Dr. Hudson M. Cave (1792–1864), a native of Virginia, had been a Chapel Hill resident since the 1820s, when in 1823 he married Adelia "Delia" Barbee (b. 1805), daughter of William and Ghaskia Jones Barbee. They were the parents of two daughters, Jane and Emily. Having earned his MD from the University of Pennsylvania’s Medical Department in 1817, Cave practiced medicine in Chapel Hill, NC. In 1827, Dr. Cave purchased from his father-in-law a long strip of land fronting Franklin Street and extending south almost to Swain Hall, a tract that had been the eastern halves of the original town Lots 4 and 6. He and Delia built a house deep in the property facing Franklin Street. There they boarded university students. Cave also managed a mill (Barbee's Mill, later King's Mill) inherited by his wife, which was located on Morgan Creek at the foot of upper Laurel Hill, North Carlolina (Vickers 34).