
Corta Bell Badgett 9
Sallie Hill Badgett 7

North Carolina Death Collection, 1908-2004
Name: Cortelyou Odell Badgett
Gender: Male
Race: Black
Marital Status: Widowed
Social Security Number: 228167779
Age: 72
Date of Birth: 4 Sep 1905
Residence County: Caswell
Date of Death: 21 Feb 1978
Death County: Caswell
Death State: North Carolina
Autopsy: No
Institution: Home
Attendant: Medical Examiner
Burial Location: Burial in state
Source Vendor: NC Department of Health. North Carolina Deaths, 1978

1. Celester Badgett
2. Clifton Badgett
3. Living Badgett
4. Living Badgett
5. Living Badgett
6. Cleonia Ardella Badgett b: 07 SEP 1928 in North Carolina
7. Cortelyou Odell Badgett Jr. b: 22 JAN 1930 in North Carolina
8. Living Badgett